Isaiah 17:9-14
New English Translation
9 At that time[a] their fortified cities will be
like the abandoned summits of the Amorites,[b]
which they abandoned because of the Israelites;
there will be desolation.
10 For you ignore[c] the God who rescues you;
you pay no attention to your strong protector.[d]
So this is what happens:
You cultivate beautiful plants
and plant exotic vines.[e]
11 The day you begin cultivating, you do what you can to make it grow;[f]
the morning you begin planting, you do what you can to make it sprout.
Yet the harvest will disappear[g] in the day of disease
and incurable pain.
12 Beware, you many nations massing together,[h]
those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea’s waves.[i]
Beware, you people making such an uproar,[j]
those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves.[k]
13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves,[l]
when he shouts at[m] them, they will flee to a distant land,
driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills,
or like dead thistles[n] before a strong gale.
14 In the evening there is sudden terror;[o]
by morning they vanish.[p]
This is the fate of those who try to plunder us,
the destiny of those who try to loot us![q]
Notas al pie
- Isaiah 17:9 tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).
- Isaiah 17:9 tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “like the abandonment of the wooded height and the top one.” The following relative clause appears to allude back to the Israelite conquest of the land, so it seems preferable to emend הַחֹרֶשׁ וְהָאָמִיר (hakhoresh vehaʾamir, “the wooded height and the top one”) to חֹרֵשֵׁי הָאֱמֹרִי (khoreshe haʾemori, “[like the abandonment] of the wooded heights of the Amorites”).
- Isaiah 17:10 tn Heb “you have forgotten” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).
- Isaiah 17:10 tn Heb “and the rocky cliff of your strength you do not remember.”
- Isaiah 17:10 tn Heb “a vine, a strange one.” The substantival adjective זָר (zar) functions here as an appositional genitive. It could refer to a cultic plant of some type, associated with a pagan rite. But it is more likely that it refers to an exotic, or imported, type of vine, one that is foreign (i.e., “strange”) to Israel.
- Isaiah 17:11 tn Heb “in the day of your planting you [?].” The precise meaning of the verb תְּשַׂגְשֵׂגִי (tesagsegi) is unclear. It is sometimes derived from שׂוּג/סוּג (sug, “to fence in”; see BDB 691 s.v. II סוּג). In this case one could translate “you build a protective fence.” However, the parallelism is tighter if one derives the form from שָׂגָא/שָׂגָה (sagaʾ/sagah, “to grow”); see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:351, n. 4. For this verb, see BDB 960 s.v. שָׂגָא.
- Isaiah 17:11 tc The Hebrew text has, “a heap of harvest.” However, better sense is achieved if נֵד (ned, “heap”) is emended to a verb. Options include נַד (nad, Qal perfect third masculine singular from נָדַד [nadad, “flee, depart”]), נָדַד (Qal perfect third masculine singular from נָדַד), נֹדֵד (noded, Qal active participle from נָדַד), and נָד (nad, Qal perfect third masculine singular, or participle masculine singular, from נוּד [nud, “wander, flutter”]). See BDB 626 s.v. נוּד and HALOT 672 s.v. I נדד. One could translate literally: “[the harvest] departs,” or “[the harvest] flies away.”
- Isaiah 17:12 tn Heb “Woe [to] the massing of the many nations.”
- Isaiah 17:12 tn Heb “like the loud noise of the seas, they make a loud noise.”
- Isaiah 17:12 tn Heb “the uproar of the peoples.”
- Isaiah 17:12 tn Heb “like the uproar of mighty waters they are in an uproar.”
- Isaiah 17:13 tn Heb “the peoples are in an uproar like the uproar of mighty waters.”
- Isaiah 17:13 tn Or “rebukes.” The verb and related noun are used in theophanies of God’s battle cry, which terrifies his enemies. See, for example, Pss 18:15; 76:7; 106:9; Isa 50:2; Nah 1:4, and A. Caquot, TDOT 3:49-53.
- Isaiah 17:13 tn Or perhaps “tumbleweed” (NAB, NIV, CEV); KJV “like a rolling thing.”
- Isaiah 17:14 tn Heb “at the time of evening, look, sudden terror.”
- Isaiah 17:14 tn Heb “before morning he is not.”
- Isaiah 17:14 tn Heb “this is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who loot us.”
Isaiah 17:9-14
Legacy Standard Bible
9 In that day [a]their strong cities will be like [b]forsaken places in the forest,
Or like [c]branches which they forsook before the sons of Israel;
And [d]the land will be a desolation.
10 For (A)you have forgotten the (B)God of your salvation
And have not remembered the (C)rock of your strong defense.
Therefore you plant delightful plants
And set them with vine branches of a strange god.
11 In the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in,
And in the (D)morning you cause your seed to flourish;
But the harvest will (E)be a heap
In a day of sickliness and incurable pain.
12 Alas, the uproar of many peoples
(F)Who roar like the roaring of the seas,
And the rumbling of nations
Who rumble on like the (G)rumbling of mighty waters!
13 The (H)nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters,
But He will (I)rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
And be pursued (J)like chaff in the mountains before the wind,
Or like whirling dust before a whirlwind.
14 At evening time, behold, there is terror!
Before morning (K)they are no more.
[e]Such will be the portion of those who pillage us
And the lot of those who plunder us.
Notas al pie
- Isaiah 17:9 Man’s
- Isaiah 17:9 Gr the deserted places of the Amorites and the Hivites which they abandoned
- Isaiah 17:9 Or the treetop
- Isaiah 17:9 Lit it
- Isaiah 17:14 Lit This
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