27:6 The time is coming when Jacob will take root; 1
Israel will blossom and grow branches.
The produce 2 will fill the surface of the world. 3
34:13 Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns;
thickets and weeds will grow 4 in her fortified cities.
Jackals will settle there;
ostriches will live there. 5
35:7 The dry soil will become a pool of water,
the parched ground springs of water.
Where jackals once lived and sprawled out,
grass, reeds, and papyrus will grow.
42:4 He will not grow dim or be crushed 6
before establishing justice on the earth;
the coastlands 7 will wait in anticipation for his decrees.” 8
44:14 He cuts down cedars
and acquires a cypress 9 or an oak.
He gets 10 trees from the forest;
he plants a cedar 11 and the rain makes it grow.
57:16 For I will not be hostile 12 forever
or perpetually angry,
for then man’s spirit would grow faint before me, 13
the life-giving breath I created.
1 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “the coming ones, let Jacob take root.” הַבָּאִים (habba’im, “the coming ones”) should probably be emended to יָמִים בָאִים (yamim va’im, “days [are] coming”) or בְּיָמִים הַבָּאִים (biyamim habba’im, “in the coming days”).
2 tn Heb “fruit” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
3 sn This apparently refers to a future population explosion. See 26:18.
4 tn The words “will grow” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
5 tc Heb “and she will be a settlement for wild dogs, a dwelling place for ostriches.” The translation assumes an emendation of חָצִיר (khatsir, “grass”) to חָצֵר (khatser, “settlement”). One of the Qumran scrolls of Isaiah (1QIsaa) supports this emendation (cf. HALOT 344 s.v. II חָצִיר)
6 tn For rhetorical effect the terms used to describe the “crushed (רָצַץ, ratsats) reed” and “dim (כָּהָה, kahah) wick” in v. 3 are repeated here.
7 tn Or “islands” (NIV); NLT “distant lands beyond the sea.”
8 tn Or “his law” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV) or “his instruction” (NLT).
9 tn It is not certain what type of tree this otherwise unattested noun refers to. Cf. ASV “a holm-tree” (NRSV similar).
10 tn Heb “strengthens for himself,” i.e., “secures for himself” (see BDB 55 s.v. אָמֵץ Pi.2).
11 tn Some prefer to emend אֹרֶן (’oren) to אֶרֶז (’erez, “cedar”), but the otherwise unattested noun appears to have an Akkadian cognate, meaning “cedar.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 44-45. HALOT 90 s.v. I אֹרֶן offers the meaning “laurel.”
12 tn Or perhaps, “argue,” or “accuse” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).
13 tn Heb “for a spirit from before me would be faint.”