Isaiah 33:8

33:8 Highways are empty,

there are no travelers.

Treaties are broken,

witnesses are despised,

human life is treated with disrespect.


tn Or “desolate” (NAB, NASB); NIV, NRSV, NLT “deserted.”

tn Heb “the one passing by on the road ceases.”

tn Heb “one breaks a treaty”; NAB “Covenants are broken.”

tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “he despises cities.” The term עָרִים (’arim, “cities”) is probably a corruption of an original עֵדִים (’edim, “[legal] witnesses”), a reading that is preserved in the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa. Confusion of dalet (ד) and resh (ר) is a well-attested scribal error.

tn Heb “he does not regard human beings.”