Yesaya 47:11-13

47:11 Disaster will overtake you;

you will not know how to charm it away. ¹ 

Destruction will fall on you;

you will not be able to appease it.

Calamity will strike you suddenly,

before you recognize it. ² 

47:12 Persist ³  in trusting ⁴  your amulets

and your many incantations,

which you have faithfully recited ⁵  since your youth!

Maybe you will be successful ⁶  –

maybe you will scare away disaster. ⁷ 

47:13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice. ⁸ 

Let them take their stand –

the ones who see omens in the sky,

who gaze at the stars,

who make monthly predictions –

let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! ⁹ 

[47:11]  ¹ tc The Hebrew text has שַׁחְרָהּ (shakhrah), which is either a suffixed noun (“its dawning,” i.e., origin) or infinitive (“to look early for it”). Some have suggested an emendation to שַׁחֲדָהּ (shakhadah), a suffixed infinitive from שָׁחַד (shakhad, “[how] to buy it off”; see BDB 1005 s.v. שָׁחַד). This forms a nice parallel with the following couplet. The above translation is based on a different etymology of the verb in question. HALOT 1466 s.v. III שׁחר references a verbal root with these letters (שׁחד) that refers to magical activity.

[47:11]  ² tn Heb “you will not know”; NIV “you cannot foresee.”

[47:12]  ³ tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”

[47:12]  ⁴ tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.

[47:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”

[47:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”

[47:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.

[47:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “you are tired because of the abundance of your advice.”

[47:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “let them stand and rescue you – the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make known by months – from those things which are coming upon you.”