Discovery BoxIsaiah 30:7 
Context30:7 Egypt is totally incapable of helping. 1
For this reason I call her
‘Proud one 2 who is silenced.’” 3
Isaiah 49:4
Context49:4 But I thought, 4 “I have worked in vain;
I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing.” 5
But the Lord will vindicate me;
my God will reward me. 6
1 tn Heb “As for Egypt, with vanity and emptiness they help.”
2 tn Heb “Rahab” (רַהַב, rahav), which also appears as a name for Egypt in Ps 87:4. The epithet is also used in the OT for a mythical sea monster symbolic of chaos. See the note at 51:9. A number of English versions use the name “Rahab” (e.g., ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) while others attempt some sort of translation (cf. CEV “a helpless monster”; TEV, NLT “the Harmless Dragon”).
3 tn The MT reads “Rahab, they, sitting.” The translation above assumes an emendation of הֵם שָׁבֶת (hem shavet) to הַמָּשְׁבָּת (hammashbat), a Hophal participle with prefixed definite article, meaning “the one who is made to cease,” i.e., “destroyed,” or “silenced.” See HALOT 444-45 s.v. ישׁב.
4 tn Or “said” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “I replied.”
5 tn Heb “for nothing and emptiness.” Synonyms are combined to emphasize the common idea.
6 tn Heb “But my justice is with the Lord, and my reward [or “wage”] with my God.”
