Isaiah 22:4-6 New English Translation
4 So I say:
“Don’t look at me![a]
I am weeping bitterly.
Don’t try[b] to console me
concerning the destruction of my defenseless people.”[c]
5 For the Sovereign[d] Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
has planned a day of panic, defeat, and confusion.[e]
In the Valley of Vision[f] people shout[g]
and cry out to the hill.[h]
6 The Elamites picked up the quiver,
and came with chariots and horsemen;[i]
the men of Kir[j] prepared[k] the shield.[l]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 22:4 tn Heb “look away from me” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).
- Isaiah 22:4 tn Heb “don’t hurry” (so NCV).
- Isaiah 22:4 tn Heb “the daughter of my people.” “Daughter” is here used metaphorically to express the speaker’s emotional attachment to his people, as well as their vulnerability and weakness.
- Isaiah 22:5 tn The Hebrew term translated “Sovereign” here and in vv. 12, 14, 15 is אֲדֹנָי (ʾadonay).
- Isaiah 22:5 tn Heb “For [there is] a day of panic, and trampling, and confusion for the master, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies [traditionally, “the Lord of hosts”].”
- Isaiah 22:5 tn The traditional accentuation of the Hebrew text suggests that this phrase goes with what precedes.
- Isaiah 22:5 tn The precise meaning of this statement is unclear. Some take קִר (qir) as “wall” and interpret the verb to mean “tear down.” However, tighter parallelism (note the reference to crying for help in the next line) is achieved if one takes both the verb and noun from a root, attested in Ugaritic and Arabic, meaning “make a sound.” See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:404, n. 5.
- Isaiah 22:5 sn Perhaps “the hill” refers to the temple mount.
- Isaiah 22:6 tn Heb “[with] the chariots of men, horsemen.”
- Isaiah 22:6 sn A distant region in the direction of Mesopotamia; see Amos 1:5; 9:7.
- Isaiah 22:6 tn Heb “Kir uncovers” (so NAB, NIV).
- Isaiah 22:6 sn The Elamites and men of Kir may here symbolize a fierce army from a distant land. If this oracle anticipates a Babylonian conquest of the city (see 39:5-7), then the Elamites and men of Kir are perhaps viewed here as mercenaries in the Babylonian army. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:410.
New English Translation (NET)
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