Isaiah 22:2

22:2 The noisy city is full of raucous sounds;

the town is filled with revelry.

Your slain were not cut down by the sword;

they did not die in battle.

Isaiah 22:12-13

22:12 At that time the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, called for weeping and mourning,

for shaved heads and sackcloth.

22:13 But look, there is outright celebration!

You say, “Kill the ox and slaughter the sheep,

eat meat and drink wine.

Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”


tn Heb “the boisterous town.” The phrase is parallel to “the noisy city” in the preceding line.

sn Apparently they died from starvation during the siege that preceded the final conquest of the city. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:409.

tn Heb “for baldness and the wearing of sackcloth.” See the note at 15:2.

tn Heb “happiness and joy.”

tn The prophet here quotes what the fatalistic people are saying. The introductory “you say” is supplied in the translation for clarification; the concluding verb “we die” makes it clear the people are speaking. The six verbs translated as imperatives are actually infinitives absolute, functioning here as finite verbs.