Discovery BoxIsaiah 47:10-11 
Context47:10 You were complacent in your evil deeds; 1
you thought, 2 ‘No one sees me.’
Your self-professed 3 wisdom and knowledge lead you astray,
when you say, ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me!’ 4
47:11 Disaster will overtake you;
you will not know how to charm it away. 5
Destruction will fall on you;
you will not be able to appease it.
Calamity will strike you suddenly,
before you recognize it. 6
1 tn Heb “you trusted in your evil”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “wickedness.”
2 tn Or “said”; NAB “said to yourself”’ NASB “said in your heart.”
3 tn The words “self-professed” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
5 tc The Hebrew text has שַׁחְרָהּ (shakhrah), which is either a suffixed noun (“its dawning,” i.e., origin) or infinitive (“to look early for it”). Some have suggested an emendation to שַׁחֲדָהּ (shakhadah), a suffixed infinitive from שָׁחַד (shakhad, “[how] to buy it off”; see BDB 1005 s.v. שָׁחַד). This forms a nice parallel with the following couplet. The above translation is based on a different etymology of the verb in question. HALOT 1466 s.v. III שׁחר references a verbal root with these letters (שׁחד) that refers to magical activity.
6 tn Heb “you will not know”; NIV “you cannot foresee.”
