14.14 Most High, Hebrew Elyon, an archaic name for the head of the pantheon, identified with the Lord in Israel (Deut 32.8–9; Ps 82.6).
14.15 The Pit, another name for the underworld.
14.16–20 The tyrant has lost his former glory in death; he does not even receive proper burial. This description best fits Sargon II, whose body was not recovered after he died in battle against mountain tribesmen. It possibly also fits Sennacherib, who was murdered by his own sons and may not have received a state funeral.
14.20 Killed your people. Sargon and especially Sennacherib slaughtered many of Babylon’s inhabitants in their attempt to gain and maintain control of the city.
14.21 A curse on the descendants of the king of Babylon.
14.22–23 Prose conclusion.
14.24–27 God’s plan is to destroy Assyria in the land of Israel (see 29.1–8; 30.27–33; 31.8–9), and no power can thwart the divine will.
14.28–32 In ca. 714 BCE, Philistia, under the leadership of Ashdod and supported by Egypt and Ethiopia, began a revolt against Assyria that was sustained for three years.
14.28 Year that King Ahaz died. Ahaz apparently died in 715 BCE (cf. 2 Kings 18.1). In that year Sargon II removed Azuri of Ashdod from the throne for plotting revolt, but after the Assyrian army departed, the revolt was restarted under new leadership (see note on 20.1–6).
14.29 Do not rejoice. Philistia’s respite will be brief. The referent of the rod is ambiguous—is it the Judean king Ahaz or one of the Assyrian kings such as Tiglath-pileser III?
14.31 Smoke…out of the north, the Assyrian army (see 5.26–30).
14.32 Philistia tried to induce Judah to join the revolt, but Isaiah opposed it (see 18.1–7; 20.1–6), urging Judah to trust instead in God’s promises to Zion.
ISAIAH 15
An Oracle concerning Moab
1An oracle concerning Moab.
Because Ar is laid waste in a night,
Moab is undone;
because Kir is laid waste in a night,
Moab is undone.
2Dibona has gone up to the temple,
to the high places to weep;
over Nebo and over Medeba
Moab wails.
On every head is baldness,
every beard is shorn;
3in the streets they bind on sackcloth;
on the housetops and in the squares
everyone wails and melts in tears.
4Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,
their voices are heard as far as Jahaz;
therefore the loins of Moab quiver;b
his soul trembles.
5My heart cries out for Moab;
his fugitives flee to Zoar,
to Eglath-shelishiyah.
For at the ascent of Luhith
they go up weeping;
on the road to Horonaim
they raise a cry of destruction;
6the waters of Nimrim
are a desolation;
the grass is withered, the new growth fails,
the verdure is no more.
7Therefore the abundance they have gained
and what they have laid up
they carry away
over the Wadi of the Willows.
8For a cry has gone
around the land of Moab;
the wailing reaches to Eglaim,
the wailing reaches to Beer-elim.
9For the waters of Dibonc are full of blood;
yet I will bring upon Dibond even more—
a lion for those of Moab who escape,
for the remnant of the land.
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a Cn: Heb the house and Dibon
b Cn Compare Gk Syr: Heb the armed men of Moab cry aloud
c Q Ms Vg Compare Syr: MT Dimon
d Q Ms Vg Compare Syr: MT Dimon
15.1–16.14 Moab, Judah’s neighbor east of the Dead Sea (Gen 19.30–37), will be destroyed (Jer 48.1–47; Ezek 25.8–11).
15.1–9 The refugees from the ruined cities of Moab are in mourning.
15.1 Ar, Moabite city located near Moab’s ancient northern border on the south bank of the Arnon River (Num 21.15, 28). Kir, probably Kir-hareseth (see 16.7), modern Kerak, eleven miles east of the Dead Sea and seventeen miles south of the Arnon.
15.2 Dibon, modern Dhiban, three miles north of the Arnon. Nebo, another city of Moab in the vicinity of Heshbon (Num 32.3, 38). Medeba, Moabite city fifteen miles southeast of the northern end of the Dead Sea. Baldness…beard is shorn. One shaved the head and beard as a sign of mourning (Lev 21.5). There is probably a wordplay here, since the Hebrew word for baldness (qorchah) has the same consonantal spelling as a Moabite place-name mentioned several times in Mesha’s Moabite Stone.
15.3 The wearing of sackcloth was another sign of mourning.
15.4 Heshbon, modern Hesban, in Moab fifty miles due east of Jerusalem. Elealeh, another city near Heshbon. Jahaz, another Moabite city of disputed location.
