32:14 For the fortress is neglected;
the once-crowded 1 city is abandoned.
Hill 2 and watchtower
are permanently uninhabited. 3
Wild donkeys love to go there,
and flocks graze there. 4
40:6 A voice says, “Cry out!”
Another asks, 5 “What should I cry out?”
The first voice responds: 6 “All people are like grass, 7
and all their promises 8 are like the flowers in the field.
48:12 Listen to me, O Jacob,
Israel, whom I summoned!
I am the one;
I am present at the very beginning
and at the very end. 9
1 tn Or “noisy” (NAB, NIV, NCV).
2 tn Hebrew עֹפֶל (’ofel), probably refers here to a specific area within the city of Jerusalem. See HALOT 861 s.v. II עֹפֶל.
3 tn The Hebrew text has בְעַד מְעָרוֹת (vÿ’ad mÿ’arot). The force of בְעַד, which usually means “behind, through, round about,” or “for the benefit of,” is uncertain here. HALOT 616 s.v. *מְעָרָה takes מְעָרוֹת (mÿ’arot) as a homonym of “cave” and define it here as “cleared field.” Despite these lexical problems, the general point of the statement seems clear – the city will be uninhabited.
4 tn Heb “the joy of wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks.”
5 tn Heb “and he says.” Apparently a second “voice” responds to the command of the first “voice.”
6 tn The words “the first voice responds” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The first voice tells the second one what to declare.
7 tn Heb “all flesh is grass.” The point of the metaphor is explained in v. 7.
8 tn Heb “and all his loyalty.” The antecedent of the third masculine suffix is בָּשָׂר (basar, “flesh”), which refers collectively to mankind. The LXX, apparently understanding the antecedent as “grass,” reads “glory,” but חֶסֶד (khesed) rarely, if ever, has this nuance. The normal meaning of חֶסֶד (“faithfulness, loyalty, devotion”) fits very well in the argument. Human beings and their faithfulness (verbal expressions of faithfulness are specifically in view; cf. NRSV “constancy”) are short-lived and unreliable, in stark contrast to the decrees and promises of the eternal God.
9 tn Heb “I [am] he, I [am the] first, also I [am the] last.”