Isaiah 18:4

18:4 For this is what the Lord has told me:

“I will wait 1  and watch from my place,

like scorching heat produced by the sunlight, 2 

like a cloud of mist 3  in the heat 4  of harvest.” 5 

1 tn Or “be quiet, inactive”; NIV “will remain quiet.”

2 tn Heb “like the glowing heat because of light.” The precise meaning of the line is uncertain.

3 tn Heb “a cloud of dew,” or “a cloud of light rain.”

4 tc Some medieval Hebrew mss, with support from the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Latin Vulgate, read “the day.”

5 sn It is unclear how the comparisons in v. 4b relate to the preceding statement. How is waiting and watching similar to heat or a cloud? For a discussion of interpretive options, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:362.