Yesaya 1:9

1:9 If the Lord who commands armies ¹  had not left us a few survivors,

we would have quickly become like Sodom, ² 

we would have become like Gomorrah.

Yesaya 1:20

1:20 But if you refuse and rebel,

you will be devoured ³  by the sword.”

Know for certain that the Lord has spoken. ⁴ 

Yesaya 2:22

2:22 Stop trusting in human beings,

whose life’s breath is in their nostrils.

For why should they be given special consideration?

Yesaya 3:18

3:18 ⁵ At that time ⁶  the sovereign master will remove their beautiful ankle jewelry, ⁷  neck ornaments, crescent shaped ornaments,

Yesaya 5:11

5:11 Those who get up early to drink beer are as good as dead, ⁸ 

those who keep drinking long after dark

until they are intoxicated with wine. ⁹ 

Yesaya 5:28

5:28 Their arrows are sharpened,

and all their bows are prepared. ¹⁰ 

The hooves of their horses are hard as flint, ¹¹ 

and their chariot wheels are like a windstorm. ¹² 

Yesaya 6:4

6:4 The sound of their voices shook the door frames, ¹³  and the temple was filled with smoke.

Yesaya 6:7

6:7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Look, this coal has touched your lips. Your evil is removed; your sin is forgiven.” ¹⁴ 

Yesaya 8:6

8:6 “These people ¹⁵  have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah ¹⁶  and melt in fear over Rezin and the son of Remaliah. ¹⁷ 

Yesaya 10:7

10:7 But he does not agree with this,

his mind does not reason this way, ¹⁸ 

for his goal is to destroy,

and to eliminate many nations. ¹⁹ 

Yesaya 13:18

13:18 Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; ²⁰ 

they have no compassion on a person’s offspring, ²¹ 

they will not ²²  look with pity on children.

Yesaya 15:3

15:3 In their streets they wear sackcloth;

on their roofs and in their town squares

all of them wail,

they fall down weeping.

Yesaya 15:8

15:8 Indeed, the cries of distress echo throughout Moabite territory;

their wailing can be heard in Eglaim and Beer Elim. ²³ 

Yesaya 19:13

19:13 The officials of Zoan are fools,

the officials of Memphis ²⁴  are misled;

the rulers ²⁵  of her tribes lead Egypt astray.

Yesaya 22:3

22:3 ²⁶ All your leaders ran away together –

they fled to a distant place;

all your refugees ²⁷  were captured together –

they were captured without a single arrow being shot. ²⁸ 

Yesaya 23:11

23:11 The Lord stretched out his hand over the sea, ²⁹ 

he shook kingdoms;

he ³⁰  gave the order

to destroy Canaan’s fortresses. ³¹ 

Yesaya 26:12-13

26:12 O Lord, you make us secure, ³² 

for even all we have accomplished, you have done for us. ³³ 

26:13 O Lord, our God,

masters other than you have ruled us,

but we praise your name alone.

Yesaya 26:20

26:20 Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms!

Close your doors behind you!

Hide for a little while,

until his angry judgment is over! ³⁴ 

Yesaya 28:11

28:11 For with mocking lips and a foreign tongue

he will speak to these people. ³⁵ 

Yesaya 29:3

29:3 I will lay siege to you on all sides; ³⁶ 

I will besiege you with troops; ³⁷ 

I will raise siege works against you.

Yesaya 29:19

29:19 The downtrodden will again rejoice in the Lord;

the poor among humankind will take delight ³⁸  in the Holy One of Israel. ³⁹ 

Yesaya 30:3

30:3 But Pharaoh’s protection will bring you nothing but shame,

and the safety of Egypt’s protective shade nothing but humiliation.

Yesaya 31:6

31:6 You Israelites! Return to the one against whom you have so blatantly rebelled! ⁴⁰ 

Yesaya 32:9

The Lord Will Give True Security

32:9 You complacent ⁴¹  women,

get up and listen to me!

You carefree ⁴²  daughters,

pay attention to what I say!

Yesaya 32:11

32:11 Tremble, you complacent ones!

Shake with fear, you carefree ones!

Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves –

put sackcloth on your waist! ⁴³ 

Yesaya 33:2

33:2 Lord, be merciful to us! We wait for you.

Give us strength each morning! ⁴⁴ 

Deliver us when distress comes. ⁴⁵ 

Yesaya 33:6

33:6 He is your constant source of stability; ⁴⁶ 

he abundantly provides safety and great wisdom; ⁴⁷ 

he gives all this to those who fear him. ⁴⁸ 

Yesaya 33:11

33:11 You conceive straw, ⁴⁹ 

you give birth to chaff;

your breath is a fire that destroys you. ⁵⁰ 

Yesaya 34:3

34:3 Their slain will be left unburied, ⁵¹ 

their corpses will stink; ⁵² 

the hills will soak up their blood. ⁵³ 

Yesaya 37:1

37:1 When King Hezekiah heard this, ⁵⁴  he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord’s temple.

