Yesaya 1:7

1:7 Your land is devastated,

your cities burned with fire.

Right before your eyes your crops

are being destroyed by foreign invaders. ¹ 

They leave behind devastation and destruction. ² 

Yesaya 3:16

Washing Away Impurity

3:16 The Lord says,

“The women ³  of Zion are proud.

They walk with their heads high ⁴ 

and flirt with their eyes.

They skip along ⁵ 

and the jewelry on their ankles jingles. ⁶ 

Yesaya 38:14

38:14 Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp,

I coo ⁷  like a dove;

my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky. ⁸ 

O sovereign master, ⁹  I am oppressed;

help me! ¹⁰ 

[1:7]  ¹ tn Heb “As for your land, before you foreigners are devouring it.”

[1:7]  ² tn Heb “and [there is] devastation like an overthrow by foreigners.” The comparative preposition כְּ (kÿ, “like, as”) has here the rhetorical nuance, “in every way like.” The point is that the land has all the earmarks of a destructive foreign invasion because that is what has indeed happened. One could paraphrase, “it is desolate as it can only be when foreigners destroy.” On this use of the preposition in general, see GKC 376 §118.x. Many also prefer to emend “foreigners” here to “Sodom,” though there is no external attestation for such a reading in the mss or ancient versions. Such an emendation finds support from the following context (vv. 9-10) and usage of the preceding noun מַהְפֵּכָה (mahpekhah, “overthrow”). In its five other uses, this noun is associated with the destruction of Sodom. If one accepts the emendation, then one might translate, “the devastation resembles the destruction of Sodom.”

[3:16]  ³ tn Heb “daughters” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV).

[3:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “with an outstretched neck.” They proudly hold their heads high so that others can see the jewelry around their necks.

[3:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “walking and skipping, they walk.”

[3:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “and with their feet they jingle.”

[38:14]  ⁷ tn Or “moan” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); KJV, CEV “mourn.”

[38:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “my eyes become weak, toward the height.”

[38:14]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in v. 16 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[38:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “stand surety for me.” Hezekiah seems to be picturing himself as a debtor who is being exploited; he asks that the Lord might relieve his debt and deliver him from the oppressive creditor.