42:25 So he poured out his fierce anger on them,
along with the devastation 1 of war.
Its flames encircled them, but they did not realize it; 2
it burned against them, but they did notice. 3
43:2 When you pass through the waters, I am with you;
when you pass 4 through the streams, they will not overwhelm you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;
the flames will not harm 5 you.
47:14 Look, they are like straw,
which the fire burns up;
they cannot rescue themselves
from the heat 6 of the flames.
There are no coals to warm them,
no firelight to enjoy. 7
1 tn Heb “strength” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “fury”; NASB “fierceness”; NIV “violence.”
2 tn Heb “and it blazed against him all around, but he did not know.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb “blazed” is the divine חֵמָה (khemah, “anger”) mentioned in the previous line.
3 tn Heb “and it burned against him, but he did not set [it] upon [the] heart.”
4 tn The verb is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
5 tn Heb “burn” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV, NLT “consume”; NIV “set you ablaze.”
6 tn Heb “hand,” here a metaphor for the strength or power of the flames.
7 tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “there is no coal [for?] their food, light to sit before it.” Some emend לַחְמָם (lakhmam, “their food”) to לְחֻמָּם (lÿkhummam, “to warm them”; see HALOT 328 s.v. חמם). This statement may allude to Isa 44:16, where idolaters are depicted warming themselves over a fire made from wood, part of which was used to form idols. The fire of divine judgment will be no such campfire; its flames will devour and destroy.