Yesaya 3:16
Konteks3:16 The Lord says,
“The women 1 of Zion are proud.
They walk with their heads high 2
and flirt with their eyes.
They skip along 3
and the jewelry on their ankles jingles. 4
Yesaya 4:4
Konteks4:4 At that time 5 the sovereign master 6 will wash the excrement 7 from Zion’s women,
he will rinse the bloodstains from Jerusalem’s midst, 8
as he comes to judge
and to bring devastation. 9
Yesaya 32:9-13
Konteksget up and listen to me!
You carefree 11 daughters,
pay attention to what I say!
you carefree ones will shake with fear,
for the grape 13 harvest will fail,
and the fruit harvest will not arrive.
32:11 Tremble, you complacent ones!
Shake with fear, you carefree ones!
Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves –
put sackcloth on your waist! 14
32:12 Mourn over the field, 15
over the delightful fields
and the fruitful vine!
32:13 Mourn 16 over the land of my people,
which is overgrown with thorns and briers,
and over all the once-happy houses 17
in the city filled with revelry. 18
[3:16] 1 tn Heb “daughters” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV).
[3:16] 2 tn Heb “with an outstretched neck.” They proudly hold their heads high so that others can see the jewelry around their necks.
[3:16] 3 tn Heb “walking and skipping, they walk.”
[3:16] 4 tn Heb “and with their feet they jingle.”
[4:4] 5 tn Heb “when” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); CEV “after”; NRSV “once.”
[4:4] 6 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).
[4:4] 7 tn The word refers elsewhere to vomit (Isa 28:8) and fecal material (Isa 36:12). Many English versions render this somewhat euphemistically as “filth” (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV). Ironically in God’s sight the beautiful jewelry described earlier is nothing but vomit and feces, for it symbolizes the moral decay of the city’s residents (cf. NLT “moral filth”).
[4:4] 8 sn See 1:21 for a related concept.
[4:4] 9 tn Heb “by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.” The precise meaning of the second half of the verse is uncertain. רוּחַ (ruakh) can be understood as “wind” in which case the passage pictures the Lord using a destructive wind as an instrument of judgment. However, this would create a mixed metaphor, for the first half of the verse uses the imagery of washing and rinsing to depict judgment. Perhaps the image would be that of a windstorm accompanied by heavy rain. רוּחַ can also mean “spirit,” in which case the verse may be referring to the Lord’s Spirit or, more likely, to a disposition that the Lord brings to the task of judgment. It is also uncertain if בָּעַר (ba’ar) here means “burning” or “sweeping away, devastating.”
[32:9] 10 tn Or “self-assured”; NASB, NRSV “who are at ease.”
[32:9] 11 tn Or “self-confident”; NAB “overconfident.”
[32:10] 12 tn Heb “days upon a year.”
[32:10] 13 tn Or perhaps, “olive.” See 24:13.
[32:11] 14 tn The imperatival forms in v. 11 are problematic. The first (חִרְדוּ, khirdu, “tremble”) is masculine plural in form, though spoken to a feminine plural addressee (שַׁאֲנַנּוֹת, sha’anannot, “complacent ones”). The four imperatival forms that follow (רְגָזָה, rÿgazah, “shake with fear”; פְּשֹׁטָה, pÿshotah, “strip off your clothes”; עֹרָה, ’orah, “expose yourselves”; and חֲגוֹרָה, khagorah, “put on”) all appear to be lengthened (so-called “emphatic”) masculine singular forms, even though they too appear to be spoken to a feminine plural addressee. GKC 131-32 §48.i suggests emending חִרְדוּ (khirdu) to חֲרָדָה (kharadah) and understanding all five imperatives as feminine plural “aramaized” forms.
[32:12] 15 tc The Hebrew text has “over mourning breasts.” The reference to “breasts” would make sense in light of v. 11, which refers to the practice of women baring their breasts as a sign of sorrow (see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:585). However, one expects the preposition עַל (’al) to introduce the source or reason for mourning (see vv. 12b-13a) and the participle סֹפְדִים (sofedim, “mourning”) seems odd modifying “breasts.” The translation above assumes a twofold emendation: (1) שָׁדַיִם (shadayim, “breasts”) is emended to [ם]שָׂדַי (saday[m], “field,” a term that also appears in Isa 56:9). The final mem (ם) would be enclitic in this case, not a plural indicator. (The Hebrew noun שָׂדֶה (sadeh, “field”) forms its plural with an וֹת- [-ot] ending). (2) The plural participle סֹפְדִים is emended to סְפֹדָה (sÿfodah), a lengthened imperatival form, meaning “mourn.” For an overview of various suggestions that have been made for this difficult line, see Oswalt, 586, n. 12).
[32:13] 16 tn “Mourn” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 12-13 are one long sentence.
[32:13] 17 tn Heb “indeed, over all the houses of joy.” It is not certain if this refers to individual homes or to places where parties and celebrations were held.
