Yesaya 5:30

5:30 At that time ¹  they will growl over their prey, ² 

it will sound like sea waves crashing against rocks. ³ 

One will look out over the land and see the darkness of disaster,

clouds will turn the light into darkness. ⁴ 

Yesaya 17:12-13

17:12 The many nations massing together are as good as dead, ⁵ 

those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea’s waves. ⁶ 

The people making such an uproar are as good as dead, ⁷ 

those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves. ⁸ 

17:13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, ⁹ 

when he shouts at ¹⁰  them, they will flee to a distant land,

driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills,

or like dead thistles ¹¹  before a strong gale.

[5:30]  ¹ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[5:30]  ² tn Heb “over it”; the referent (the prey) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:30]  ³ tn Heb “like the growling of the sea.”

[5:30]  ⁴ tn Heb “and one will gaze toward the land, and look, darkness of distress, and light will grow dark by its [the land’s?] clouds.”

[5:30]  sn The motif of light turning to darkness is ironic when compared to v. 20. There the sinners turn light (= moral/ethical good) to darkness (= moral/ethical evil). Now ironically the Lord will turn light (= the sinners’ sphere of existence and life) into darkness (= the judgment and death).

[17:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “Woe [to] the massing of the many nations.” The word הוֹי (hoy) could be translated as a simple interjection here (“ah!”), but since the following verses announce the demise of these nations, it is preferable to take הוֹי as a funeral cry. See the note on the first phrase of 1:4.

[17:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “like the loud noise of the seas, they make a loud noise.”

[17:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “the uproar of the peoples.” The term הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse; the words “are as good as dead” are supplied in the translation to reflect this.

[17:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “like the uproar of mighty waters they are in an uproar.”

[17:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “the peoples are in an uproar like the uproar of mighty waters.”

[17:13]  ¹⁰ tn Or “rebukes.” The verb and related noun are used in theophanies of God’s battle cry which terrifies his enemies. See, for example, Pss 18:15; 76:7; 106:9; Isa 50:2; Nah 1:4, and A. Caquot, TDOT 3:49-53.

[17:13]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps “tumbleweed” (NAB, NIV, CEV); KJV “like a rolling thing.”