Isaiah 27:4-6

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Isaiah 27:4 tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense. For other examples of a cohortative expressing resolve after a hypothetical statement introduced by מִי with נָתָן (mi with natan), see Judg 9:29; Jer 9:1-2; Ps 55:6.
2. Isaiah 27:4 tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense.
3. Isaiah 27:5 tn Heb “or let him take hold of my refuge.” The subject of the third masculine singular verb form is uncertain. Apparently the symbolic “thorns and briers” are in view, though in v. 4b a feminine singular pronoun was used to refer to them.
4. Isaiah 27:5 tc The Hebrew text has, “he makes peace with me; peace he makes with me.” Some contend that two alternative readings are preserved here and one should be deleted. The first has the object שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “peace”) preceding the verb עָשָׂה (ʿasah, “make”); the second reverses the order. Another option is to retain both statements, although repetitive, to emphasize the need to make peace with Yahweh.
5. Isaiah 27:6 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “the coming ones, let Jacob take root.” הַבָּאִים (habbaʾim, “the coming ones”) should probably be emended to יָמִים בָּאִים (yamim baʾim, “days [are] coming”) or בְּיָמִים הַבָּאִים (biyamim habbaʾim, “in the coming days”).
6. Isaiah 27:6 tn Heb “fruit” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
7. Isaiah 27:6 sn This apparently refers to a future population explosion. See 26:18.