Isaiah 4:1-3

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Isaiah 4:1 tn Or “in that day” (ASV).sn The seven-to-one ratio emphasizes the great disparity that will exist in the population due to the death of so many men in battle.
2. Isaiah 4:1 tn Heb “eat” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “buy.”
3. Isaiah 4:1 tn Heb “wear” (so NASB, NRSV); NCV “make.”sn In Jewish understanding a husband should provide food and cloth to his wife. These women are so desperate as to be willing to exempt the man from some of his traditional, fundamental duties as a husband.
4. Isaiah 4:1 tn Heb “only let your name be called over us.”
5. Isaiah 4:1 sn This refers to the humiliation of being unmarried and childless. The women’s words reflect the cultural standards of ancient Israel, where a woman’s primary duties were to be a wife and mother.
6. Isaiah 4:2 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).
7. Isaiah 4:2 tn Heb “and the vegetation of the Lord will become beauty and honor.” Many English versions understand the phrase צֶמַח יְהוָה (tsemakh y^ehvah) as a messianic reference and render it, “the Branch of the Lord” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT, and others). Though צֶמַח (tsemakh) is used by later prophets of a royal descendant (Jer 23:5; 33:15; Zech 3:8; 6:12), those passages contain clear contextual indicators that a human ruler is in view and that the word is being used in a metaphorical way of offspring. However, in Isa 4:2 there are no such contextual indicators. To the contrary, in the parallel structure of the verse צֶמַח יְהוָה corresponds to “produce of the land,” a phrase that refers elsewhere exclusively to literal agricultural produce (see Num 13:20, 26; Deut 1:25). In the majority of its uses צֶמַח refers to literal crops or vegetation (in Ps 65:10 the Lord is the source of this vegetation). A reference to the Lord restoring crops would make excellent sense in Isa 4 and the prophets frequently included this theme in their visions of the future age (see Isa 30:23-24; 32:20; Jer 31:12; Ezek 34:26-29; and Amos 9:13-14).
8. Isaiah 4:2 tn Heb “and the fruit of the land will become pride and beauty for the remnant of Israel.”
9. 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.
10. Isaiah 4:3 tn Or “set apart,” cf. CEV “special.”
11. 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.