15.5–8 Zoar, Eglath-shelishiyah, Luhith, Horonaim, waters of Nimrim, Wadi of the Willows, Eglaim, Beer-elim, sites in Moab of uncertain location.
ISAIAH 16
1Send lambs
to the ruler of the land,
from Sela, by way of the desert,
to the mount of daughter Zion.
2Like fluttering birds,
like scattered nestlings,
so are the daughters of Moab
at the fords of the Arnon.
3“Give counsel,
grant justice;
make your shade like night
at the height of noon;
hide the outcasts,
do not betray the fugitive;
4let the outcasts of Moab
settle among you;
be a refuge to them
from the destroyer.”
When the oppressor is no more,
and destruction has ceased,
and marauders have vanished from the land,
5then a throne shall be established in steadfast love
in the tent of David,
and on it shall sit in faithfulness
a ruler who seeks justice
and is swift to do what is right.
6We have heard of the pride of Moab
—how proud he is!—
of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;
his boasts are false.
7Therefore let Moab wail,
let everyone wail for Moab.
Mourn, utterly stricken,
for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.
8For the fields of Heshbon languish,
and the vines of Sibmah,
whose clusters once made drunk
the lords of the nations,
reached to Jazer
and strayed to the desert;
their shoots once spread abroad
and crossed over the sea.
9Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer
for the vines of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
O Heshbon and Elealeh;
for the shout over your fruit harvest
and your grain harvest has ceased.
10Joy and gladness are taken away
from the fruitful field;
and in the vineyards no songs are sung,
no shouts are raised;
no treader treads out wine in the presses;
the vintage-shout is hushed.a
11Therefore my heart throbs like a harp for Moab,
and my very soul for Kir-heres.
12When Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself upon the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.
13This was the word that the LORD spoke concerning Moab in the past. 14But now the LORD says, In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all its great multitude; and those who survive will be very few and feeble.
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a Gk: Heb I have hushed
16.1–5 Moabite refugees seek asylum in Judah, and the Judean crown is urged to give them shelter.
16.1 Lambs, Moabite tribute to Judah (cf. 2 Kings 3.4). Sela, another unidentified site in Moab.
16.2 Arnon, the modern Wadi el-Mujib, which flows into the Dead Sea.
16.5 Tent of David. A future descendant of David will once again rule over Moab in justice.
16.6–11 Lament over the destruction of the vineyards of Moab. Kir-hareseth. See note on 15.1. Sibmah, a Moabite city known for its vineyards; its site is still disputed. Jazer, a site near the border with Ammon (Num 21.24 in the Septuagint). Kir-heres, alternate form of Kir-hareseth.
16.12–14 Moab’s prayers will be to no avail; within three years it will be almost completely devastated.
ISAIAH 17
An Oracle concerning Damascus
1An oracle concerning Damascus.
See, Damascus will cease to be a city,
and will become a heap of ruins.
2Her towns will be deserted forever;a
they will be places for flocks,
which will lie down, and no one will make them afraid.
3The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,
and the kingdom from Damascus;
and the remnant of Aram will be
like the glory of the children of Israel,
says the LORD of hosts.
4On that day
the glory of Jacob will be brought low,
and the fat of his flesh will grow lean.
5And it shall be as when reapers gather standing grain
and their arms harvest the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.
6Gleanings will be left in it,
as when an olive tree is beaten—
two or three berries
in the top of the highest bough,
four or five
on the branches of a fruit tree,
says the LORD God of Israel.
7On that day people will regard their Maker, and their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel; 8they will not have regard for the altars, the work of their hands, and they will not look to what their own fingers have made, either the sacred polesb or the altars of incense.
9On that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the Hivites and the Amorites,c which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.
10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation,
and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
and set out slips of an alien god,
11though you make them grow on the day that you plant them,
and make them blossom in the morning that you sow;
yet the harvest will flee away
in a day of grief and incurable pain.
12Ah, the thunder of many peoples,
they thunder like the thundering of the sea!
Ah, the roar of nations,
they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!
13The nations roar like the roaring of many waters,
but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind
and whirling dust before the storm.
14At evening time, lo, terror!
Before morning, they are no more.
This is the fate of those who despoil us,
and the lot of those who plunder us.
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a Cn Compare Gk: Heb the cities of Aroer are deserted
b Heb Asherim
c Cn Compare Gk: Heb places of the wood and the highest bough
17.1–6 The Aramean and Israelite nations allied against Judah in the Syro-Ephraimite war (735–732 BCE) will be totally destroyed (cf. 7.1–8.4).
