1. Woe, plunderer. Some scholars take this verse to be the conclusion of the prophecy that runs to the end of chapter 32, but it may be an isolated fragment. The plunderer could refer to the Assyrian invader, whose destruction is prophesied in verses 10–13.

2. O LORD, show us grace. This initial formula, as many scholars have noted, is reminiscent of the psalms of supplication, but what follows in this poem scarcely constitutes a psalm.

4. as locusts are gathered, / like grasshoppers whirring, they whir over it. This appears to be the general sense of the Hebrew even though the syntax is rather crabbed.

7. the Arielites. While some commentators understand this as a term for “messengers,” it probably designates Jerusalemites, as in 29:1. The screaming and weeping, followed in the next verse with the evocation of the desolate countryside, reflect a moment when Jerusalem is sorely threatened by besiegers, and the best candidate for such a moment would be Sennacherib’s assault on the city in 701 B.C.E. In that case, the one who has broken the treaty in the next verse would be Sennacherib.

8. spurned the witnesses. The Masoretic Text reads “spurned the cities [ʿarim],” but cities would be an odd object for the verb “spurned.” The Qumran Isaiah reads ʿedim, “witnesses,” and the translation adopts that reading.

10. Now will I rise. This is the turning point when God summons His power to rout the Assyrian forces

11. You shall conceive chaff, give birth to straw. The “you” (plural in the Hebrew) refers to the Assyrians. Conceiving chaff and giving birth to straw is an image of utter futility, and since these are both highly combustible materials, the metaphor also represents their absolute vulnerability to God’s consuming fire.

14. Offenders have feared in Zion. This turn to the miscreants within Jerusalem marks the beginning of a new prophecy. It is possible that the appearance of consuming fire at the end of this verse led to the editorial decision to place this text here, after a prophecy that ends with consuming fire.

15. He who walks in righteousness, speaking truth. This list of ethical attributes has a catechistic look that recalls two different psalms in which similar questions are asked of the pilgrim ascending the Temple mount.

16. he who dwells on the heights. As the next verset makes clear, this would be a position of fortified security, although it is conceivable that there is also a kind of punning reference to the Temple mount.

17. A king in his beauty. This new prophecy harks back to Isaiah’s evocation of an ideal king in chapter 11 and elsewhere.

a land stretched out to the distance. The literal sense of the Hebrew is “a land of distances.” The idea is that the divinely restored Zion will be a vast country.

18. Where is he who counts. It is quite unnecessary to suppose, as some scholars have done, that a census is envisaged. What the prophet has in mind is the splendid abundance of buildings and towers in the restored city, precisely as in Psalm 48:13—“Go around Zion, encircle it. / Count its towers”—which is also a poetic celebration of triumph over enemies who have attacked Jerusalem.

19. a tongue too unfathomable to grasp, / a barbaric language beyond understanding. Repeatedly in biblical poetry, one of the terrifying aspects of the enemy is that he speaks an unintelligible language.

20. a tent not to be moved. Even though Jerusalem is built up with stone houses, the traditional equation between “tent” and “habitation” is so strong that it can be introduced here, albeit with the pointed emphasis that this tent is as solid and permanent as a building.

21. a place of rivers, wide streams. There are no broad rivers in the land of Judah, but this is a kind of utopian fantasy. One recalls a line by the great Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai, “Jerusalem is the Venice of God.”

where no sailing craft can go. The context suggests that this means no invading fleets can enter.

23. Your ropes have come loose. The “you” would have to be Israel’s enemies. This may explain why no sailing craft can enter these waters: the rigging of the ships is in disarray, and they cannot sail.

the very lame have taken plunder. “Very” is added in the translation for clarification. The evident idea is that the defeat of the enemy will be so devastating that not just warriors but even the lame will plunder the armor and weapons that have been abandoned in panicked flight. This could accord with the description of the sudden flight of the Assyrian army that appears in 2 Kings 19.