Yesaya 25:2

25:2 Indeed, ¹  you have made the city ²  into a heap of rubble,

the fortified town into a heap of ruins;

the fortress of foreigners ³  is no longer a city,

it will never be rebuilt.

Yesaya 32:14

32:14 For the fortress is neglected;

the once-crowded ⁴  city is abandoned.

Hill ⁵  and watchtower

are permanently uninhabited. ⁶ 

Wild donkeys love to go there,

and flocks graze there. ⁷ 

[25:2]  ¹ tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[25:2]  ² tn The Hebrew text has “you have made from the city.” The prefixed mem (מ) on עִיר (’ir, “city”) was probably originally an enclitic mem suffixed to the preceding verb. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:456, n. 3.

[25:2]  ³ tc Some with support from the LXX emend זָרִים (zarim, “foreigners”) to זֵדִים (zedim, “the insolent”).

[32:14]  ⁴ tn Or “noisy” (NAB, NIV, NCV).

[32:14]  ⁵ tn Hebrew עֹפֶל (’ofel), probably refers here to a specific area within the city of Jerusalem. See HALOT 861 s.v. II עֹפֶל.

[32:14]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text has בְעַד מְעָרוֹת (vÿ’ad mÿ’arot). 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 (mÿ’arot) as a homonym of “cave” and define it here as “cleared field.” Despite these lexical problems, the general point of the statement seems clear – the city will be uninhabited.

[32:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “the joy of wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks.”