17.1 Damascus, the capital of the Aramean state.
17.3 Ephraim, a designation for the Northern Kingdom, Israel.
17.4 Cf. the imagery in 10.16.
17.5 Rephaim, a valley just outside of Jerusalem (2 Sam 5.18); its proximity to the heavily populated city meant that it would be thoroughly gleaned (see Deut 24.19–22; Ruth 2.2–23) by the landless urban poor.
17.7–11 Judgment on idolatry (cf. 1.29–31; 2.8, 20).
17.7–8 After God’s judgment on Israel the people will turn back to him from their idols. The work of their hands. Altars and altars of incense were used in the worship of the Lord; the prophet probably takes exception to these because they were dedicated to either a foreign deity or a Northern form of the Lord, such as the “Yahweh of Samaria” attested from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud, which the Judean prophet considered idolatrous. Sacred pole, a wooden cult object or actual tree that represented the Canaanite goddess Asherah; in syncretistic popular Israelite religion Asherah was sometimes identified as the spouse of the Lord.
17.9 Israel’s cities will be as devastated as those of the Hivites and Amorites, the original inhabitants of Palestine (Deut 7.1), when Israel displaced them.
17.10–11 This devastation will befall Israel because it had deserted God, who saved it.
17.10 Rock, a standard metaphor for God as a source of refuge (30.29). Plants, slips, perhaps sacred groves planted in honor of other gods (1.29–31).
17.12–14 Though Jerusalem’s enemies roar like the chaotic waters of the stormy sea (Pss 46.1–3; 93.3–4), God will drive them away before morning. Perhaps originally directed against the Syro-Ephraimite coalition (cf. 8.9–10), this oracle could easily be reapplied to the later threat from Assyria (5.30; 8.7; 28.17; 29.7).
ISAIAH 18
An Oracle concerning Ethiopia
1Ah, land of whirring wings
beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,a
2sending ambassadors by the Nile
in vessels of papyrus on the waters!
Go, you swift messengers,
to a nation tall and smooth,
to a people feared near and far,
a nation mighty and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide.
3All you inhabitants of the world,
you who live on the earth,
when a signal is raised on the mountains, look!
When a trumpet is blown, listen!
4For thus the LORD said to me:
I will quietly look from my dwelling
like clear heat in sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
5For before the harvest, when the blossom is over
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off the shoots with pruning hooks,
and the spreading branches he will hew away.
6They shall all be left
to the birds of prey of the mountains
and to the animals of the earth.
And the birds of prey will summer on them,
and all the animals of the earth will winter on them.
7At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD of hosts fromb a people tall and smooth, from a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divide, to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the LORD of hosts.
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a Or Nubia; Heb Cush
b Q Ms Gk Vg: MT of
18.1–7 The background for this oracle may be Ethiopia’s support for Ashdod’s revolt against Assyria in 714 BCE. In opposition to the Ethiopian messengers encouraging Judah to join this revolt (see 14.32; 20.1–6), Isaiah insists that one must wait for God’s appointed time of harvest.
18.2 A nation tall and smooth. The Nubians of ancient Ethiopia were black, tall, and, unlike the soldiers of most armies Israel encountered, clean shaven. Land the rivers divide, ancient Ethiopia or Nubia, divided by the branches of the Nile.
18.4 My dwelling, Mount Zion (see v. 7).
ISAIAH 19
An Oracle concerning Egypt
1An oracle concerning Egypt.
See, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud
and comes to Egypt;
the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
2I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
and they will fight, one against the other,
neighbor against neighbor,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom;
3the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,
and I will confound their plans;
they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead
and the ghosts and the familiar spirits;
4I will deliver the Egyptians
into the hand of a hard master;
a fierce king will rule over them,
says the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts.
5The waters of the Nile will be dried up,
and the river will be parched and dry;
6its canals will become foul,
and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up,
reeds and rushes will rot away.
7There will be bare places by the Nile,
on the brink of the Nile;
and all that is sown by the Nile will dry up,
be driven away, and be no more.
8Those who fish will mourn;
all who cast hooks in the Nile will lament,
and those who spread nets on the water will languish.
9The workers in flax will be in despair,
and the carders and those at the loom will grow pale.
10Its weavers will be dismayed,
and all who work for wages will be grieved.
11The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish;
the wise counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am one of the sages,
a descendant of ancient kings”?
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