Yesaya 24:20

24:20 The earth will stagger around ¹  like a drunk;

it will sway back and forth like a hut in a windstorm. ² 

Its sin will weigh it down,

and it will fall and never get up again.

Yesaya 25:5

25:5 like heat ³  in a dry land,

you humble the boasting foreigners. ⁴ 

Just as the shadow of a cloud causes the heat to subside, ⁵ 

so he causes the song of tyrants to cease. ⁶ 

Yesaya 30:28

30:28 His battle cry overwhelms like a flooding river ⁷ 

that reaches one’s neck.

He shakes the nations in a sieve that isolates the chaff; ⁸ 

he puts a bit into the mouth of the nations and leads them to destruction. ⁹ 

Yesaya 37:7

37:7 Look, I will take control of his mind; ¹⁰  he will receive a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down ¹¹  with a sword in his own land.”’”

Yesaya 54:11

54:11 “O afflicted one, driven away, ¹²  and unconsoled!

Look, I am about to set your stones in antimony

and I lay your foundation with lapis-lazuli.

Yesaya 66:15

66:15 For look, the Lord comes with fire,

his chariots come like a windstorm, ¹³ 

to reveal his raging anger,

his battle cry, and his flaming arrows. ¹⁴ 

[24:20]  ¹ tn Heb “staggering, staggers.” The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute before the finite verb for emphasis and sound play.

[24:20]  ² tn The words “in a windstorm” are supplied in the translation to clarify the metaphor.

[25:5]  ³ tn Or “drought” (TEV).

[25:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “the tumult of foreigners.”

[25:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “[like] heat in the shadow of a cloud.”

[25:5]  ⁶ tn The translation assumes that the verb יַעֲנֶה (ya’aneh) is a Hiphil imperfect from עָנָה (’anah, “be afflicted, humiliated”). In this context with “song” as object it means to “quiet” (see HALOT 853-54 s.v. II ענה). Some prefer to emend the form to the second person singular, so that it will agree with the second person verb earlier in the verse. BDB 776 s.v. III עָנָה Qal.1 understands the form as Qal, with “song” as subject, in which case one might translate “the song of tyrants will be silent.” An emendation of the form to a Niphal (יֵעָנֶה, ye’aneh) would yield the same translation.

[30:28]  ⁷ tn Heb “his breath is like a flooding river.” This might picture the Lord breathing heavily as he runs down his enemy, but in light of the preceding verse, which mentions his lips and tongue, “breath” probably stands metonymically for the word or battle cry that he expels from his mouth as he shouts. In Isa 34:16 and Ps 33:6 the Lord’s “breath” is associated with his command.

[30:28]  ⁸ tn Heb “shaking nations in a sieve of worthlessness.” It is not certain exactly how שָׁוְא (shavÿ’, “emptiness, worthlessness”) modifies “sieve.” A sieve is used to separate grain from chaff and isolate what is worthless so that it might be discarded. Perhaps the nations are likened to such chaff; God’s judgment will sift them out for destruction.

[30:28]  ⁹ tn Heb “and a bit that leads astray [is] in the jaws of the peoples.” Here the nations are likened to horse that can be controlled by a bit placed in its mouth. In this case the Lord uses his sovereign control over the “horse” to lead it to its demise.

[37:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I will put in him a spirit.” The precise sense of רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) is uncertain in this context. It may refer to a spiritual being who will take control of his mind (see 1 Kgs 22:19), or it could refer to a disposition of concern and fear. In either case the Lord’s sovereignty over the king is apparent.

[37:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “cause him to fall” (so KJV, ASV, NAB), that is, “kill him.”

[54:11]  ¹² tn Or, more literally, “windblown, storm tossed.”

[66:15]  ¹³ sn Chariots are like a windstorm in their swift movement and in the way that they kick up dust.

[66:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to cause to return with the rage of his anger, and his battle cry [or “rebuke”] with flames of fire.”