Isaiah 5:26-30
Lexham English Bible
26 And he will raise a signal for a nation[a] from afar,
and he will whistle for it from the end of the earth.
And look! It comes quickly, swiftly!
27 None is weary,
and none among him stumbles;
none slumbers and none sleeps.
And no loincloth on his waist is opened,
and no thong of his sandals is drawn away.
28 Whose arrows are sharp,
and all of his bows are bent.
The hoofs of his horses are reckoned like flint,
and his wheels like the storm wind.
29 His roaring is like the lion,
and he roars like young lions.
And he growls and seizes his prey,
and he carries it off,
and not one can rescue it.
30 And he will roar over him on that day
like the roaring of the sea,
and if one looks to the land, look! Darkness! Distress!
And the light grows dark with its[b] clouds.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 5:26 The Hebrew is plural, but the following verses refer to the nation as singular
- Isaiah 5:30 Presumably the land’s
Isaiah 5:26-30
New English Translation
26 He lifts a signal flag for a distant nation,[a]
he whistles for it to come from the far regions of the earth.
Look, they[b] come quickly and swiftly.
27 None tire or stumble,
they don’t stop to nap or sleep.
They don’t loosen their belts,
or unstrap their sandals to rest.[c]
28 Their arrows are sharpened,
and all their bows are prepared.[d]
The hooves of their horses are hard as flint,[e]
and their chariot wheels are like a windstorm.[f]
29 Their roar is like a lion’s;
they roar like young lions.
They growl and seize their prey;
they drag it away and no one can come to the rescue.
30 At that time[g] they will growl over their prey,[h]
it will sound like sea waves crashing against rocks.[i]
One will look out over the land and see the darkness of disaster,
clouds will turn the light into darkness.[j]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 5:26 tc The Hebrew text has literally, “for nations from a distance.” The following verses use singular forms to describe this nation, so the final mem (ם) on לְגּוֹיִם (legoyim) may be enclitic or dittographic. In the latter case one could read לְגוֹי מֵרָחוֹק (legoy merakhoq, “for a nation from a distance”; see Deut 28:49; Joel 3:8). Another possibility is to emend the text from לַגּוֹיִם מֵרָחוֹק (laggoyim merakhoq) to לְגוֹי מִמֶּרְחָק (legoy mimmerkhaq, “for a nation from a distant place”), a phrase which occurs in Jer 5:15. In this case an error of misdivision has occurred in MT, the mem of the prefixed preposition being accidentally taken as a plural ending on the preceding word.
- Isaiah 5:26 tn Heb “he.” Singular forms are used throughout vv. 26-30 to describe this nation, but for stylistic reasons the translation uses the plural for these collective singulars.
- Isaiah 5:27 tn Heb “and the belt on his waist is not opened, and the thong of his sandals is not torn in two.”
- Isaiah 5:28 tn Heb “bent” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “are strung.”
- Isaiah 5:28 tn Heb “regarded like flint.”
- Isaiah 5:28 sn They are like a windstorm in their swift movement and in the way they kick up dust.
- Isaiah 5:30 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).
- Isaiah 5:30 tn Heb “over it”; the referent (the prey) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Isaiah 5:30 tn Heb “like the growling of the sea.”
- Isaiah 5:30 tn Heb “and one will gaze toward the land, and look, darkness of distress, and light will grow dark by its [the land’s?] clouds.”sn The motif of light turning to darkness is ironic when compared to v. 20. There the sinners turn light (= moral/ethical good) to darkness (= moral/ethical evil). Now ironically the Lord will turn light (= the sinners’ sphere of existence and life) into darkness (= the judgment and death).
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