Yesaya 22:5

22:5 For the sovereign master, ¹  the Lord who commands armies,

has planned a day of panic, defeat, and confusion. ² 

In the Valley of Vision ³  people shout ⁴ 

and cry out to the hill. ⁵ 

Ratapan 2:2

ב (Bet)

2:2 The Lord ⁶  destroyed ⁷  mercilessly ⁸ 

all the homes of Jacob’s descendants. ⁹ 

In his anger he tore down

the fortified cities ¹⁰  of Daughter Judah.

He knocked to the ground and humiliated

the kingdom and its rulers. ¹¹ 

[22:5]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 12, 14, 15 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[22:5]  ² tn Heb “For [there is] a day of panic, and trampling, and confusion for the master, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].”

[22:5]  ³ tn The traditional accentuation of the Hebrew text suggests that this phrase goes with what precedes.

[22:5]  ⁴ tn The precise meaning of this statement is unclear. Some take קִר (qir) as “wall” and interpret the verb to mean “tear down.” However, tighter parallelism (note the reference to crying for help in the next line) is achieved if one takes both the verb and noun from a root, attested in Ugaritic and Arabic, meaning “make a sound.” See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:404, n. 5.

[22:5]  ⁵ sn Perhaps “the hill” refers to the temple mount.

[2:2]  ⁶ tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.

[2:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “has swallowed up.”

[2:2]  ⁸ tc The Kethib is written לֹא חָמַל (lo’ khamal, “without mercy”), while the Qere reads וְלֹא חָמַל (vÿlo’ khamal, “and he has shown no mercy”). The Kethib is followed by the LXX, while the Qere is reflected in many Hebrew mss and the ancient versions (Syriac Peshitta, Aramaic Targum, Latin Vulgate). The English versions are split between the Kethib: “The Lord swallowed all the dwellings of Jacob without mercy” (cf. RSV, NRSV, NIV, TEV, NJPS) and the Qere: “The Lord swallowed all the dwellings of Jacob, and has shown no mercy” (cf. KJV, NASB, CEV). As these words occur between a verb and its object (חָמַל [khamal] is not otherwise followed by אֵת [’et, direct object marker]), an adverbial reading is the most natural, although interrupting the sentence with an insertion is possible. Compare 2:17, 21; 3:43. In contexts of harming, to show mercy often means to spare from harm.

[2:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “all the dwellings of Jacob.”

[2:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the strongholds.”

[2:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “He brought down to the ground in disgrace the kingdom and its princes.” The verbs חִלֵּל…הִגִּיע (higgi’…khillel, “he has brought down…he has profaned”) function as a verbal hendiadys, as the absence of the conjunction ו (vav) suggests. The first verb retains its full verbal force, while the second functions adverbially: “he has brought down [direct object] in disgrace.”