Isaiah 5:8

Disaster is Coming

5:8 Those who accumulate houses are as good as dead, ¹ 

those who also accumulate landed property ² 

until there is no land left, ³ 

and you are the only landowners remaining within the land. ⁴ 

Isaiah 37:27

37:27 Their residents are powerless; ⁵ 

they are terrified and ashamed.

They are as short-lived as plants in the field

or green vegetation. ⁶ 

They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops ⁷ 

when it is scorched by the east wind. ⁸ 

Isaiah 7:3

7:3 So the Lord told Isaiah, “Go out with your son Shear-jashub ⁹  and meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 36:2

36:2 The king of Assyria sent his chief adviser ¹¹  from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, ¹²  along with a large army. The chief adviser ¹³  stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. ¹⁴ 

[5:8]  ¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who make a house touch a house.” The exclamation הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) was used in funeral laments (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5) and carries the connotation of death.

[5:8]  ² tn Heb “[who] bring a field near a field.”

[5:8]  ³ tn Heb “until the end of the place”; NASB “until there is no more room.”

[5:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.”

[37:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “short of hand”; KJV, ASV “of small power”; NASB “short of strength.”

[37:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “they are plants in the field and green vegetation.” The metaphor emphasizes how short-lived these seemingly powerful cities really were. See Ps 90:5-6; Isa 40:6-8, 24.

[37:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “[they are] grass on the rooftops.” See the preceding note.

[37:27]  ⁸ tc The Hebrew text has “scorched before the standing grain” (perhaps meaning “before it reaches maturity”), but it is preferable to emend קָמָה (qamah, “standing grain”) to קָדִים (qadim, “east wind”) with the support of 1Q Isa^a; cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:657, n. 8.

[7:3]  ⁹ tn The name means “a remnant will return.” Perhaps in this context, where the Lord is trying to encourage Ahaz, the name suggests that only a few of the enemy invaders will return home; the rest will be defeated.

[7:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the field of the washer”; traditionally “the fuller’s field” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “the Washerman’s Field.”

[36:2]  ¹³ sn For a discussion of this title see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 229-30.

[36:2]  ¹⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[36:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the chief adviser) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[36:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the field of the washer”; traditionally “the fuller’s field” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).