Isaiah 45:18

A few years ago, I wrote a couple posts about grammar errors in the ESV (specifically word order problems with the "not... but..." correlative when combined with causal clauses).  Since then, I've found numerous similar errors (in the ESV, there are three word order errors with "not... but..." just in John 17), but I haven't written about them.  Last month, I ran across one that's a bit more interesting, so I'm noting it here.

In the NIV, part of Isaiah 45:18 is "He [the LORD] did not create it [the earth] to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited."  The ESV translation is similar:  "He did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!"  The "not" should negate "(to be) empty" not "create," and this is obvious in the Hebrew (לֹא־תֹהוּ בְרָאָהּ).  The King James Version correctly translates this as "he created it not in vain."

What I thought interesting about this particular instance is that the parallel structure makes it clear that this is an error.  "Create" parallels "formed" in the same way that "not empty" should parallel "inhabited" (in an inverted sort of way).