Yesaya 27:10

27:10 For the fortified city ¹  is left alone;

it is a deserted settlement

and abandoned like the desert.

Calves ²  graze there;

they lie down there

and eat its branches bare. ³ 

Yesaya 40:22

40:22 He is the one who sits on the earth’s horizon; ⁴ 

its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him. ⁵ 

He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain, ⁶ 

and spreads it out ⁷  like a pitched tent. ⁸ 

[27:10]  ¹ sn The identity of this city is uncertain. The context suggests that an Israelite city, perhaps Samaria or Jerusalem, is in view. For discussions of interpretive options see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:496-97, and Paul L. Redditt, “Once Again, the City in Isaiah 24-27,” HAR 10 (1986), 332.

[27:10]  ² tn The singular form in the text is probably collective.

[27:10]  ³ tn Heb “and destroy her branches.” The city is the antecedent of the third feminine singular pronominal suffix. Apparently the city is here compared to a tree. See also v. 11.

[40:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “the circle of the earth” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[40:22]  ⁵ tn The words “before him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[40:22]  ⁶ tn The otherwise unattested noun דֹּק (doq), translated here “thin curtain,” is apparently derived from the verbal root דקק (“crush”) from which is derived the adjective דַּק (daq, “thin”; see HALOT 229 s.v. דקק). The nuance “curtain” is implied from the parallelism (see “tent” in the next line).

[40:22]  ⁷ tn The meaning of the otherwise unattested verb מָתַח (matakh, “spread out”) is determined from the parallelism (note the corresponding verb “stretch out” in the previous line) and supported by later Hebrew and Aramaic cognates. See HALOT 654 s.v. *מתה.

[40:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “like a tent [in which] to live”; NAB, NASB “like a tent to dwell (live NIV, NRSV) in.”