1:31 The powerful will be like 1 a thread of yarn,
their deeds like a spark;
both will burn together,
and no one will put out the fire.
11:8 A baby 2 will play
over the hole of a snake; 3
over the nest 4 of a serpent
an infant 5 will put his hand. 6
14:30 The poor will graze in my pastures; 7
the needy will rest securely.
But I will kill your root by famine;
it will put to death all your survivors. 8
21:2 I have received a distressing message: 9
“The deceiver deceives,
the destroyer destroys.
Attack, you Elamites!
Lay siege, you Medes!
I will put an end to all the groaning!” 10
30:5 all will be put to shame 11
because of a nation that cannot help them,
who cannot give them aid or help,
but only shame and disgrace.”
32:11 Tremble, you complacent ones!
Shake with fear, you carefree ones!
Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves –
put sackcloth on your waist! 12
44:9 All who form idols are nothing;
the things in which they delight are worthless.
Their witnesses cannot see;
they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.
50:7 But the sovereign Lord helps me,
so I am not humiliated.
For that reason I am steadfastly resolved; 13
I know I will not be put to shame.
1 tn Heb “will become” (so NASB, NIV).
2 tn Heb “one sucking,” i.e., still being nursed by his mother.
3 tn Or perhaps, “cobra” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV); KJV, ASV, NRSV “asp.”
4 tc The Hebrew text has the otherwise unattested מְאוּרַת (mÿ’urat, “place of light”), i.e., opening of a hole. Some prefer to emend to מְעָרַת (mÿ’arat, “cave, den”).
5 tn Heb “one who is weaned” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).
6 sn The transformation of the animal kingdom depicted here typifies what will occur in human society under the just rule of the ideal king (see vv. 3-5). The categories “predator-prey” (i.e., oppressor-oppressed) will no longer exist.
7 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”).
8 tn Heb “your remnant” (so NAB, NRSV).
9 tn Heb “a severe revelation has been related to me.”
10 sn This is often interpreted to mean “all the groaning” that Babylon has caused others.
11 tn The present translation follows the marginal (Qere) reading of the Hebrew text; the consonantal text (Kethib) has “made to stink, decay.”
12 tn The imperatival forms in v. 11 are problematic. The first (חִרְדוּ, khirdu, “tremble”) is masculine plural in form, though spoken to a feminine plural addressee (שַׁאֲנַנּוֹת, sha’anannot, “complacent ones”). The four imperatival forms that follow (רְגָזָה, rÿgazah, “shake with fear”; פְּשֹׁטָה, pÿshotah, “strip off your clothes”; עֹרָה, ’orah, “expose yourselves”; and חֲגוֹרָה, khagorah, “put on”) all appear to be lengthened (so-called “emphatic”) masculine singular forms, even though they too appear to be spoken to a feminine plural addressee. GKC 131-32 §48.i suggests emending חִרְדוּ (khirdu) to חֲרָדָה (kharadah) and understanding all five imperatives as feminine plural “aramaized” forms.
13 tn Heb “Therefore I set my face like flint.”