Yesaya 13:12

13:12 I will make human beings more scarce than pure gold,

and people more scarce ¹  than gold from Ophir.

Yesaya 19:6

19:6 The canals ²  will stink; ³ 

the streams of Egypt will trickle and then dry up;

the bulrushes and reeds will decay,

Yesaya 29:2

29:2 I will threaten Ariel,

and she will mourn intensely

and become like an altar hearth ⁴  before me.

Yesaya 33:2

33:2 Lord, be merciful to us! We wait for you.

Give us strength each morning! ⁵ 

Deliver us when distress comes. ⁶ 

[13:12]  ¹ tn The verb is supplied in the translation from the first line. The verb in the first line (“I will make scarce”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse.

[19:6]  ² tn Heb “rivers” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, CEV “streams”; TEV “channels.”

[19:6]  ³ tn The verb form appears as a Hiphil in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a; the form in MT may be a so-called “mixed form,” reflecting the Hebrew Hiphil stem and the functionally corresponding Aramaic Aphel stem. See HALOT 276 s.v. I זנח.

[29:2]  ⁴ tn The term אֲרִיאֵל (’ari’el, “Ariel”) is the word translated “altar hearth” here. The point of the simile is not entirely clear. Perhaps the image likens Jerusalem’s coming crisis to a sacrificial fire.

[33:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “Be their arm each morning.” “Arm” is a symbol for strength. The mem suffixed to the noun has been traditionally understood as a third person suffix, but this is contrary to the context, where the people speak of themselves in the first person. The mem (מ) is probably enclitic with ellipsis of the pronoun, which can be supplied from the context. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:589, n. 1.

[33:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “[Be] also our deliverance in the time of distress.”