Yesaya 14:30-31

14:30 The poor will graze in my pastures; ¹ 

the needy will rest securely.

But I will kill your root by famine;

it will put to death all your survivors. ² 

14:31 Wail, O city gate!

Cry out, O city!

Melt with fear, ³  all you Philistines!

For out of the north comes a cloud of smoke,

and there are no stragglers in its ranks. ⁴ 

[14:30]  ¹ tc The Hebrew text has, “the firstborn of the poor will graze.” “Firstborn” may be used here in an idiomatic sense to indicate the very poorest of the poor. See BDB 114 s.v. בְּכוֹר. The translation above assumes an emendation of בְּכוֹרֵי (bÿkhorey, “firstborn of”) to בְּכָרַי (bekharay, “in my pastures”).

[14:30]  ² tn Heb “your remnant” (so NAB, NRSV).

[14:31]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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.