21:8 Then the guard 1 cries out:
“On the watchtower, O sovereign master, 2
I stand all day long;
at my post
I am stationed every night.
27:3 I, the Lord, protect it; 3
I water it regularly. 4
I guard it night and day,
so no one can harm it. 5
52:12 Yet do not depart quickly
or leave in a panic. 6
For the Lord goes before you;
the God of Israel is your rear guard.
1 tn The Hebrew text has, “the lion,” but this makes little sense here. אַרְיֵה (’aryeh, “lion”) is probably a corruption of an original הָרֹאֶה (haro’eh, “the one who sees”), i.e., the guard mentioned previously in v. 6.
2 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay). Some translations take this to refer to the Lord (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV), while others take it to refer to the guard’s human master (“my lord”; cf. NIV, NLT).
3 tn Heb “her.” Apparently “vineyard” is the antecedent, though normally this noun is understood as masculine (see Lev 25:3, however).
4 tn Or perhaps, “constantly.” Heb “by moments.”
5 tn Heb “lest [someone] visit [harm] upon it, night and day I guard it.”
6 tn Heb “or go in flight”; NAB “leave in headlong flight.”