Yesaya 22:1

The Lord Will Judge Jerusalem

22:1 Here is a message about the Valley of Vision: ¹ 

What is the reason ² 

that all of you go up to the rooftops?

Yesaya 24:3

24:3 The earth will be completely devastated

and thoroughly ransacked.

For the Lord has decreed this judgment. ³ 

Yesaya 32:19

32:19 Even if the forest is destroyed ⁴ 

and the city is annihilated, ⁵ 

[22:1]  ¹ sn The following message pertains to Jerusalem. The significance of referring to the city as the Valley of Vision is uncertain. Perhaps the Hinnom Valley is in view, but why it is associated with a prophetic revelatory “vision” is not entirely clear. Maybe the Hinnom Valley is called this because the destruction that will take place there is the focal point of this prophetic message (see v. 5).

[22:1]  ² tn Heb “What to you, then?”

[24:3]  ³ tn Heb “for the Lord has spoken this word.”

[32:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “and [?] when the forest descends.” The form וּבָרַד (uvarad) is often understood as an otherwise unattested denominative verb meaning “to hail” (HALOT 154 s.v. I ברד). In this case one might translate, “and it hails when the forest is destroyed” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV). Perhaps the text alludes to a powerful wind and hail storm that knocks down limbs and trees. Some prefer to emend the form to וְיָרַד (vÿyarad), “and it descends,” which provides better, though not perfect, symmetry with the parallel line (cf. NAB). Perhaps וּבָרַד should be dismissed as dittographic. In this case the statement (“when the forest descends”) lacks a finite verb and seems incomplete, but perhaps it is subordinate to v. 20.

[32:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “and in humiliation the city is laid low.”