Isaiah 22:1-7

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Isaiah 22:1 tn See note at Isa 13:1.
2. Isaiah 22:1 sn The following message pertains to Jerusalem. The significance of referring to the city as the Valley of Vision is uncertain. Perhaps the Hinnom Valley is in view, but why it is associated with a prophetic revelatory “vision” is not entirely clear. Maybe the Hinnom Valley is called this because the destruction that will take place there is the focal point of this prophetic message (see v. 5).
3. Isaiah 22:1 tn Heb “What to you, then?”
4. Isaiah 22:2 tn Heb “the boisterous town.” The phrase is parallel to “the noisy city” in the preceding line.
5. Isaiah 22:2 sn Apparently they died from starvation during the siege that preceded the final conquest of the city. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:409.
6. Isaiah 22:3 tn Verse 3 reads literally, “All your leaders ran away; apart from a bow they were captured; all your found ones were captured together; to a distant place they fled.” J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:403, n. 3) suggests that the lines of the verse are arranged chiastically; lines 1 and 4 go together, while lines 2 and 3 are parallel. To translate the lines in the order they appear in the Hebrew text is misleading to the English reader, who is likely unfamiliar with, or at least insensitive to, chiastic parallelism. Consequently, the main translation arranges the lines as follows: line 1 (Hebrew) = line 1 (in translation); line 2 (Hebrew) = line 4 (in translation); line 3 (Hebrew) = line 3 (in translation); line 4 (Hebrew) = line 2 (in translation).
7. Isaiah 22:3 tn Heb “all your found ones.” To achieve tighter parallelism (see “your leaders”) some prefer to emend the form to אַמִּיצַיִךְ (ʾammitsayikh, “your strong ones”) or to נֶאֱמָצַיִךְ (neʾematsayikh, “your strengthened ones”).
8. Isaiah 22:3 tn Heb “apart from [i.e., without] a bow they were captured”; cf. NAB, NRSV “without the use of a bow.”
9. Isaiah 22:4 tn Heb “look away from me” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).
10. Isaiah 22:4 tn Heb “don’t hurry” (so NCV).
11. Isaiah 22:4 tn Heb “the daughter of my people.” “Daughter” is here used metaphorically to express the speaker’s emotional attachment to his people, as well as their vulnerability and weakness.
12. Isaiah 22:5 tn The Hebrew term translated “Sovereign” here and in vv. 12, 14, 15 is אֲדֹנָי (ʾadonay).
13. Isaiah 22:5 tn Heb “For [there is] a day of panic, and trampling, and confusion for the master, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies [traditionally, “the Lord of hosts”].”
14. Isaiah 22:5 tn The traditional accentuation of the Hebrew text suggests that this phrase goes with what precedes.
15. Isaiah 22:5 tn The precise meaning of this statement is unclear. Some take קִר (qir) as “wall” and interpret the verb to mean “tear down.” However, tighter parallelism (note the reference to crying for help in the next line) is achieved if one takes both the verb and noun from a root, attested in Ugaritic and Arabic, meaning “make a sound.” See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:404, n. 5.
16. Isaiah 22:5 sn Perhaps “the hill” refers to the temple mount.
17. Isaiah 22:6 tn Heb “[with] the chariots of men, horsemen.”
18. Isaiah 22:6 sn A distant region in the direction of Mesopotamia; see Amos 1:5; 9:7.
19. Isaiah 22:6 tn Heb “Kir uncovers” (so NAB, NIV).
20. Isaiah 22:6 sn The Elamites and men of Kir may here symbolize a fierce army from a distant land. If this oracle anticipates a Babylonian conquest of the city (see 39:5-7), then the Elamites and men of Kir are perhaps viewed here as mercenaries in the Babylonian army. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:410.
21. Isaiah 22:7 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
22. Isaiah 22:7 tn Heb “taking a stand, take their stand.” The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following finite verb. The translation attempts to bring out this emphasis with the adverb “confidently.”