Footnotes

1. Isaiah 32:1 tn Heb “will reign according to fairness.”
2. Isaiah 32:1 tn Heb “will rule according to justice.”
3. Isaiah 32:2 tn Heb “a man,” but אִישׁ (ʾish) probably refers here to “each” of the officials mentioned in the previous verse.
4. Isaiah 32:3 tn Heb “Eyes that see.”
5. Isaiah 32:3 tn The Hebrew text as vocalized reads literally “will not gaze,” but this is contradictory to the context. The verb form should be revocalized as תְּשֹׁעֶינָה (t^eshoʿenah) from שָׁעַע (shʿaʿa, “be blinded”); see Isa 6:10; 29:9.
6. Isaiah 32:3 tn Heb “ears that hear.”
7. Isaiah 32:4 tn Heb “the heart of rashness will understand knowledge”; cf. NAB “The flighty will become wise and capable.”
8. Isaiah 32:6 tn Or “foolishness,” in a moral-ethical sense. See 9:17.
9. Isaiah 32:6 tn Heb “and his heart commits sin”; KJV, ASV “his heart will work iniquity”; NASB “inclines toward wickedness.”
10. Isaiah 32:6 tn Heb “in order to do [or “so that he does”] what is godless [or “defiled”].”
11. Isaiah 32:6 tn Heb “so that he leaves empty the appetite [or “desire”] of the hungry.”
12. Isaiah 32:6 tn Heb “and the drink of the thirsty he causes to fail.”
13. Isaiah 32:7 tn Heb “as for a deceiver, his implements [or “weapons”] are evil.”
14. Isaiah 32:7 tn Or “he plans evil things”; NIV “he makes up evil schemes.”
15. Isaiah 32:7 tn Heb “to ruin the poor with words of falsehood, even when the needy speak what is just.”
16. Isaiah 32:8 tn Heb “and he upon honorable things stands.”
17. Isaiah 32:9 tn Or “self-assured”; NASB, NRSV “who are at ease.”
18. Isaiah 32:9 tn Or “self-confident”; NAB “overconfident.”
19. Isaiah 32:10 tn Heb “days upon a year.”
20. Isaiah 32:10 tn Or perhaps, “olive.” See 24:13.
21. Isaiah 32:11 tn The imperatival forms in v. 11 are problematic. The first (חִרְדוּ, khir^edu, “tremble”) is masculine plural in form, though spoken to a feminine plural addressee (שַׁאֲנַנּוֹת, shaʾanannot, “complacent ones”). The four imperatival forms that follow (רְגָזָה, r^egazah, “shake with fear”; פְּשֹׁטָה, p^eshotah, “strip off your clothes”; עֹרָה, ʿorah, “expose yourselves”; and חֲגוֹרָה, khagorah, “put on”) all appear to be lengthened (so-called “emphatic”) masculine singular forms, even though they too appear to be spoken to a feminine plural addressee. GKC 131-32 §48.i suggests emending חִרְדוּ (khir^edu) to חֲרָדָה (kharadah) and understanding all five imperatives as feminine plural “Aramaized” forms.
22. Isaiah 32:12 tc The Hebrew text has “over mourning breasts.” The reference to “breasts” would make sense in light of v. 11, which refers to the practice of women baring their breasts as a sign of sorrow (see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:585). However, one expects the preposition עַל (ʿal) to introduce the source or reason for mourning (see vv. 12b-13a) and the participle סֹפְדִים (sofedim, “mourning”) seems odd modifying “breasts.” The translation above assumes a twofold emendation: (1) שָׁדַיִם (shadayim, “breasts”) is emended to [ם]שָׂדַי (saday[m], “field,” a term that also appears in Isa 56:9). The final mem (ם) would be enclitic in this case, not a plural indicator. (The Hebrew noun שָׂדֶה (sadeh, “field”) forms its plural with an וֹת- [-ot] ending). (2) The plural participle סֹפְדִים is emended to סְפֹדָה (s^efodah), a lengthened imperatival form, meaning “mourn.” For an overview of various suggestions that have been made for this difficult line, see Oswalt, 586, n. 12).
