Isaiah 16:9-11

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Isaiah 16:9 tn Heb “So I weep with the weeping of Jazer.” Once more the speaker (the Lord?—see v. 10b) plays the role of a mourner (see 15:5).
2. Isaiah 16:9 tc The form אֲרַיָּוֶךְ (ʾarayyavekh) should be emended to אֲרַוָּיֶךְ (ʾaravvayekh; the vav [ו] and yod [י] have been accidentally transposed) from רָוָה (ravah, “be saturated”).
3. Isaiah 16:9 tn Heb “for over your fruit and over your harvest shouting has fallen.” The translation assumes that the shouting is that of the conqueror (Jer 51:14). Another possibility is that the shouting is that of the harvesters (see v. 10b, as well as Jer 25:30), in which case one might translate, “for the joyful shouting over the fruit and crops has fallen silent.”
4. Isaiah 16:10 tn Heb “wine in the vats the treader does not tread.”
5. Isaiah 16:10 sn The Lord appears to be the speaker here. See 15:9.
6. Isaiah 16:11 tn Heb “so my intestines sigh for Moab like a harp.” The word מֵעַי (meʿay, “intestines”) is used here of the seat of the emotions. English idiom requires the word “heart.” The point of the comparison to a harp is not entirely clear. Perhaps his sighs of mourning resemble a harp in sound, or his constant sighing is like the repetitive strumming of a harp.
7. Isaiah 16:11 tn The verb is supplied in the translation; “sighs” in the preceding line does double duty in the parallel structure.
8. Isaiah 16:11 tn Heb “Kir Heres” (so ASV, NRSV, TEV, CEV), a variant name for “Kir Hareseth” (see v. 7).