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Isaiah 30:4-6
New English Translation
Isaiah 30:4-6
New English Translation
4 Though his[a] officials are in Zoan
and his messengers arrive at Hanes,[b]
5 all will be put to shame[c]
because of a nation that cannot help them,
who cannot give them aid or help,
but only shame and disgrace.”
6 This is an oracle[d] about the animals in the Negev:
Through a land of distress and danger,
inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions,[e]
by snakes and darting adders,[f]
they transport their wealth on the backs of donkeys,
their riches on the humps of camels,
to a nation that cannot help them.[g]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 30:4 sn This probably refers to Judah’s officials and messengers.
- Isaiah 30:4 sn Zoan was located in the Egyptian delta in the north; Hanes was located somewhere in southern region of lower Egypt, south of Memphis; the exact location is debated.
- Isaiah 30:5 tn The present translation follows the marginal (Qere) reading of the Hebrew text; the consonantal text (Kethib) has “made to stink, decay.”
- Isaiah 30:6 tn See note at Isa 13:1.
- Isaiah 30:6 tc Heb “[a land of] a lioness and a lion, from them.” Some emend מֵהֶם (mehem, “from them”) to מֵהֵם (mehem), an otherwise unattested Hiphil participle from הָמַם (hamam, “move noisily”). Perhaps it would be better to take the initial mem (מ) as enclitic and emend the form to הֹמֶה (homeh), a Qal active participle from הָמָה (hamah, “to make a noise”); cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:542, n. 9.
- Isaiah 30:6 tn Heb “flying burning ones.” See the note at 14:29.
- Isaiah 30:6 sn This verse describes messengers from Judah transporting wealth to Egypt in order to buy Pharaoh’s protection through a treaty.
New English Translation (NET)
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