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Isa 28:17

### Isaiah 28:15-17 - The Rowing Flood and the Honest Weight I have been comparing the Hebrew, the LXX, the Eastern Peshitta - Mosul text as in Bauscher's AEIB - and Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 28. Verse 17 reveals something the English misses. #### 1. The Refuge That Will Not Stand In verse 15 the leaders of Jerusalem say: _ki samnu khazav mahsenu u-va-sheqer nistarnu_ (כִּי שַׂמְנוּ כָזָב מַחְסֵנוּ וּבַשֶּׁקֶר נִסְתָּרְנוּ) — "we have made lies our refuge and in falsehood we have hidden ourselves" _shoṭ shoṭef ki ya'avor v'lo yavo aleynu_ (שׁוֹט שׁוֹטֵף כִּי יַעֲבֹר וְלֹא יָבוֹא עָלֵינוּ) — "when the overflowing scourge passes through, it shall not come upon us." They have _karatnu berit et-mavet_ (כָּרַתְנוּ בְרִית אֶת־מָוֶת) — cut a covenant with Death — a political trade-deal, likely with Egypt, to avoid Assyria. God answers in verse 17-18 with the same words turned against them: _v'samti mishpat lə-qaw u-ṣdaqah lə-mišqelet_ (וְשַׂמְתִּי מִשְׁפָּט לְקָו וּצְדָקָה לְמִשְׁקָלֶת) _w'ya'ah varad mahseh khazav w'seter mayim yišṭopu_ (וְיָעָה בָרָד מַחְסֵה כָזָב וְסֵתֶר מַיִם יִשְׁטֹפוּ) The _mahseh khazav_ (מַחְסֵה כָזָב) — refuge of lies — that they trusted in verse 15 will be beaten by hail and overflowed by waters in verse 17. #### 2. The Witnesses *LXX* loses the image completely: _kai theso krisin eis elpida_ (καὶ θήσω κρίσιν εἰς ἐλπίδα) — "I will make judgment for hope" reading _qaw_ (קָו) — line — as _qaw_ — hope. *Eastern Peshitta - Mosul text* keeps it: _w'asim dina l-mshuhta_ (ܘܐܣܝܡ ܕܝܢܐ ܠܡܫܘܚܬܐ) — "and I shall set judgment to the measure" _w'zadiqutha l-mathqala_ (ܘܙܕܝܩܘܬܐ ܠܡܬܩܠܐ) — "and righteousness to the shekel-weight" _w'nakhbot barda l-sabra d-dagla_ (ܘܢܚܒܘܛ ܒܪܕܐ ܠܣܒܪܐ ܕܕܓܠܐ) — "and hail shall beat the hope of lies" _w'l-setra maya nagarpun_ (ܘܠܣܬܪܐ ܡܝܐ ܢܓܪܦܘܢ) — "and the refuge waters shall overflow / wash away" This is word-for-word Hebrew, against LXX. Mosul has _mshuhta_ — measuring-cord — and _mathqala_ — weight-stone — where Urmia has the modernized _qushtha_. *Targum Jonathan* expands but keeps the same Vorlage: _w'eshwi dina l-qushta w'zakhutha l-mashqoletha_ (ואשוי דינא לקושתא וזכותא למשקולתא) — "I will set judgment to the straight line and merit to the plummet" _w'yisahaph barda athar d'hawu samkhin beh al shiqra_ (ויסחף ברדא אתר דהוו סמכין ביה על שיקרא) — "and hail shall sweep away the place where they trusted in falsehood" #### 3. The Rowing Flood The key is _shoṭ shoṭef_ (שׁוֹט שׁוֹטֵף). In pointed Hebrew it is "overflowing scourge" — a whip, a lash. But the root _shuṭ_ (שׁוּט) means to go to and fro, to row, to push a boat. In unpointed text it sounds the same. Isaiah deliberately chose _shoṭ_ over the common _shetef_ (שֶׁטֶף) for flood. It is not just water that gets you wet. It is a current that rows you where you do not want to go. This is Isaiah's own image for Assyria in Isaiah 8:7-8 — the "waters of the River, strong and many" that overflow Judah up to the neck. The leaders said the flood "shall not come upon us." God says in v17-18, your refuge will be _nagarpun_ (ܢܓܪܦܘܢ) — dragged away, washed away — by that very water. Captivity. The river rows them to where they did not want to go. Targum makes it explicit: "when the powerful foe cometh like an overflowing flood." Your Mosul verbs keep that violence: _nakhbot_ (ܢܚܒܘܛ) — to beat, thresh — and _nagarpun_ — to drag off. #### 4. A Right Measure and a Right Scale _Qaw_ (קָו) — line, measuring cord. _Mishqelet_ (מִשְׁקָלֶת) / _mathqala_ (ܡܬܩܠܐ) — plummet, shekel-weight. Together they are not just building tools. They are the tools of honest trade. Leviticus 19:35 commands: just balances, just weights, just measures. Amos condemns those who make "the ephah small and the shekel great" — falsifying the scales. Isaiah 28 is about drunken rulers making crooked trade-treaties — a _berit_ bought with _khazav_ (כָזָב) — counterfeit, false weight. God's answer is: I will lay My own honest cord and My own honest weight against your counterfeit refuge. _w'samti mishpat lə-qaw_ (וְשַׂמְתִּי מִשְׁפָּט לְקָו) — judgment to the measuring line — a straight length. _u-ṣdaqah lə-mišqelet_ (וּצְדָקָה לְמִשְׁקָלֶת) / _l-mathqala_ (ܠܡܬܩܠܐ) — righteousness to the plummet / shekel — a true weight. Because their hope was _dagla_ (ܕܓܠܐ) — false, counterfeit — the honest measure exposes it, the hail beats it, and the waters row it away. --- Let me know if you want me to add footnotes for Mosul vs. Urmia or format this for WordPress/Substack.

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