Yesaya 33:3-4
Konteks33:3 The nations run away when they hear a loud noise; 1
the nations scatter when you spring into action! 2
33:4 Your plunder 3 disappears as if locusts were eating it; 4
they swarm over it like locusts! 5
Yesaya 33:7-9
Konteks33:7 Look, ambassadors 6 cry out in the streets;
messengers sent to make peace 7 weep bitterly.
there are no travelers. 9
Treaties are broken, 10
witnesses are despised, 11
human life is treated with disrespect. 12
33:9 The land 13 dries up 14 and withers away;
the forest of Lebanon shrivels up 15 and decays.
Sharon 16 is like the desert; 17
Bashan and Carmel 18 are parched. 19
Yesaya 33:11-12
Konteksyou give birth to chaff;
your breath is a fire that destroys you. 21
33:12 The nations will be burned to ashes; 22
like thorn bushes that have been cut down, they will be set on fire.
Yesaya 33:17-19
Konteks33:17 You will see a king in his splendor; 23
you will see a wide land. 24
33:18 Your mind will recall the terror you experienced, 25
and you will ask yourselves, 26 “Where is the scribe?
Where is the one who weighs the money?
Where is the one who counts the towers?” 27
33:19 You will no longer see a defiant 28 people
whose language you do not comprehend, 29
whose derisive speech you do not understand. 30
Yesaya 33:23
Konteks33:23 Though at this time your ropes are slack, 31
the mast is not secured, 32
and the sail 33 is not unfurled,
at that time you will divide up a great quantity of loot; 34
even the lame will drag off plunder. 35
[33:3] 1 tn Heb “at the sound of tumult the nations run away.”
[33:3] 2 tn Heb “because of your exaltation the nations scatter.”
[33:4] 3 tn The pronoun is plural; the statement is addressed to the nations who have stockpiled plunder from their conquests of others.
[33:4] 4 tn Heb “and your plunder is gathered, the gathering of the locust.”
[33:4] 5 tn Heb “like a swarm of locusts swarming on it.”
[33:7] 6 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word is unknown. Proposals include “heroes” (cf. KJV, ASV “valiant ones”; NASB, NIV “brave men”); “priests,” “residents [of Jerusalem].” The present translation assumes that the term is synonymous with “messengers of peace,” with which it corresponds in the parallel structure of the verse.
[33:7] 7 tn Heb “messengers of peace,” apparently those responsible for negotiating the agreements that have been broken (see v. 8).
[33:8] 8 tn Or “desolate” (NAB, NASB); NIV, NRSV, NLT “deserted.”
[33:8] 9 tn Heb “the one passing by on the road ceases.”
[33:8] 10 tn Heb “one breaks a treaty”; NAB “Covenants are broken.”
[33:8] 11 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “he despises cities.” The term עָרִים (’arim, “cities”) is probably a corruption of an original עֵדִים (’edim, “[legal] witnesses”), a reading that is preserved in the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa. Confusion of dalet (ד) and resh (ר) is a well-attested scribal error.
[33:8] 12 tn Heb “he does not regard human beings.”
[33:9] 13 tn Or “earth” (KJV); NAB “the country.”
[33:9] 14 tn Or “mourns” (BDB 5 s.v. I אָבַל). HALOT 6-7 lists homonyms I אבל (“mourn”) and II אבל (“dry up”). They propose the second here on the basis of parallelism. See 24:4.
[33:9] 15 tn Heb “Lebanon is ashamed.” The Hiphil is exhibitive, expressing the idea, “exhibits shame.” In this context the statement alludes to the withering of vegetation.
[33:9] 16 sn Sharon was a fertile plain along the Mediterranean coast. See 35:2.
[33:9] 17 tn Or “the Arabah” (NIV). See 35:1.
[33:9] 18 sn Both of these areas were known for their trees and vegetation. See 2:13; 35:2.
[33:9] 19 tn Heb “shake off [their leaves]” (so ASV, NRSV); NAB “are stripped bare.”
[33:11] 20 tn The second person verb and pronominal forms in this verse are plural. The hostile nations are the addressed, as the next verse makes clear.
[33:11] 21 sn The hostile nations’ plans to destroy God’s people will come to nothing; their hostility will end up being self-destructive.
[33:12] 22 tn Heb “will be a burning to lime.” See Amos 2:1.
[33:17] 23 tn Heb “your eyes will see a king in his beauty”; NIV, NRSV “the king.”
[33:17] 24 tn Heb “a land of distances,” i.e., an extensive land.
[33:18] 25 tn Heb “your heart will meditate on terror.”
[33:18] 26 tn The words “and you will ask yourselves” are supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic reasons.
[33:18] 27 sn The people refer to various Assyrian officials who were responsible for determining the amount of taxation or tribute Judah must pay to the Assyrian king.
[33:19] 28 tn The Hebrew form נוֹעָז (no’az) is a Niphal participle derived from יָעַז (ya’az, an otherwise unattested verb) or from עָזָז (’azaz, “be strong,” unattested elsewhere in the Niphal). Some prefer to emend the form to לוֹעֵז (lo’ez) which occurs in Ps 114:1 with the meaning “speak a foreign language.” See HALOT 809 s.v. עזז, 533 s.v. לעז. In this case, one might translate “people who speak a foreign language.”
[33:19] 29 tn Heb “a people too deep of lip to hear.” The phrase “deep of lip” must be an idiom meaning “lips that speak words that are unfathomable [i.e., incomprehensible].”
[33:19] 30 tn Heb “derision of tongue there is no understanding.” The Niphal of לָעַג (la’ag) occurs only here. In the Qal and Hiphil the verb means “to deride, mock.” A related noun is used in 28:11.
[33:23] 31 tn The words “though at this time” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The first half of the verse is addressed to Judah and contrasts the nation’s present weakness with its future prosperity. Judah is compared to a ship that is incapable of sailing.
[33:23] 32 tn Heb “they do not fasten the base of their mast.” On כֵּן (ken, “base”) see BDB 487 s.v. III כֵּן and HALOT 483 s.v. III כֵּן.
[33:23] 33 tn Or perhaps, “flag.”
[33:23] 34 tn Heb “then there will be divided up loot of plunder [in] abundance.”
[33:23] 35 sn Judah’s victory over its enemies will be so thorough there will be more than enough plunder for everyone, even slow-moving lame men who would normally get left out in the rush to gather the loot.
