Isa 21:8 in the KJV reads:
And he cried, A lion: My
lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in
my ward whole nights.
Abegg, Flint, and Ulrich, in their The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible,
render the verse as:
The lookout
shouted, O Lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and am
stationed at my post throughout the night.
"A lion" in the MT translates אריה. This is an example of a seemingly small variant resulting in an important change. The Dead Sea Scrolls (1QIsaa) reads הראה and results in a more consistent text than the later MT. As Kerry Muhlestein notes:
The line translated as “a lion” is
probably a mistake that crept into the text over time. The Dead Sea Scrolls
preserve the text with one letter different in the word, which makes the
translation “one who watches” rather than a “lion.” This makes much more sense
in the context and is probably the correct translation. In this case, the
watchman reports that he has been fully diligent in his duty. Since watchmen
are symbols of those whom God has sent to warn others, and in this case may
serve as a symbol of Isaiah himself, it is important to note that the things
being seen from afar are being faithfully reported. (Kerry Muhlestein, Learning
to Love Isaiah: A Guide and Commentary [American Fork, Utah: Covenant
Communications, Inc., 2021], 181, emphasis added)
This also agrees with the NET note to Isa 21:8:
The
Hebrew text has, "the lion," but this makes little sense here. אַרְיֵה ('aryeh, "lion") is
probably a corruption of an original הָרֹאֶה (haro'eh, "the one
who sees"), i.e., the guard mentioned previously in v. Isa
21:6.
