Isaiah 5:26-28

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Isaiah 5:26 tc The Hebrew text has literally, “for nations from a distance.” The following verses use singular forms to describe this nation, so the final mem (ם) on לְגּוֹיִם (l^egoyim) may be enclitic or dittographic. In the latter case one could read לְגוֹי מֵרָחוֹק (l^egoy merakhoq, “for a nation from a distance”; see Deut 28:49; Joel 3:8). Another possibility is to emend the text from לַגּוֹיִם מֵרָחוֹק (laggoyim merakhoq) to לְגוֹי מִמֶּרְחָק (l^egoy mimmerkhaq, “for a nation from a distant place”), a phrase which occurs in Jer 5:15. In this case an error of misdivision has occurred in MT, the mem of the prefixed preposition being accidentally taken as a plural ending on the preceding word.
2. Isaiah 5:26 tn Heb “he.” Singular forms are used throughout vv. 26-30 to describe this nation, but for stylistic reasons the translation uses the plural for these collective singulars.
3. Isaiah 5:27 tn Heb “and the belt on his waist is not opened, and the thong of his sandals is not torn in two.”
4. Isaiah 5:28 tn Heb “bent” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “are strung.”
5. Isaiah 5:28 tn Heb “regarded like flint.”
6. Isaiah 5:28 sn They are like a windstorm in their swift movement and in the way they kick up dust.