Isaiah 42:15

I will make the trees on the mountains and hills wither up; ¹  I will dry up all their vegetation. I will turn streams into islands, ²  and dry up pools of water. ³ 

biblegateway Isa 42:15

I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools.

biblegateway Isa 42:15

"I will lay waste the mountains and hills And wither all their vegetation; I will make the rivers into coastlands And dry up the ponds.

biblegateway Isa 42:15

I will level the mountains and hills and bring a blight on all their greenery. I will turn the rivers into dry land and will dry up all the pools.

biblegateway Isa 42:15

Stripping the hills bare, withering the wildflowers, Drying up the rivers, turning lakes into mudflats.

SABDAweb Isa 42:15

I will make waste mountains and hills, drying up all their plants; and I will make rivers dry, and pools dry land.

bibleoremus Isa 42:15

I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbage; I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools.

biblegateway Isa 42:15

I will lay waste the mountains and hills, And dry up all their vegetation; I will make the rivers coastlands, And I will dry up the pools.

biblegateway Isa 42:15

I will make the trees on the mountains and hills wither up; ¹  I will dry up all their vegetation. I will turn streams into islands, ²  and dry up pools of water. ³ 

¹ tn Heb “I will dry up the mountains and hills.” The “mountains and hills” stand by synecdoche for the trees that grow on them. Some prefer to derive the verb from a homonymic root and translate, “I will lay waste.”

² tc The Hebrew text reads, “I will turn streams into coastlands [or “islands”].” Scholars who believe that this reading makes little sense have proposed an emendation of אִיִּים (’iyyim, “islands”) to צִיּוֹת (tsiyyot, “dry places”; cf. NCV, NLT, TEV). However, since all the versions support the MT reading, there is insufficient grounds for an emendation here. Although the imagery of changing rivers into islands is somewhat strange, J. N. Oswalt describes this imagery against the backdrop of rivers of the Near East. The receding of these rivers at times occasioned the appearance of previously submerged islands (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:126).

³ sn The imagery of this verse, which depicts the Lord bringing a curse of infertility to the earth, metaphorically describes how the Lord will destroy his enemies.