Yesaya 1:3

1:3 An ox recognizes its owner,

a donkey recognizes where its owner puts its food; ¹ 

but Israel does not recognize me, ² 

my people do not understand.”

Yesaya 27:11

27:11 When its branches get brittle, ³  they break;

women come and use them for kindling. ⁴ 

For these people lack understanding, ⁵ 

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

[1:3]  ¹ tn Heb “and the donkey the feeding trough of its owner.” The verb in the first line does double duty in the parallelism.

[1:3]  ² tn Although both verbs have no object, the parallelism suggests that Israel fails to recognize the Lord as the one who provides for their needs. In both clauses, the placement of “Israel” and “my people” at the head of the clause focuses the reader’s attention on the rebellious nation (C. van der Merwe, J. Naudé, J. Kroeze, A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar, 346-47).

[27:11]  ³ tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[27:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.

[27:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”