Yesaya 47:8-11

47:8 So now, listen to this,

O one who lives so lavishly, ¹ 

who lives securely,

who says to herself, ² 

‘I am unique! No one can compare to me! ³ 

I will never have to live as a widow;

I will never lose my children.’ ⁴ 

47:9 Both of these will come upon you

suddenly, in one day!

You will lose your children and be widowed. ⁵ 

You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, ⁶ 

despite ⁷  your many incantations

and your numerous amulets. ⁸ 

47:10 You were complacent in your evil deeds; ⁹ 

you thought, ¹⁰  ‘No one sees me.’

Your self-professed ¹¹  wisdom and knowledge lead you astray,

when you say, ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me!’ ¹² 

47:11 Disaster will overtake you;

you will not know how to charm it away. ¹³ 

Destruction will fall on you;

you will not be able to appease it.

Calamity will strike you suddenly,

before you recognize it. ¹⁴ 

[47:8]  ¹ tn Or perhaps, “voluptuous one” (NAB); NAB “you sensual one”; NLT “You are a pleasure-crazy kingdom.”

[47:8]  ² tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”

[47:8]  ³ tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.” See Zeph 2:15.

[47:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “I will not live [as] a widow, and I will not know loss of children.”

[47:9]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “according to their fullness, they will come upon you.”

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

[47:9]  ⁸ 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.

[47:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “you trusted in your evil”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “wickedness.”

[47:10]  ¹⁰ tn Or “said”; NAB “said to yourself”’ NASB “said in your heart.”

[47:10]  ¹¹ tn The words “self-professed” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[47:10]  ¹² tn See the note at v. 8.

[47:11]  ¹³ tc The Hebrew text has שַׁחְרָהּ (shakhrah), which is either a suffixed noun (“its dawning,” i.e., origin) or infinitive (“to look early for it”). Some have suggested an emendation to שַׁחֲדָהּ (shakhadah), a suffixed infinitive from שָׁחַד (shakhad, “[how] to buy it off”; see BDB 1005 s.v. שָׁחַד). This forms a nice parallel with the following couplet. The above translation is based on a different etymology of the verb in question. HALOT 1466 s.v. III שׁחר references a verbal root with these letters (שׁחד) that refers to magical activity.

[47:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “you will not know”; NIV “you cannot foresee.”