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10 You were complacent in your evil deeds;[a]
you thought,[b] ‘No one sees me.’
Your self-professed[c] wisdom and knowledge lead you astray,
when you say, ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me!’[d]
11 Disaster will overtake you;
you will not know how to charm it away.[e]
Destruction will fall on you;
you will not be able to appease it.
Calamity will strike you suddenly,
before you recognize it.[f]
12 Persist[g] in trusting[h] your amulets
and your many incantations,
which you have faithfully recited[i] since your youth!
Maybe you will be successful[j]
maybe you will scare away disaster.[k]

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 47:10 tn Heb “you trusted in your evil”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “wickedness.”
  2. Isaiah 47:10 tn Or “said”; NAB “said to yourself”’ NASB “said in your heart.”
  3. Isaiah 47:10 tn The words “self-professed” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  4. Isaiah 47:10 tn See the note at v. 8.
  5. Isaiah 47:11 tc The Hebrew text has שַׁחְרָהּ (shakhrah), which is either a suffixed noun (“its dawning,” i.e., origin) or infinitive (“to look early for it”). Some have suggested an emendation to שַׁחֲדָהּ (shakhadah), a suffixed infinitive from שָׁחַד (shakhad, “[how] to buy it off”; see BDB 1005 s.v. שָׁחַד). This forms a nice parallel with the following couplet. The above translation is based on a different etymology of the verb in question. HALOT 1466 s.v. III שׁחר references a verbal root with these letters (שׁחד) that refers to magical activity.
  6. Isaiah 47:11 tn Heb “you will not know”; NIV “you cannot foresee.”
  7. Isaiah 47:12 tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”
  8. Isaiah 47:12 tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.
  9. Isaiah 47:12 tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”
  10. Isaiah 47:12 tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”
  11. Isaiah 47:12 tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.