Yesaya 28:1

The Lord Will Judge Samaria

28:1 The splendid crown of Ephraim’s drunkards is doomed, ¹ 

the withering flower, its beautiful splendor, ² 

situated ³  at the head of a rich valley,

the crown of those overcome with wine. ⁴ 

Yesaya 36:2

36:2 The king of Assyria sent his chief adviser ⁵  from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, ⁶  along with a large army. The chief adviser ⁷  stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. ⁸ 

Yesaya 36:11

36:11 Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, ⁹  for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect ¹⁰  in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

Yesaya 37:4

37:4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. ¹¹  When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. ¹²  So pray for this remnant that remains.’” ¹³ 

[28:1]  ¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the crown [or “wreath”] of the splendor [or “pride”] of the drunkards of Ephraim.” The “crown” is Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom (Ephraim). Priests and prophets are included among these drunkards in v. 7.

[28:1]  ² tn Heb “the beauty of his splendor.” In the translation the masculine pronoun (“his”) has been replaced by “its” because the referent (the “crown”) is the city of Samaria.

[28:1]  ³ tn Heb “which [is].”

[28:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “ones overcome with wine.” The words “the crown of” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The syntactical relationship of the final phrase to what precedes is uncertain. הֲלוּמֵי יָיִן (halume yayin, “ones overcome with wine”) seems to correspond to שִׁכֹּרֵי אֶפְרַיִם (shikkore ’efrayim, “drunkards of Ephraim”) in line 1. The translation assumes that the phrase “the splendid crown” is to be understood in the final line as well.

[36:2]  ⁵ sn For a discussion of this title see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 229-30.

[36:2]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[36:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the chief adviser) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[36:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “the field of the washer”; traditionally “the fuller’s field” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[36:11]  ⁹ sn Aramaic was the diplomatic language of the Assyrian empire.

[36:11]  ¹⁰ tn Or “in Hebrew” (NIV, NCV, NLT); NAB, NASB “in Judean.”

[37:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all the words of the chief adviser whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to taunt the living God.”

[37:4]  ¹² tn Heb “and rebuke the words which the Lord your God hears.”

[37:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “and lift up a prayer on behalf of the remnant that is found.”