Discovery BoxIsaiah 28:13 
Context28:13 So the Lord’s word to them will sound like
meaningless gibberish,
senseless babbling,
a syllable here, a syllable there. 1
As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk, 2
and be injured, ensnared, and captured. 3
Isaiah 45:14
Context45:14 This is what the Lord says:
“The profit 4 of Egypt and the revenue 5 of Ethiopia,
along with the Sabeans, those tall men,
will be brought to you 6 and become yours.
They will walk behind you, coming along in chains. 7
They will bow down to you
and pray to you: 8
‘Truly God is with 9 you; he has no peer; 10
there is no other God!’”
Isaiah 46:7
Context46:7 They put it on their shoulder and carry it;
they put it in its place and it just stands there;
it does not 11 move from its place.
Even when someone cries out to it, it does not reply;
it does not deliver him from his distress.
1 tn Heb “And the word of the Lord will be to them, ‘tsahv latsahv,’ etc.” See the note at v. 10. In this case the “Lord’s word” is not the foreigner’s strange sounding words (as in v. 10), but the Lord’s repeated appeals to them (like the one quoted in v. 12). As time goes on, the Lord’s appeals through the prophets will have no impact on the people; they will regard prophetic preaching as gibberish.
2 tn Heb “as a result they will go and stumble backward.” Perhaps an infant falling as it attempts to learn to walk is the background image here (cf. v. 9b). The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) could be taken as indicating purpose (“in order that”), rather than simple result. In this case the people’s insensitivity to the message is caused by the Lord as a means of expediting their downfall.
3 sn When divine warnings and appeals become gibberish to the spiritually insensitive, they have no guidance and are doomed to destruction.
4 tn Heb “labor,” which stands metonymically for the fruits of labor, either “monetary profit,” or “products.”
5 tn Or perhaps, “merchandise” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “the gain of Ethiopia”; CEV “the treasures of Ethiopia.”
6 tn Heb “they will pass over to you”; NASB, NIV “will come over to you”; CEV “will belong to you.”
7 sn Restored Israel is depicted here in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion as an imperial power that receives riches and slaves as tribute.
8 sn Israel’s vassals are portrayed as so intimidated and awed that they treat Israel as an intermediary to God or sub-deity.
9 tn Or perhaps, “among.” Cf. KJV, ASV “Surely God is in thee.”
10 tn Heb “there is no other” (so NIV, NRSV). The same phrase occurs at the end of v. 18, in v. 21, and at the end of v. 22.
11 tn Or perhaps, “cannot,” here and in the following two lines. The imperfect forms can indicate capability.