Yesaya 37:34

37:34 He will go back the way he came –

he will not enter this city,’ says the Lord.

Yesaya 38:21

38:21 ⁵⁵  Isaiah ordered, “Let them take a fig cake and apply it to the ulcerated sore and he will get well.”

Yesaya 42:9

42:9 Look, my earlier predictive oracles have come to pass; ⁵⁶ 

now I announce new events.

Before they begin to occur,

I reveal them to you.” ⁵⁷ 

Yesaya 42:23

42:23 Who among you will pay attention to this?

Who will listen attentively in the future? ⁵⁸ 

Yesaya 45:22

45:22 Turn to me so you can be delivered, ⁵⁹ 

all you who live in the earth’s remote regions!

For I am God, and I have no peer.

Yesaya 46:2

46:2 Together they bend low and kneel down;

they are unable to rescue the images; ⁶⁰ 

they themselves ⁶¹  head off into captivity. ⁶² 

Yesaya 57:3

57:3 But approach, you sons of omen readers,

you offspring of adulteresses and prostitutes! ⁶³ 

Yesaya 59:14

59:14 Justice is driven back;

godliness ⁶⁴  stands far off.

Indeed, ⁶⁵  honesty stumbles in the city square

and morality is not even able to enter.

Yesaya 63:13

63:13 who led them through the deep water?

Like a horse running on flat land ⁶⁶  they did not stumble.

[1:9]  ¹ tn Traditionally, “the Lord of hosts.” The title pictures God as the sovereign king who has at his disposal a multitude of attendants, messengers, and warriors to do his bidding. In some contexts, like this one, the military dimension of his rulership is highlighted. In this case, the title pictures him as one who leads armies into battle against his enemies.

[1:9]  ² tc The translation assumes that כִּמְעָט (kim’at, “quickly,” literally, “like a little”) goes with what follows, contrary to the MT accents, which take it with what precedes. In this case, one could translate the preceding line, “If the Lord who commands armies had not left us a few survivors.” If כִּמְעָט goes with the preceding line (following the MT accents), this expression highlights the idea that there would only be a few survivors (H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:20; H. Zobel, TDOT 8:456). Israel would not be almost like Sodom but exactly like Sodom.

[1:20]  ³ sn The wordplay in the Hebrew draws attention to the options. The people can obey, in which case they will “eat” v. 19 (תֹּאכֵלוּ [to’khelu], Qal active participle of אָכַל) God’s blessing, or they can disobey, in which case they will be devoured (Heb “eaten,” תְּאֻכְּלוּ, [tÿ’ukkÿlu], Qal passive/Pual of אָכַל) by God’s judgment.

[1:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” The introductory כִּי (ki) may be asseverative (as reflected in the translation) or causal/explanatory, explaining why the option chosen by the people will become reality (it is guaranteed by the divine word).

[3:18]  ⁵ sn The translation assumes that the direct quotation ends with v. 17. The introductory formula “in that day” and the shift from a poetic to prosaic style indicate that a new speech unit begins in v. 18.

[3:18]  ⁶ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[3:18]  ⁷ tn Or “the beauty of [their] ankle jewelry.”

[5:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who arise early in the morning, [who] chase beer.”

[5:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “[who] delay until dark, [until] wine enflames them.”

[5:11]  sn This verse does not condemn drinking per se, but refers to the carousing lifestyle of the rich bureaucrats, made possible by wealth taken from the poor. Their carousing is not the fundamental problem, but a disgusting symptom of the real disease – their social injustice.

[5:28]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “bent” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “are strung.”

[5:28]  ¹¹ tn Heb “regarded like flint.”

[5:28]  ¹² sn They are like a windstorm in their swift movement and in the way they kick up dust.

[6:4]  ¹³ tn On the phrase אַמּוֹת הַסִּפִּים (’ammot hassippim, “pivots of the frames”) see HALOT 763 s.v. סַף.

[6:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “ritually cleansed,” or “atoned for” (NIV).

[8:6]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text begins with “because.” In the Hebrew text vv. 6-7 are one long sentence, with v. 6 giving the reason for judgment and v. 7 formally announcing it.

[8:6]  ¹⁶ sn The phrase “waters of Shiloah” probably refers to a stream that originated at the Gihon Spring and supplied the city of Jerusalem with water. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:225. In this context these waters stand in contrast to the flood waters of Assyria and symbolize God’s presence and blessings.

