Discovery BoxIsaiah 3:14 
Context3:14 The Lord comes to pronounce judgment
on the leaders of his people and their officials.
He says, 1 “It is you 2 who have ruined 3 the vineyard! 4
You have stashed in your houses what you have stolen from the poor. 5
Isaiah 4:4
Context4:4 At that time 6 the sovereign master 7 will wash the excrement 8 from Zion’s women,
he will rinse the bloodstains from Jerusalem’s midst, 9
as he comes to judge
and to bring devastation. 10
Isaiah 14:31
Context14:31 Wail, O city gate!
Cry out, O city!
Melt with fear, 11 all you Philistines!
For out of the north comes a cloud of smoke,
and there are no stragglers in its ranks. 12
Isaiah 59:19
Context59:19 In the west, people respect 13 the Lord’s reputation; 14
in the east they recognize his splendor. 15
For he comes like a rushing 16 stream
driven on by wind sent from the Lord. 17
Isaiah 60:22
Context60:22 The least of you will multiply into 18 a thousand;
the smallest of you will become a large nation.
When the right time comes, I the Lord will quickly do this!” 19
1 tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
2 tn The pronominal element is masculine plural; the leaders are addressed.
3 tn The verb בָּעַר (ba’ar, “graze, ruin”; HALOT 146 s.v. II בער) is a homonym of the more common בָּעַר (ba’ar, “burn”; see HALOT 145 s.v. I בער).
4 sn The vineyard is a metaphor for the nation here. See 5:1-7.
5 tn Heb “the plunder of the poor [is] in your houses” (so NASB).
6 tn Heb “when” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); CEV “after”; NRSV “once.”
7 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).
8 tn The word refers elsewhere to vomit (Isa 28:8) and fecal material (Isa 36:12). Many English versions render this somewhat euphemistically as “filth” (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV). Ironically in God’s sight the beautiful jewelry described earlier is nothing but vomit and feces, for it symbolizes the moral decay of the city’s residents (cf. NLT “moral filth”).
9 sn See 1:21 for a related concept.
10 tn Heb “by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.” The precise meaning of the second half of the verse is uncertain. רוּחַ (ruakh) can be understood as “wind” in which case the passage pictures the Lord using a destructive wind as an instrument of judgment. However, this would create a mixed metaphor, for the first half of the verse uses the imagery of washing and rinsing to depict judgment. Perhaps the image would be that of a windstorm accompanied by heavy rain. רוּחַ can also mean “spirit,” in which case the verse may be referring to the Lord’s Spirit or, more likely, to a disposition that the Lord brings to the task of judgment. It is also uncertain if בָּעַר (ba’ar) here means “burning” or “sweeping away, devastating.”
11 tn Or “despair” (see HALOT 555 s.v. מוג). The form נָמוֹג (namog) should be taken here as an infinitive absolute functioning as an imperative. See GKC 199-200 §72.v.
12 tn Heb “and there is no one going alone in his appointed places.” The meaning of this line is uncertain. בּוֹדֵד (boded) appears to be a participle from בָּדַד (badad, “be separate”; see BDB 94 s.v. בָּדַד). מוֹעָד (mo’ad) may mean “assembly” or, by extension, “multitude” (see HALOT 558 s.v. *מוֹעָד), but the referent of the third masculine pronominal suffix attached to the noun is unclear. It probably refers to the “nation” mentioned in the next line.
13 tc Heb “fear.” A few medieval Hebrew
14 tn Heb “and they fear from the west the name of the Lord.”
15 tn Heb “and from the rising of the sun his splendor.”
16 tn Heb “narrow”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “pent-up.”
17 tn Heb “the wind of the Lord drives it on.” The term רוּחַ (ruakh) could be translated “breath” here (see 30:28).
18 tn Heb “will become” (so NASB, NIV).
19 tn Heb “I, the Lord, in its time, I will quickly do it.”
