Isaiah 9:18

9:18 For ¹  evil burned like a fire, ² 

it consumed thorns and briers;

it burned up the thickets of the forest,

and they went up in smoke. ³ 

Isaiah 27:4

27:4 I am not angry.

I wish I could confront some thorns and briers!

Then I would march against them ⁴  for battle;

I would set them ⁵  all on fire,

Isaiah 37:36

37:36 The Lord’s messenger ⁶  went out and killed 185,000 troops ⁷  in the Assyrian camp. When they ⁸  got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses! ⁹ 

Isaiah 37:2

37:2 Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, ¹⁰  clothed in sackcloth, sent this message to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz:

Isaiah 23:6-7

23:6 Travel to Tarshish!

Wail, you residents of the coast!

23:7 Is this really your boisterous city ¹¹ 

whose origins are in the distant past, ¹² 

and whose feet led her to a distant land to reside?

[9:18]  ¹ tn Or “Indeed” (cf. NIV “Surely”). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[9:18]  ² sn Evil was uncontrollable and destructive, and so can be compared to a forest fire.

[9:18]  ³ tn Heb “and they swirled [with] the rising of the smoke” (cf. NRSV).

[27:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense. For other examples of a cohortative expressing resolve after a hypothetical statement introduced by נָתַן with מִי (miwith natan), see Judg 9:29; Jer 9:1-2; Ps 55:6.

[27:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense.

[37:36]  ⁶ tn Traditionally, “the angel of the Lord” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[37:36]  ⁷ tn The word “troops” is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.

[37:36]  ⁸ tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.

[37:36]  ⁹ tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies”; NLT “they found corpses everywhere.”

[37:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “elders of the priests” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); NCV “the older priests”; NRSV, TEV, CEV “the senior priests.”

[23:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Is this to you, boisterous one?” The pronoun “you” is masculine plural, like the imperatives in v. 6, so it is likely addressed to the Egyptians and residents of the coast. “Boisterous one” is a feminine singular form, probably referring to the personified city of Tyre.

[23:7]  ¹² tn Heb “in the days of antiquity [is] her beginning.”