Yesaya 18:5

18:5 For before the harvest, when the bud has sprouted,

and the ripening fruit appears, ¹ 

he will cut off the unproductive shoots ²  with pruning knives;

he will prune the tendrils. ³ 

Yesaya 23:17

23:17 At the end of seventy years ⁴  the Lord will revive ⁵  Tyre. She will start making money again by selling her services to all the earth’s kingdoms. ⁶ 

Yesaya 27:9

27:9 So in this way Jacob’s sin will be forgiven, ⁷ 

and this is how they will show they are finished sinning: ⁸ 

They will make all the stones of the altars ⁹ 

like crushed limestone,

and the Asherah poles and the incense altars will no longer stand. ¹⁰ 

Yesaya 44:14

44:14 He cuts down cedars

and acquires a cypress ¹¹  or an oak.

He gets ¹²  trees from the forest;

he plants a cedar ¹³  and the rain makes it grow.

Yesaya 47:9

47:9 Both of these will come upon you

suddenly, in one day!

You will lose your children and be widowed. ¹⁴ 

You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, ¹⁵ 

despite ¹⁶  your many incantations

and your numerous amulets. ¹⁷ 

[18:5]  ¹ tn Heb “and the unripe, ripening fruit is maturing.”

[18:5]  ² tn On the meaning of זַלְזַל (zalzal, “shoot [of the vine] without fruit buds”) see HALOT 272 s.v. *זַלְזַל.

[18:5]  ³ tn Heb “the tendrils he will remove, he will cut off.”

[23:17]  ⁴ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[23:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “visit [with favor]” (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “will deal with.”

[23:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “and she will return to her [prostitute’s] wages and engage in prostitution with all the kingdoms of the earth on the face of the earth.”

[27:9]  ⁷ tn Or “be atoned for” (NIV); cf. NRSV “be expiated.”

[27:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “and this [is] all the fruit of removing his sin.” The meaning of the statement is not entirely clear, though “removing his sin” certainly parallels “Jacob’s sin will be removed” in the preceding line. If original, “all the fruit” may refer to the result of the decision to remove sin, but the phrase may be a corruption of לְכַפֵּר (lekhaper, “to atone for”), which in turn might be a gloss on הָסִר (hasir, “removing”).

[27:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “when he makes the stones of an altar.” The singular “altar” is collective here; pagan altars are in view, as the last line of the verse indicates. See also 17:8.

[27:9]  ¹⁰ sn As interpreted and translated above, this verse says that Israel must totally repudiate its pagan religious practices in order to experience God’s forgiveness and restoration. Another option is to understand “in this way” and “this” in v. 9a as referring back to the judgment described in v. 8. In this case כָּפַר (kafar, “atone for”) is used in a sarcastic sense; Jacob’s sin is “atoned for” and removed through severe judgment. Following this line of interpretation, one might paraphrase the verse as follows: “So in this way (through judgment) Jacob’s sin will be “atoned for,” and this is the way his sin will be removed, when he (i.e., God) makes all the altar stones like crushed limestone….” This interpretation is more consistent with the tone of judgment in vv. 8 and 10-11.

[44:14]  ¹¹ tn It is not certain what type of tree this otherwise unattested noun refers to. Cf. ASV “a holm-tree” (NRSV similar).

[44:14]  ¹² tn Heb “strengthens for himself,” i.e., “secures for himself” (see BDB 55 s.v. אָמֵץ Pi.2).

[44:14]  ¹³ tn Some prefer to emend אֹרֶן (’oren) to אֶרֶז (’erez, “cedar”), but the otherwise unattested noun appears to have an Akkadian cognate, meaning “cedar.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 44-45. HALOT 90 s.v. I אֹרֶן offers the meaning “laurel.”

[47:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “loss of children and widowhood.” In the Hebrew text the phrase is in apposition to “both of these” in line 1.

[47:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “according to their fullness, they will come upon you.”

[47:9]  ¹⁶ tn For other examples of the preposition bet (בְּ) having the sense of “although, despite,” see BDB 90 s.v. III.7.

[47:9]  ¹⁷ sn Reference is made to incantations and amulets, both of which were important in Mesopotamian religion. They were used to ward off danger and demons.