Yesaya 16:3

16:3 “Bring a plan, make a decision! ¹ 

Provide some shade in the middle of the day! ² 

Hide the fugitives! Do not betray ³  the one who tries to escape!

Yesaya 23:13

23:13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans,

these people who have lost their identity! ⁴ 

The Assyrians have made it a home for wild animals.

They erected their siege towers, ⁵ 

demolished ⁶  its fortresses,

and turned it into a heap of ruins. ⁷ 

[16:3]  ¹ sn It is unclear who is being addressed in this verse. Perhaps the prophet, playing the role of a panic stricken Moabite refugee, requests the leaders of Judah (the imperatives are plural) to take pity on the fugitives.

[16:3]  ² tn Heb “Make your shade like night in the midst of noonday.” “Shade” here symbolizes shelter, while the heat of noonday represents the intense suffering of the Moabites. By comparing the desired shade to night, the speaker visualizes a huge dark shadow cast by a large tree that would provide relief from the sun’s heat.

[16:3]  ³ tn Heb “disclose, uncover.”

[23:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “this people [that] is not.”

[23:13]  ⁵ tn For the meaning of this word, see HALOT 118 s.v. *בַּחוּן.

[23:13]  ⁶ tn Or “laid bare.” For the meaning of this word, see HALOT 889 s.v. ערר.

[23:13]  ⁷ sn This verse probably refers to the Assyrian destruction of Babylon.