Yesaya 4:2

The Branch of the Lord

4:2 At that time ¹ 

the crops given by the Lord will bring admiration and honor; ² 

the produce of the land will be a source of pride and delight

to those who remain in Israel. ³ 

Yesaya 14:19

14:19 But you have been thrown out of your grave

like a shoot that is thrown away. ⁴ 

You lie among ⁵  the slain,

among those who have been slashed by the sword,

among those headed for ⁶  the stones of the pit, ⁷ 

as if you were a mangled corpse. ⁸ 

Yesaya 18:5

18:5 For before the harvest, when the bud has sprouted,

and the ripening fruit appears, ⁹ 

he will cut off the unproductive shoots ¹⁰  with pruning knives;

he will prune the tendrils. ¹¹ 

[4:2]  ¹ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[4:2]  ² tn Heb “and the vegetation of the Lord will become beauty and honor.” Many English versions understand the phrase צֶמַח יְהוָה (tsemakh yÿhvah) as a messianic reference and render it, “the Branch of the Lord” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT, and others). Though צֶמַח (tsemakh) is used by later prophets of a royal descendant (Jer 23;5; 33:15; Zech 3:8; 6:12), those passages contain clear contextual indicators that a human ruler is in view and that the word is being used in a metaphorical way of offspring. However, in Isa 4:2 there are no such contextual indicators. To the contrary, in the parallel structure of the verse צֶמַח יְהוָה corresponds to “produce of the land,” a phrase that refers elsewhere exclusively to literal agricultural produce (see Num 13:20, 26; Deut 1:25). In the majority of its uses צֶמַח refers to literal crops or vegetation (in Ps 65:10 the Lord is the source of this vegetation). A reference to the Lord restoring crops would make excellent sense in Isa 4 and the prophets frequently included this theme in their visions of the future age (see Isa 30:23-24; 32:20; Jer 31:12; Ezek 34:26-29; and Amos 9:13-14).

[4:2]  ³ tn Heb “and the fruit of the land will become pride and beauty for the remnant of Israel.”

[14:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “like a shoot that is abhorred.” The simile seems a bit odd; apparently it refers to a small shoot that is trimmed from a plant and tossed away. Some prefer to emend נֵצֶר (netser, “shoot”); some propose נֵפֶל (nefel, “miscarriage”). In this case one might paraphrase: “like a horrible-looking fetus that is delivered when a woman miscarries.”

[14:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “are clothed with.”

[14:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “those going down to.”

[14:19]  ⁷ tn בּוֹר (bor) literally means “cistern”; cisterns were constructed from stones. On the metaphorical use of “cistern” for the underworld, see the note at v. 15.

[14:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “like a trampled corpse.” Some take this line with what follows.

[18:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “and the unripe, ripening fruit is maturing.”

[18:5]  ¹⁰ tn On the meaning of זַלְזַל (zalzal, “shoot [of the vine] without fruit buds”) see HALOT 272 s.v. *זַלְזַל.

[18:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the tendrils he will remove, he will cut off.”