Yesaya 47:9

47:9 Both of these will come upon you

suddenly, in one day!

You will lose your children and be widowed. ¹ 

You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, ² 

despite ³  your many incantations

and your numerous amulets. ⁴ 

Yesaya 47:11

47:11 Disaster will overtake you;

you will not know how to charm it away. ⁵ 

Destruction will fall on you;

you will not be able to appease it.

Calamity will strike you suddenly,

before you recognize it. ⁶ 

[47:9]  ¹ tn Heb “loss of children and widowhood.” In the Hebrew text the phrase is in apposition to “both of these” in line 1.

[47:9]  ² tn Heb “according to their fullness, they will come upon you.”

[47:9]  ³ tn For other examples of the preposition bet (בְּ) having the sense of “although, despite,” see BDB 90 s.v. III.7.

[47:9]  ⁴ sn Reference is made to incantations and amulets, both of which were important in Mesopotamian religion. They were used to ward off danger and demons.

[47:11]  ⁵ tc The Hebrew text has שַׁחְרָהּ (shakhrah), which is either a suffixed noun (“its dawning,” i.e., origin) or infinitive (“to look early for it”). Some have suggested an emendation to שַׁחֲדָהּ (shakhadah), a suffixed infinitive from שָׁחַד (shakhad, “[how] to buy it off”; see BDB 1005 s.v. שָׁחַד). This forms a nice parallel with the following couplet. The above translation is based on a different etymology of the verb in question. HALOT 1466 s.v. III שׁחר references a verbal root with these letters (שׁחד) that refers to magical activity.

[47:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “you will not know”; NIV “you cannot foresee.”