17:3 Fortified cities will disappear from Ephraim,
and Damascus will lose its kingdom. 1
The survivors in Syria
will end up like the splendor of the Israelites,”
says the Lord who commands armies.
25:2 Indeed, 2 you have made the city 3 into a heap of rubble,
the fortified town into a heap of ruins;
the fortress of foreigners 4 is no longer a city,
it will never be rebuilt.
25:12 The fortified city (along with the very tops of your 5 walls) 6 he will knock down,
he will bring it down, he will throw it down to the dusty ground. 7
27:10 For the fortified city 8 is left alone;
it is a deserted settlement
and abandoned like the desert.
Calves 9 graze there;
they lie down there
and eat its branches bare. 10
37:26 11 Certainly you must have heard! 12
Long ago I worked it out,
in ancient times I planned 13 it,
and now I am bringing it to pass.
The plan is this:
Fortified cities will crash
into heaps of ruins. 14
1 tn Heb “and kingship from Damascus”; cf. NASB “And sovereignty from Damascus.”
2 tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).
3 tn The Hebrew text has “you have made from the city.” The prefixed mem (מ) on עִיר (’ir, “city”) was probably originally an enclitic mem suffixed to the preceding verb. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:456, n. 3.
4 tc Some with support from the LXX emend זָרִים (zarim, “foreigners”) to זֵדִים (zedim, “the insolent”).
5 sn Moab is addressed.
6 tn Heb “a fortification, the high point of your walls.”
7 tn Heb “he will bring [it] down, he will make [it] touch the ground, even to the dust.”
8 sn The identity of this city is uncertain. The context suggests that an Israelite city, perhaps Samaria or Jerusalem, is in view. For discussions of interpretive options see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:496-97, and Paul L. Redditt, “Once Again, the City in Isaiah 24-27,” HAR 10 (1986), 332.
9 tn The singular form in the text is probably collective.
10 tn Heb “and destroy her branches.” The city is the antecedent of the third feminine singular pronominal suffix. Apparently the city is here compared to a tree. See also v. 11.
11 tn Having quoted the Assyrian king’s arrogant words in vv. 23-24, the Lord now speaks to the king.
12 tn Heb “Have you not heard?” The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s amazement that anyone might be ignorant of what he is about to say.
13 tn Heb “formed” (so KJV, ASV).
14 tn Heb “and it is to cause to crash into heaps of ruins fortified cities.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb תְהִי (tÿhi) is the implied plan, referred to in the preceding lines with third feminine singular pronominal suffixes.