Isaiah 30:22, meaning/better translation


וְטִמֵּאתֶם אֶת־צִפּוּי פְּסִילֵי כַסְפֶּךָ וְאֶת־אֲפֻדַּת מַסֵּכַת זְהָבֶךָ תִּזְרֵם כְּמוֹ דָוָה צֵא תֹּאמַר לוֹ׃

And you will treat as unclean the silver overlay of your images and the golden plating of your idols. You will cast them away like a menstruous woman. “Out!” you will call to them. (JPS)
NRSVUE:
Then you will defile your silver-covered idols and your gold-plated images. You will scatter them like impure things; you will say to them, “Away with you!” (NRSVUE)
From the lexicon:
דָּוָה S 1738 TWOT 411 GK 1864 ] vb. be ill, unwell (NH ד׳ sorrowful, miserable , not in physical sense; cf. Arabic دَوِىَ [دَﺁءَ] ( dawiya [da˒ā˒a] ) be ill; Ethiopic ˜˜˜ ( dawaya ) Assyrian perhaps deriv. di˒û , illness Zim BP 96, 97; Aramaic דְּוִי , דְּוָא , ܕܘܳܐ , ܕܘܺܝ ( dwo, dwi ) be sad ) — Qal Inf. cstr. כִּימֵי נִדַּת דְּוֹתָהּ … אִשָּׁה Lv 12: 2.

דָּוֶה S 1739 TWOT 411b GK 1865 adj. faint, unwell — דָּוֶה La 5:1 7, f. דָּוָה Lv 15:33 = 3 times; 1. faint , La 1:13 ( || שֹׁמֵמָה ) 5:17 . 2. unwell, menstruous Lv 15:33 ; 20:18 ; Is 30:22 דָּוָה perhaps = כְּלִי דָוָה D e.
“An unwell woman” does seem a reasonable translation based on the Masoretic text pointing. IMO it could could just as easily be masculine, as in Lamentations 1:3 where the man is described as ‘miserable’.
Robert Alter has this to say:
You shall scatter them like a woman in her uncleanness.

The verb “scatter” works better for the destroyed idols than for the menstruant woman, who is biblical law is certainly not “scattered” but rather kept at a distance in order to avoid physical contact with her.


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