23. Isaiah 32:13 tn “Mourn” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 12-13 are one long sentence.
24. Isaiah 32:13 tn Heb “indeed, over all the houses of joy.” It is not certain if this refers to individual homes or to places where parties and celebrations were held.
25. Isaiah 32:13 sn This same phrase is used in 22:2.
26. Isaiah 32:14 tn Or “noisy” (NAB, NIV, NCV).
27. Isaiah 32:14 tn Hebrew עֹפֶל (ʿofel), probably refers here to a specific area within the city of Jerusalem. See HALOT 861 s.v. II עֹפֶל.
28. Isaiah 32:14 tn The Hebrew text has בְעַד מְעָרוֹת (v^eʿad m^eʿarot). The force of בְעַד, which usually means “behind, through, round about,” or “for the benefit of,” is uncertain here. HALOT 616 s.v. *מְעָרָה takes מְעָרוֹת (m^eʿarot) as a homonym of “cave” and defines it here as “cleared field.” Despite these lexical problems, the general point of the statement seems clear—the city will be uninhabited.
29. Isaiah 32:14 tn Heb “the joy of wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks.”
30. Isaiah 32:15 tn The words “The desolation will continue” refer to the previous context and have been added for smoothness.
31. Isaiah 32:15 tn Heb “until a spirit is emptied out on us from on high.” The words “this desolation will continue” are supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic purposes. The verb עָרָה (ʿarah), used here in the Niphal, normally means “lay bare, expose.” The term רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) is often understood here as a reference to the divine spirit (cf. 44:3 and NASB, NIV, CEV, NLT), but it appears here without an article (cf. NRSV “a spirit”), pronominal suffix, or a genitive (such as “of the Lord”). The translation assumes that it carries an impersonal nuance “vivacity, vigor” in this context.
32. Isaiah 32:15 tn The term כַּרְמֶל (karmel) may refer to fertile land, an orchard, a garden of vines, a plantation of trees, or fresh grain. The dictionaries may subdivide these meaning under homonyms (see BDB 502, NIDOTTE 718, HALOT 499, The Concise DCH, 183). The picture of transformation is clearer when it is understood that a מִדְבָּר (midbar, “wilderness”) is an area that does not receive enough rainfall to support trees.
33. Isaiah 32:15 sn The same statement appears in 29:17b, where, in conjunction with the preceding line, it appears to picture a reversal. Here it seems to depict supernatural growth. The desert will blossom into an orchard, and the trees of the orchard will multiply and grow tall, becoming a forest.
34. Isaiah 32:16 sn This new era of divine blessing will also include a moral/ethical transformation, as justice and fairness fill the land and replace the social injustice so prevalent in Isaiah’s time.
35. Isaiah 32:17 tn Heb “and the product of fairness will be peace.”
36. Isaiah 32:17 tn Heb “and the work of fairness [will be] calmness and security forever.”
37. Isaiah 32:18 tn Or “in safe resting places”; NAB, NRSV “quiet resting places.”
38. Isaiah 32:19 tn Heb “and [?] when the forest descends.” The form וּבָרַד (uvarad) is often understood as an otherwise unattested denominative verb meaning “to hail” (HALOT 154 s.v. I ברד). In this case one might translate, “and it hails when the forest is destroyed” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV). Perhaps the text alludes to a powerful wind and hail storm that knocks down limbs and trees. Some prefer to emend the form to וְיָרַד (v^eyarad), “and it descends,” which provides better, though not perfect, symmetry with the parallel line (cf. NAB). Perhaps וּבָרַד should be dismissed as dittographic. In this case the statement (“when the forest descends”) lacks a finite verb and seems incomplete, but perhaps it is subordinate to v. 20.
39. Isaiah 32:19 tn Heb “and in humiliation the city is laid low.”
40. Isaiah 32:20 tn Heb “by all the waters.”
41. Isaiah 32:20 tn Heb “who set free the foot of the ox and donkey”; NIV “letting your cattle and donkeys range free.”sn This verse seems to anticipate a time when fertile land is available to cultivate and crops are so abundant that the farm animals can be allowed to graze freely.