Yesaya 21:5

21:5 Arrange the table,

lay out ¹  the carpet,

eat and drink! ² 

Get up, you officers,

smear oil on the shields! ³ 

Yesaya 21:8

21:8 Then the guard ⁴  cries out:

“On the watchtower, O sovereign master, ⁵ 

I stand all day long;

at my post

I am stationed every night.

Yesaya 29:21

29:21 those who bear false testimony against a person, ⁶ 

who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gate ⁷ 

and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges. ⁸ 

Yesaya 44:14

44:14 He cuts down cedars

and acquires a cypress ⁹  or an oak.

He gets ¹⁰  trees from the forest;

he plants a cedar ¹¹  and the rain makes it grow.

Yesaya 65:4

65:4 They sit among the tombs ¹² 

and keep watch all night long. ¹³ 

They eat pork, ¹⁴ 

and broth ¹⁵  from unclean sacrificial meat is in their pans.

[21:5]  ¹ tn The precise meaning of the verb in this line is debated. Some prefer to derive the form from the homonymic צָפֹה (tsafoh, “keep watch”) and translate “post a guard” (cf. KJV “watch in the watchtower”; ASV “set the watch”).

[21:5]  ² tn The verbal forms in the first three lines are infinitives absolute, which are functioning here as finite verbs. It is uncertain if the forms should have an imperatival or indicative/descriptive force here.

[21:5]  ³ sn Smearing the shields with oil would make them more flexible and effective in battle. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:394.

[21:8]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text has, “the lion,” but this makes little sense here. אַרְיֵה (’aryeh, “lion”) is probably a corruption of an original הָרֹאֶה (haro’eh, “the one who sees”), i.e., the guard mentioned previously in v. 6.

[21:8]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay). Some translations take this to refer to the Lord (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV), while others take it to refer to the guard’s human master (“my lord”; cf. NIV, NLT).

[29:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “the ones who make a man a sinner with a word.” The Hiphil of חָטָא (khata’) here has a delocutive sense: “declare a man sinful/guilty.”

[29:21]  ⁷ sn Legal disputes were resolved at the city gate, where the town elders met. See Amos 5:10.

[29:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “and deprive by emptiness the innocent.”

[44:14]  ⁹ tn It is not certain what type of tree this otherwise unattested noun refers to. Cf. ASV “a holm-tree” (NRSV similar).

[44:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “strengthens for himself,” i.e., “secures for himself” (see BDB 55 s.v. אָמֵץ Pi.2).

[44:14]  ¹¹ 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.”

[65:4]  ¹² sn Perhaps the worship of underworld deities or dead spirits is in view.

[65:4]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “and in the watches they spend the night.” Some understand נְּצוּרִים (nÿtsurim) as referring to “secret places” or “caves,” while others emend the text to וּבֵין צוּרִים (uven tsurim, “between the rocky cliffs”).

[65:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the flesh of the pig”; KJV, NAB, NASB “swine’s flesh.”

[65:4]  ¹⁵ tc The marginal reading (Qere), supported by the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, reads מְרַק (mÿraq, “broth”), while the consonantal text (Kethib) has פְרַק (feraq, “fragment”).