Isaiah 4:3-5 New English Translation

³Those remaining in Zion,^[a] those left in Jerusalem,
will be called “holy,”^[b]
all in Jerusalem who are destined to live.^[c]
⁴At that time^[d] the Lord will wash the excrement^[e] from Zion’s women,
he will rinse the bloodstains from Jerusalem’s midst,^[f]
as he comes to judge
and to bring devastation.^[g]
⁵Then the Lord will create
over all Mount Zion^[h]
and over its convocations
a cloud and smoke by day
and a bright flame of fire by night;^[i]
indeed a canopy will accompany the Lord’s glorious presence.^[j]

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Footnotes

Isaiah 4:3 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
Isaiah 4:3 tn Or “set apart,” cf. CEV “special.”
Isaiah 4:3 tn Heb “all who are written down for life in Jerusalem.” A city register is envisioned; everyone whose name appears on the roll will be spared. This group comprises the remnant of the city referred to earlier in the verse.
Isaiah 4:4 tn Heb “when” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); CEV “after”; NRSV “once.”
Isaiah 4:4 tn The word refers elsewhere to vomit (Isa 28:8) and fecal material (Isa 36:12). Many English versions render this somewhat euphemistically as “filth” (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV). Ironically in God’s sight the beautiful jewelry described earlier is nothing but vomit and feces, for it symbolizes the moral decay of the city’s residents (cf. NLT “moral filth”).
Isaiah 4:4 sn See 1:21 for a related concept.
Isaiah 4:4 tn Heb “by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.” The precise meaning of the second half of the verse is uncertain. רוּחַ (ruakh) can be understood as “wind,” in which case the passage pictures the Lord using a destructive wind as an instrument of judgment. However, this would create a mixed metaphor, for the first half of the verse uses the imagery of washing and rinsing to depict judgment. Perhaps the image would be that of a windstorm accompanied by heavy rain. רוּחַ can also mean “spirit,” in which case the verse may be referring to the Lord’s Spirit or, more likely, to a disposition that the Lord brings to the task of judgment. It is also uncertain if בָּעַר (baʿar) here means “burning” or “sweeping away, devastating.”
Isaiah 4:5 tn Heb “over all the place, Mount Zion.” Cf. NLT “Jerusalem”; CEV “the whole city.”
Isaiah 4:5 tn Heb “a cloud by day, and smoke, and brightness of fire, a flame by night.” Though the accents in the Hebrew text suggest otherwise, it might be preferable to take “smoke” with what follows, since one would expect smoke to accompany fire.sn The imagery of the cloud by day and fire by night recalls the days of Moses, when a cloud and fire were tangible reminders that the Lord was guiding and protecting his people (Exod 13:21-22; 14:19, 24). In the future age envisioned in Isa 4, the Lord’s protective presence will be a reality.
Isaiah 4:5 tn Heb “indeed (or “for”) over all the glory, a canopy.” This may allude to Exod 40:34-35, where a cloud overshadows the meeting tent as it is filled with God’s glory.

New English Translation (NET)