Font Size
Isaiah 21:5-7
New English Translation
Isaiah 21:5-7
New English Translation
5 Arrange the table,
lay out[a] the carpet,
eat and drink![b]
Get up, you officers,
smear oil on the shields![c]
6 For this is what the Lord[d] has told me:
“Go, post a guard!
He must report what he sees.
7 When he sees chariots,
teams of horses,[e]
riders on donkeys,
riders on camels,
he must be alert,
very alert.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 21:5 tn The precise meaning of the verb in this line is debated. Some prefer to derive the form from the homonymic צָפֹה (tsafoh, “keep watch”) and translate “post a guard” (cf. KJV “watch in the watchtower”; ASV “set the watch”).
- Isaiah 21:5 tn The verbal forms in the first three lines are infinitives absolute, which are functioning here as finite verbs. It is uncertain if the forms should have an imperatival or indicative/descriptive force here.
- Isaiah 21:5 sn Smearing the shields with oil would make them more flexible and effective in battle. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:394.
- Isaiah 21:6 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here and in vv. 8, 16 is אֲדֹנָי (ʾadonay).
- Isaiah 21:7 tn Or “a pair of horsemen.”
New English Translation (NET)
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.