Isaiah 5:21

5:21 Those who think they are wise are as good as dead, ¹ 

those who think they possess understanding. ² 

Isaiah 3:3

3:3 captains of groups of fifty,

the respected citizens, ³ 

advisers and those skilled in magical arts, ⁴ 

and those who know incantations.

Isaiah 44:25

44:25 who frustrates the omens of the empty talkers ⁵ 

and humiliates ⁶  the omen readers,

who overturns the counsel of the wise men ⁷ 

and makes their advice ⁸  seem foolish,

Isaiah 19:11-12

19:11 The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools; ⁹ 

Pharaoh’s wise advisers give stupid advice.

How dare you say to Pharaoh,

“I am one of the sages,

one well-versed in the writings of the ancient kings?” ¹⁰ 

19:12 But where, oh where, are your wise men? ¹¹ 

Let them tell you, let them find out

what the Lord who commands armies has planned for Egypt.

Isaiah 29:14

29:14 Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people –

an absolutely extraordinary deed. ¹² 

Wise men will have nothing to say,

the sages will have no explanations.” ¹³ 

Isaiah 31:2

31:2 Yet he too is wise ¹⁴  and he will bring disaster;

he does not retract his decree. ¹⁵ 

He will attack the wicked nation, ¹⁶ 

and the nation that helps ¹⁷  those who commit sin. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 40:20

40:20 To make a contribution one selects wood that will not rot; ¹⁹ 

he then seeks a skilled craftsman

to make ²⁰  an idol that will not fall over.

[5:21]  ¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the wise in their own eyes.” See the note at v. 8.

[5:21]  ² tn Heb “[who] before their faces are understanding.”

[3:3]  ³ tn Heb “the ones lifted up with respect to the face.” For another example of the Hebrew idiom, see 2 Kgs 5:1.

[3:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the wise with respect to magic.” On the meaning of חֲרָשִׁים (kharashim, “magic”), see HALOT 358 s.v. III חרשׁ. Some understand here a homonym, meaning “craftsmen.” In this case, one could translate, “skilled craftsmen” (cf. NIV, NASB).

[44:25]  ⁵ tc The Hebrew text has בַּדִּים (baddim), perhaps meaning “empty talkers” (BDB 95 s.v. III בַּד). In the four other occurrences of this word (Job 11:3; Isa 16:6; Jer 48:30; 50:36) the context does not make the meaning of the term very clear. Its primary point appears to be that the words spoken are meaningless or false. In light of its parallelism with “omen readers,” some have proposed an emendation to בָּרִים (barim, “seers”). The Mesopotamian baru-priests were divination specialists who played an important role in court life. See R. Wilson, Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel, 93-98. Rather than supporting an emendation, J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:189, n. 79) suggests that Isaiah used בַּדִּים purposively as a derisive wordplay on the Akkadian word baru (in light of the close similarity of the d and r consonants).

[44:25]  ⁶ tn Or “makes fools of” (NIV, NRSV); NAB and NASB both similar.

[44:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “who turns back the wise” (so NRSV); NIV “overthrows the learning of the wise”; TEV “The words of the wise I refute.”

[44:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “their knowledge” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[19:11]  ⁷ tn Or “certainly the officials of Zoan are fools.” אַךְ (’akh) can carry the sense, “only, nothing but,” or “certainly, surely.”

[19:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “A son of wise men am I, a son of ancient kings.” The term בֶּן (ben, “son of”) could refer to literal descent, but many understand the word, at least in the first line, in its idiomatic sense of “member [of a guild].” See HALOT 138 s.v. בֶּן and J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:371. If this is the case, then one can take the word in a figurative sense in the second line as well, the “son of ancient kings” being one devoted to their memory as preserved in their literature.

[19:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “Where are they? Where are your wise men?” The juxtaposition of the interrogative pronouns is emphatic. See HALOT 38 s.v. אֶי.

[29:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Therefore I will again do something amazing with these people, an amazing deed, an amazing thing.” This probably refers to the amazing transformation predicted in vv. 17-24, which will follow the purifying judgment implied in vv. 15-16.

[29:14]  ¹² tn Heb “the wisdom of their wise ones will perish, the discernment of their discerning ones will keep hidden.”

[31:2]  ¹³ sn This statement appears to have a sarcastic tone. The royal advisers who are advocating an alliance with Egypt think they are wise, but the Lord possesses wisdom as well and will thwart their efforts.

[31:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and he does not turn aside [i.e., “retract”] his words”; NIV “does not take back his words.”

[31:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and he will arise against the house of the wicked.”

[31:2]  ¹⁶ sn That is, Egypt.

[31:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and against the help of the doers of sin.”

[40:20]  ¹⁵ tn The first two words of the verse (הַמְסֻכָּן תְּרוּמָה, hamsukan tÿrumah) are problematic. Some take מְסֻכָּן as an otherwise unattested Pual participle from סָכַן (sakhan, “be poor”) and translate “the one who is impoverished.” תְּרוּמָה (tÿrumah, “contribution”) can then be taken as an adverbial accusative, “with respect to a contribution,” and the entire line translated, “the one who is too impoverished for such a contribution [i.e., the metal idol of v. 19?] selects wood that will not rot.” However, מְסֻכָּן is probably the name of a tree used in idol manufacturing (cognate with Akkadian musukkanu, cf. H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 133). מְסֻכָּן may be a scribal interpretive addition attempting to specify עֵץ (’ets) or עֵץ may be a scribal attempt to categorize מְסֻכָּן. How an idol constitutes a תְּרוּמָה (“contribution”) is not entirely clear.

[40:20]  ¹⁶ tn Or “set up” (ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); KJV, NASB “to prepare.”