[8:6]  ¹⁷ tn The precise meaning of v. 6 has been debated. The translation above assumes that “these people” are the residents of Judah and that מָשׂוֹשׂ (masos) is alternate form of מָסוֹס (masos, “despair, melt”; see HALOT 606 s.v. מסס). In this case vv. 7-8 in their entirety announce God’s disciplinary judgment on Judah. However, “these people” could refer to the Israelites and perhaps also the Syrians (cf v. 4). In this case מָשׂוֹשׂ probably means “joy.” One could translate, “and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah.” In this case v. 7a announces the judgment of Israel, with vv. 7b-8 then shifting the focus to the judgment of Judah.

[10:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “but he, not so does he intend, and his heart, not so does it think.”

[10:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “for to destroy [is] in his heart, and to cut off nations, not a few.”

[13:18]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and bows cut to bits young men.” “Bows” stands by metonymy for arrows.

[13:18]  ²¹ tn Heb “the fruit of the womb.”

[13:18]  ²² tn Heb “their eye does not.” Here “eye” is a metonymy for the whole person.

[15:8]  ²³ tn Heb “to Eglaim [is] her wailing, and [to] Beer Elim [is] her wailing.”

[19:13]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Noph” (so KJV); most recent English versions substitute the more familiar “Memphis.”

[19:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the cornerstone.” The singular form should be emended to a plural.

[22:3]  ²⁶ tn Verse 3 reads literally, “All your leaders ran away, apart from a bow they were captured, all your found ones were captured together, to a distant place they fled.” J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:403, n. 3) suggests that the lines of the verse are arranged chiastically; lines 1 and 4 go together, while lines 2 and 3 are parallel. To translate the lines in the order they appear in the Hebrew text is misleading to the English reader, who is likely unfamiliar with, or at least insensitive to, chiastic parallelism. Consequently, the translation above arranges the lines as follows: line 1 (Hebrew) = line 1 (in translation); line 2 (Hebrew) = line 4 (in translation); line 3 (Hebrew) = line 3 (in translation); line 4 (Hebrew) = line 2 (in translation).

[22:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “all your found ones.” To achieve tighter parallelism (see “your leaders”) some prefer to emend the form to אַמִּיצַיִךְ (’ammitsayikh, “your strong ones”) or to נֶאֱמָצַיִךְ (ne’ematsayikh, “your strengthened ones”).

[22:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “apart from [i.e., without] a bow they were captured”; cf. NAB, NRSV “without the use of a bow.”

[23:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “his hand he stretched out over the sea.”

[23:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the Lord.” For stylistic reasons the pronoun (“he”) has been used in the translation here.

[23:11]  ³¹ tn Heb “concerning Canaan, to destroy her fortresses.” NIV, NLT translate “Canaan” as “Phoenicia” here.

[26:12]  ³² tn Heb “O Lord, you establish peace for us.”

[26:12]  ³³ tc Some suggest emending גַּם כָּל (gam kol, “even all”) to כִּגְמֻל (kigmul, “according to the deed[s] of”) One might then translate “for according to what our deeds deserve, you have acted on our behalf.” Nevertheless, accepting the MT as it stands, the prophet affirms that Yahweh deserved all the credit for anything Israel had accomplished.

[26:20]  ³⁴ tn Heb “until anger passes by.”

[28:11]  ³⁵ sn This verse alludes to the coming Assyrian invasion, when the people will hear a foreign language that sounds like gibberish to them. The Lord is the subject of the verb “will speak,” as v. 12 makes clear. He once spoke in meaningful terms, but in the coming judgment he will speak to them, as it were, through the mouth of foreign oppressors. The apparent gibberish they hear will be an outward reminder that God has decreed their defeat.

[29:3]  ³⁶ tc The Hebrew text has כַדּוּר (khadur, “like a circle”), i.e., “like an encircling wall.” Some emend this phrase to כְּדָוִד (kÿdavid, “like David”), which is supported by the LXX (see v. 1). However, the rendering in the LXX could have arisen from a confusion of the dalet (ד) and resh (ר).

[29:3]  ³⁷ tn The meaning of מֻצָּב (mutsav) is not certain. Because of the parallelism (note “siege works”), some translate “towers.” The noun is derived from נָצַב (natsav, “take one’s stand”) and may refer to the troops stationed outside the city to prevent entrance or departure.

[29:19]  ³⁸ tn Or “will rejoice” (NIV, NCV, NLT).

[29:19]  ³⁹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[31:6]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “Return to the one [against] whom the sons of Israel made deep rebellion.” The syntax is awkward here. A preposition is omitted by ellipsis after the verb (see GKC 446 §138.f, n. 2), and there is a shift from direct address (note the second plural imperative “return”) to the third person (note “they made deep”). For other examples of abrupt shifts in person in poetic style, see GKC 462 §144.p.

