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]
Footnotes
- 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
English Standard Version
9 (A)In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.
10 For (B)you have forgotten the God of your salvation
and have not remembered the (C)Rock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
11 though you make them grow[a] on the day that you plant them,
and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,
yet the harvest will flee away[b]
in a day of grief and incurable pain.
12 Ah, (D)the thunder of many peoples;
they thunder like the thundering of the sea!
Ah, the roar of nations;
they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!
13 (E)The nations roar like the roaring of many waters,
(F)but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased (G)like chaff on the mountains before the wind
and (H)whirling dust before the storm.
14 (I)At evening time, behold, terror!
Before morning, they are no more!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
and the lot of those who plunder us.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 17:11 Or though you carefully fence them
- Isaiah 17:11 Or will be a heap
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