Isaiah 33:17-19

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Isaiah 33:17 tn Heb “your eyes will see a king in his beauty”; NIV, NRSV “the king.”
2. Isaiah 33:17 tn Heb “a land of distances,” i.e., an extensive land.
3. Isaiah 33:18 tn Heb “your heart will meditate on terror.”
4. Isaiah 33:18 tn The words “and you will ask yourselves” are supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic reasons.
5. Isaiah 33:18 sn The people refer to various Assyrian officials who were responsible for determining the amount of taxation or tribute Judah must pay to the Assyrian king.
6. Isaiah 33:19 tn The Hebrew form נוֹעָז (noʿaz) is a Niphal participle derived from יָעַז (yaʿaz, an otherwise unattested verb) or from עָזָז (ʿazaz, “be strong,” unattested elsewhere in the Niphal). Some prefer to emend the form to לוֹעֵז (loʿez) which occurs in Ps 114:1 with the meaning “speak a foreign language.” See HALOT 809 s.v. עזז, 533 s.v. לעז. In this case, one might translate “people who speak a foreign language.”
7. Isaiah 33:19 tn Heb “a people too deep of lip to hear.” The phrase “deep of lip” must be an idiom meaning “lips that speak words that are unfathomable [i.e., incomprehensible].”
8. Isaiah 33:19 tn Heb “derision of tongue there is no understanding.” The Niphal of לָעַג (laʿag) occurs only here. In the Qal and Hiphil the verb means “to deride, mock.” A related noun is used in 28:11.