Discovery BoxIsaiah 22:3-5 
Context22:3 1 All your leaders ran away together –
they fled to a distant place;
all your refugees 2 were captured together –
they were captured without a single arrow being shot. 3
22:4 So I say:
“Don’t look at me! 4
I am weeping bitterly.
Don’t try 5 to console me
concerning the destruction of my defenseless people.” 6
22:5 For the sovereign master, 7 the Lord who commands armies,
has planned a day of panic, defeat, and confusion. 8
In the Valley of Vision 9 people shout 10
and cry out to the hill. 11
1 tn Verse 3 reads literally, “All your leaders ran away, apart from a bow they were captured, all your found ones were captured together, to a distant place they fled.” J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:403, n. 3) suggests that the lines of the verse are arranged chiastically; lines 1 and 4 go together, while lines 2 and 3 are parallel. To translate the lines in the order they appear in the Hebrew text is misleading to the English reader, who is likely unfamiliar with, or at least insensitive to, chiastic parallelism. Consequently, the translation above arranges the lines as follows: line 1 (Hebrew) = line 1 (in translation); line 2 (Hebrew) = line 4 (in translation); line 3 (Hebrew) = line 3 (in translation); line 4 (Hebrew) = line 2 (in translation).
2 tn Heb “all your found ones.” To achieve tighter parallelism (see “your leaders”) some prefer to emend the form to אַמִּיצַיִךְ (’ammitsayikh, “your strong ones”) or to נֶאֱמָצַיִךְ (ne’ematsayikh, “your strengthened ones”).
3 tn Heb “apart from [i.e., without] a bow they were captured”; cf. NAB, NRSV “without the use of a bow.”
4 tn Heb “look away from me” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).
5 tn Heb “don’t hurry” (so NCV).
6 tn Heb “the daughter of my people.” “Daughter” is here used metaphorically to express the speaker’s emotional attachment to his people, as well as their vulnerability and weakness.
7 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 12, 14, 15 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
8 tn Heb “For [there is] a day of panic, and trampling, and confusion for the master, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].”
9 tn The traditional accentuation of the Hebrew text suggests that this phrase goes with what precedes.
10 tn The precise meaning of this statement is unclear. Some take קִר (qir) as “wall” and interpret the verb to mean “tear down.” However, tighter parallelism (note the reference to crying for help in the next line) is achieved if one takes both the verb and noun from a root, attested in Ugaritic and Arabic, meaning “make a sound.” See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:404, n. 5.
11 sn Perhaps “the hill” refers to the temple mount.
