Isa 9:5 (Heb: 9:4) in the KJV reads:
For every battle of the warrior is
with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood, but this shall be with
burning and fuel of fire.
In the Book of Mormon, in 2 Nephi 19:5, the text reads
similarly:
For every battle of the warrior
with confused noise and garments rolled in blood—but this shall be with burning
and fuel of fire.
The only difference is that the Book of Mormon drops the
italicized "it" in the KJV.
Modern translations read differently, translating סְאוֹן, not as “battle”
but “boot.” Consider the following examples:
For every boot of the booted
warrior in the battle tumult, and cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning
fuel for the fire. (NASB)
For all the boots of the
trampling warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel
for the fire. (NRSV)
Truly, all the boots put on the
stamp with and all the garments donned in infamy have been fed to the flames,
devoured by fire. (1985 JPS Tanakh)
This Hebrew word is a hapax legomenon. In HALOT, it is
defined thusly:
6424 סְאוֹן
סְאוֹן: ? Ug. sin )Driver Myths1 146b :: Gordon Textbook §19:1725;
Aistleitner 1880; Gray Legacy2 672: edge of a
garment), ? sëant Dietrich-L. Texte 1, 4:392, 2 (see Del Olmo Lete UF
10 (1978):50: rim of a wheel): Pehl. Frah. 7, 6 14, 3 מסאן and ? EgArm. ) משאןJean-H. Dictionnaire 169(; JArm. סֵינָא; מס(א)נא, Sam. מסן (Ben-H. Lit.
Or. 2:521b), Syr. sÀuÒnaÒ, ms(À)aÒnaÒ, Mnd. (Drower-M. Dictionary 276a) *msania, Eth. sëaÒÀen (Dillmann 255), Tigr. (Littmann-H. Wb. 191a) seÀen; < Akk. sëeÒnu (AHw. 1213f; also the name of a fish, like σανδάλιον > JArm. Syr. Mnd. סַנְדָּל; cf. Latin solea( and mesëeÒnu )AHw. 648b(: boot, the high laced boot of the Assyrians ):: shoe, cf.
Grelot Documents 195q( :: נַעַל sandal )Meissner Bab. Ass. 1:258;
Gressmann Bilder 141, 151; Salonen Fussbekl. 53ff; Reicke-R. Hw.
671; 1738) Is 94 (Kl. Seybold FRLANT 107 (1972):791);
ï סאן. †
Victor P. Hamilton, in his entry for the related term, also used in the Hebrew of Isa 9:5[4], סָאַן in
NIDOTTE, wrote:
סָאַן (sāʾan), tramp along, tread (#6008); a hapleg. in Isa 9:5 [4];
denom. vb. from סְאוֹן (seʾôn), boot
(#6007).
ANE Akk. šênu is a denom. from šēnu, to put on a shoe (HALAT 697). The shoe, while not strictly
a boot, is a foot covering worn by soldiers.
OT The vb. and nom. appear
in the same v., and only in this verse. Through a child God will bring an end
to war and other forms of oppression. NIV’s rendering of the first part as
“every warrior’s boot used in battle … will be destined for burning” is an
attempt to make sense of the Heb., which reads literally, “every boot booting
with shaking” (כָּל־סְאוֹנ֙ סֹאֵן בְּרַעַשׁ). (Willem VanGemeren, ed., New
International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, 5 vols.
[Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1997], 3:218)
This is probably best explained by Joseph Smith following the
KJV of Isaiah. However, the 12th-century Jewish commentator Ibn Ezra
did note this could also be an example of metathesis. Commenting on this verse,
he wrote:
4. סאון. According to some, this word is related to סאה “measure,” and the meaning of the whole phrase is, “God gave to
Assyria the full measure according to her deeds.” Some say, that by metathesis סאון is said for אסון “mishap;” [The
meaning of the phrase would then be: For every kind of calamity will burst upon
them tempestuously.] comp. כבש = כשב “lamb;” more correctly it may be said that this word is a hapax
legomenon, and from the succeeding סואן, which is a verb (participle Kal), we see that נ is radical; the meaning of סאן is “to cry loudly.” [I. E. does not tell us whence he derived
his meaning for this hapax legomenon; very probably, however, from its being
connected with ברעש, “with confused noise.”
According to this explanation the meaning of the phrase in question is: “For
all kinds of noise raged furiously.”] ושמלה מגוללה בדמים And garments rolled in
blood. Every one lies slain in his blood. Or “the garment which rolled in the
blood of murdered people,” etc. והיתה
לשרפה It was burned. This refers to the
destruction of the host of Sennacherib, which was burnt by the angel (37:36).
(Abraham
Ibn Ezra, The Commentary of IBN Ezra on Isaiah, 3 vols. [ed. M.
Friedländer; London: Trübner & Co., 1873], 1:51)
