Isaiah 65:17

65:17 For look, I am ready to create

new heavens and a new earth! ¹ 

The former ones ²  will not be remembered;

no one will think about them anymore. ³ 

Isaiah 21:4-5

21:4 My heart palpitates, ⁴ 

I shake in fear; ⁵ 

the twilight I desired

has brought me terror.

21:5 Arrange the table,

lay out ⁶  the carpet,

eat and drink! ⁷ 

Get up, you officers,

smear oil on the shields! ⁸ 

[65:17]  ¹ sn This hyperbolic statement likens the coming transformation of Jerusalem (see vv. 18-19) to a new creation of the cosmos.

[65:17]  ² tn Or perhaps, “the former things” (so ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “The events of the past.”

[65:17]  ³ tn Heb “and they will not come up on the mind.”

[21:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “wanders,” perhaps here, “is confused.”

[21:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “shuddering terrifies me.”

[21:5]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ sn Smearing the shields with oil would make them more flexible and effective in battle. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:394.