Isaiah 8:21

They will pass through the land ¹  destitute and starving. Their hunger will make them angry, ²  and they will curse their king and their God ³  as they look upward.

Ex 22:28; De 28:33,34,53-57; 2Ki 6:33; 2Ki 25:3; Job 1:11; Job 2:5,9; Pr 19:3; Isa 8:7,8; Isa 9:20; Jer 14:18; Jer 52:6; La 4:4,5,9,10; Re 9:20,21; Re 16:9-11

¹ tn Heb “he will pass through it.” The subject of the collective singular verb is the nation. (See the preceding note.) The immediately preceding context supplies no antecedent for “it” (a third feminine singular suffix in the Hebrew text); the suffix may refer to the land, which would be a reasonable referent with a verb of motion. Note also that אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”) does appear at the beginning of the next verse.

² tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

³ tn Or “gods” (NAB, NRSV, CEV).