Isaiah 13:19-21

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Isaiah 13:19 tn Or “most beautiful” (NCV, TEV).
2. Isaiah 13:19 tn Heb “the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans.”sn The Chaldeans were a group of tribes who lived in southern Mesopotamia. They established the so-called neo-Babylonian empire in the late seventh century b.c. Their most famous king, Nebuchadnezzar, conquered Judah in 605 b.c. and destroyed Jerusalem in 586 b.c.
3. Isaiah 13:19 tn Heb “and Babylon…will be like the overthrow by God of Sodom and Gomorrah.” On מַהְפֵּכַת (mahpekhat, “overthrow”) see the note on the word “destruction” in 1:7.
4. Isaiah 13:20 tn Heb “she will not be inhabited forever, and she will not be dwelt in to generation and generation (i.e., forever).” The Lord declares that Babylon, personified as a woman, will not be inhabited. In other words, her people will be destroyed, and the Chaldean empire will come to a permanent end.
5. Isaiah 13:20 tn Or “Arab” (NAB, NASB, NIV); cf. CEV, NLT “nomads.”
6. Isaiah 13:20 tn יַהֵל (yahel) is probably an alternate form or a scribal error of יֶאֱהַל (yeʾehal). See GKC 186 §68.k.
7. Isaiah 13:20 tn The words “their flocks” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Hebrew text does not supply the object here, but see Jer 33:12.
8. Isaiah 13:21 tn The word “ruined” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
9. Isaiah 13:21 tn The precise referent of this word in uncertain. See HALOT 29 s.v. *אֹחַ. Various English versions translate as “owls” (e.g., NAB, NASB), “wild dogs” (NCV); “jackals” (NIV); “howling creatures” (NRSV, NLT).
10. Isaiah 13:21 tn Heb “will skip there.”