Yesaya 4:5-6

4:5 Then the Lord will create

over all of Mount Zion ¹ 

and over its convocations

a cloud and smoke by day

and a bright flame of fire by night; ² 

indeed a canopy will accompany the Lord’s glorious presence. ³ 

4:6 By day it will be a shelter to provide shade from the heat,

as well as safety and protection from the heavy downpour. ⁴ 

Yesaya 37:33-36

37:33 So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:

‘He will not enter this city,

nor will he shoot an arrow here. ⁵ 

He will not attack it with his shielded warriors, ⁶ 

nor will he build siege works against it.

37:34 He will go back the way he came –

he will not enter this city,’ says the Lord.

37:35 I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.”’” ⁷ 

37:36 The Lord’s messenger ⁸  went out and killed 185,000 troops ⁹  in the Assyrian camp. When they ¹⁰  got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses! ¹¹ 

[4:5]  ¹ tn Heb “over all the place, Mount Zion.” Cf. NLT “Jerusalem”; CEV “the whole city.”

[4:5]  ² tn Heb “a cloud by day, and smoke, and brightness of fire, a flame by night.” Though the accents in the Hebrew text suggest otherwise, it might be preferable to take “smoke” with what follows, since one would expect smoke to accompany fire.

[4:5]  sn The imagery of the cloud by day and fire by night recalls the days of Moses, when a cloud and fire were tangible reminders that the Lord was guiding and protecting his people (Exod 13:21-22; 14:19, 24). In the future age envisioned in Isa 4, the Lord’s protective presence will be a reality.

[4:5]  ³ tn Heb “indeed (or “for”) over all the glory, a canopy.” This may allude to Exod 40:34-35, where a cloud overshadows the meeting tent as it is filled with God’s glory.

[4:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “a shelter it will be for shade by day from heat, and for a place of refuge and for a hiding place from cloudburst and rain.” Since both of the last nouns of this verse can mean rain, they can either refer to the rain storm and the rain as distinct items or together refer to a heavy downpour. Regardless, they do not represent unrelated phenomena.

[37:33]  ⁵ tn Heb “there” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). In terms of English style “here” is expected in collocation with “this” in the previous line.

[37:33]  ⁶ tn Heb “[with] a shield” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[37:35]  ⁷ tn Heb “for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”

[37:36]  ⁸ tn Traditionally, “the angel of the Lord” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[37:36]  ⁹ tn The word “troops” is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.

[37:36]  ¹⁰ tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.

[37:36]  ¹¹ tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies”; NLT “they found corpses everywhere.”