Isaiah 19:5-6

19:5 The water of the sea will be dried up,

and the river will dry up and be empty. ¹ 

19:6 The canals ²  will stink; ³ 

the streams of Egypt will trickle and then dry up;

the bulrushes and reeds will decay,

Isaiah 35:1

The Land and Its People Are Transformed

35:1 Let the desert and dry region be happy; ⁴ 

let the wilderness ⁵  rejoice and bloom like a lily!

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¹ tn Heb “will dry up and be dry.” Two synonyms are joined for emphasis.

² tn Heb “rivers” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, CEV “streams”; TEV “channels.”

³ tn The verb form appears as a Hiphil in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a; the form in MT may be a so-called “mixed form,” reflecting the Hebrew Hiphil stem and the functionally corresponding Aramaic Aphel stem. See HALOT 276 s.v. I זנח.

⁴ tn The final mem (ם) on the verb יְשֻׂשׂוּם (yÿsusum) is dittographic (note the initial mem on the following noun מִדְבָּר [midbar]). The ambiguous verbal form is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel). The jussive is used rhetorically here, not as a literal command or prayer.

⁵ tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); NAB, NIV, TEV “desert.”