[32:9]  ⁴¹ tn Or “self-assured”; NASB, NRSV “who are at ease.”

[32:9]  ⁴² tn Or “self-confident”; NAB “overconfident.”

[32:11]  ⁴³ tn The imperatival forms in v. 11 are problematic. The first (חִרְדוּ, khirdu, “tremble”) is masculine plural in form, though spoken to a feminine plural addressee (שַׁאֲנַנּוֹת, sha’anannot, “complacent ones”). The four imperatival forms that follow (רְגָזָה, rÿgazah, “shake with fear”; פְּשֹׁטָה, pÿshotah, “strip off your clothes”; עֹרָה, ’orah, “expose yourselves”; and חֲגוֹרָה, khagorah, “put on”) all appear to be lengthened (so-called “emphatic”) masculine singular forms, even though they too appear to be spoken to a feminine plural addressee. GKC 131-32 §48.i suggests emending חִרְדוּ (khirdu) to חֲרָדָה (kharadah) and understanding all five imperatives as feminine plural “aramaized” forms.

[33:2]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “Be their arm each morning.” “Arm” is a symbol for strength. The mem suffixed to the noun has been traditionally understood as a third person suffix, but this is contrary to the context, where the people speak of themselves in the first person. The mem (מ) is probably enclitic with ellipsis of the pronoun, which can be supplied from the context. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:589, n. 1.

[33:2]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “[Be] also our deliverance in the time of distress.”

[33:6]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and he is the stability of your times.”

[33:6]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “a rich store of deliverance, wisdom, and knowledge.”

[33:6]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “the fear of the Lord, it is his treasure.”

[33:11]  ⁴⁹ tn The second person verb and pronominal forms in this verse are plural. The hostile nations are the addressed, as the next verse makes clear.

[33:11]  ⁵⁰ sn The hostile nations’ plans to destroy God’s people will come to nothing; their hostility will end up being self-destructive.

[34:3]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “will be cast aside”; NASB, NIV “thrown out.”

[34:3]  ⁵² tn Heb “[as for] their corpses, their stench will arise.”

[34:3]  ⁵³ tn Heb “hills will dissolve from their blood.”

[37:1]  ⁵⁴ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[38:21]  ⁵⁵ tc If original to Isaiah 38, vv. 21-22 have obviously been misplaced in the course of the text’s transmission, and would most naturally be placed here, between Isa 38:6 and 38:7. See 2 Kgs 20:7-8, where these verses are placed at this point in the narrative, not at the end. Another possibility is that these verses were not in the original account, and a scribe, familiar with the 2 Kgs version of the story, appended vv. 21-22 to the end of the account in Isaiah 38.

[42:9]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “the former things, look, they have come.”

[42:9]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “before they sprout up, I cause you to hear.” The pronoun “you” is plural, referring to the people of Israel. In this verse “the former things” are the Lord’s earlier predictive oracles which have come to pass, while “the new things” are predicted events that have not yet begun to take place. “The former things” are earlier events in Israel’s history which God announced beforehand, such as the Exodus (see 43:16-18). “The new things” are the predictions about the servant (42:1-7). and may also include Cyrus’ conquests (41:25-27).

[42:23]  ⁵⁸ tn The interrogative particle is understood in the second line by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[45:22]  ⁵⁹ tn The Niphal imperative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose after the preceding imperative. The Niphal probably has a tolerative sense, “allow yourselves to be delivered, accept help.”

[46:2]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “[the] burden,” i.e., their images, the heavy burden carried by the animals.

[46:2]  ⁶¹ tn נַפְשָׁם (nafsham, “their souls/lives”) is equivalent here to a third masculine plural suffix, but the third feminine singular verb הָלָכָה (halakhah, “they go”) agrees with the feminine noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul, life”).

[46:2]  ⁶² sn The downfall of Babylon is depicted here. The idols are carried off by the victorious enemy; the gods are likened to defeated captives who cower before the enemy and are taken into exile.

[57:3]  ⁶³ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “offspring of an adulterer [masculine] and [one who] has committed adultery.” Perhaps the text has suffered from transposition of vav (ו) and tav (ת) and מְנָאֵף וַתִּזְנֶה (mÿna’ef vattizneh) should be emended to מְנָאֶפֶת וְזֹנָה (mÿna’efet vÿzonah, “an adulteress and a prostitute”). Both singular nouns would be understood in a collective sense. Most modern English versions render both forms as nouns.

[59:14]  ⁶⁴ tn Or “righteousness” (ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); KJV, NAB “justice.”

[59:14]  ⁶⁵ tn Or “for” (KJV, NRSV).

[63:13]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “in the desert [or “steppe”].”