Yesaya 14:31

14:31 Wail, O city gate!

Cry out, O city!

Melt with fear, ¹  all you Philistines!

For out of the north comes a cloud of smoke,

and there are no stragglers in its ranks. ² 

Yesaya 19:8

19:8 The fishermen will mourn and lament,

all those who cast a fishhook into the river,

and those who spread out a net on the water’s surface will grieve. ³ 

Yesaya 23:1

The Lord Will Judge Tyre

23:1 Here is a message about Tyre:

Wail, you large ships, ⁴ 

for the port is too devastated to enter! ⁵ 

From the land of Cyprus ⁶  this news is announced to them.

Yesaya 43:14

The Lord Will Do Something New

43:14 This is what the Lord says,

your protector, ⁷  the Holy One of Israel: ⁸ 

“For your sake I send to Babylon

and make them all fugitives, ⁹ 

turning the Babylonians’ joyful shouts into mourning songs. ¹⁰ 

[14:31]  ¹ tn Or “despair” (see HALOT 555 s.v. מוג). The form נָמוֹג (namog) should be taken here as an infinitive absolute functioning as an imperative. See GKC 199-200 §72.v.

[14:31]  ² tn Heb “and there is no one going alone in his appointed places.” The meaning of this line is uncertain. בּוֹדֵד (boded) appears to be a participle from בָּדַד (badad, “be separate”; see BDB 94 s.v. בָּדַד). מוֹעָד (mo’ad) may mean “assembly” or, by extension, “multitude” (see HALOT 558 s.v. *מוֹעָד), but the referent of the third masculine pronominal suffix attached to the noun is unclear. It probably refers to the “nation” mentioned in the next line.

[19:8]  ³ tn Or perhaps, “will disappear”; cf. TEV “will be useless.”

[23:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “ships of Tarshish.” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to the distant western port of Tarshish.

[23:1]  ⁵ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “for it is destroyed, from a house, from entering.” The translation assumes that the mem (מ) on בַּיִת (bayit) was originally an enclitic mem suffixed to the preceding verb. This assumption allows one to take בַּיִת as the subject of the preceding verb. It is used in a metaphorical sense for the port city of Tyre. The preposition min (מִן) prefixed to בּוֹא (bo’) indicates negative consequence: “so that no one can enter.” See BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7.b.

[23:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “the Kittim,” a designation for the people of Cyprus. See HALOT 504-05 s.v. כִּתִּיִּים.

[43:14]  ⁷ tn Or “kinsman redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[43:14]  ⁸ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[43:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “and I bring down [as] fugitives all of them.”

[43:14]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “as for the Babylonians, in ships their joyful shout.” This might be paraphrased, “even the Babylonians in the ships [over which] they joyfully shouted.” The point would be that the Lord caused the Babylonians to flee for safety in the ships in which they took such great pride. A slight change in vocalization yields the reading “into mourning songs,” which provides a good contrast with “joyful shout.” The prefixed bet (בְּ) would indicate identity.