Yesaya 1:31

1:31 The powerful will be like ¹  a thread of yarn,

their deeds like a spark;

both will burn together,

and no one will put out the fire.

Yesaya 5:24

5:24 Therefore, as flaming fire ²  devours straw,

and dry grass disintegrates in the flames,

so their root will rot,

and their flower will blow away like dust. ³ 

For they have rejected the law of the Lord who commands armies,

they have spurned the commands ⁴  of the Holy One of Israel. ⁵ 

Yesaya 9:19

9:19 Because of the anger of the Lord who commands armies, the land was scorched, ⁶ 

and the people became fuel for the fire. ⁷ 

People had no compassion on one another. ⁸ 

Yesaya 10:16-17

10:16 For this reason ⁹  the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, will make his healthy ones emaciated. ¹⁰  His majestic glory will go up in smoke. ¹¹ 

10:17 The light of Israel ¹²  will become a fire,

their Holy One ¹³  will become a flame;

it will burn and consume the Assyrian king’s ¹⁴  briers

and his thorns in one day.

Yesaya 29:6

29:6 Judgment will come from the Lord who commands armies, ¹⁵ 

accompanied by thunder, earthquake, and a loud noise,

by a strong gale, a windstorm, and a consuming flame of fire.

Yesaya 30:27

30:27 Look, the name ¹⁶  of the Lord comes from a distant place

in raging anger and awesome splendor. ¹⁷ 

He speaks angrily

and his word is like destructive fire. ¹⁸ 

[1:31]  ¹ tn Heb “will become” (so NASB, NIV).

[5:24]  ² tn Heb “a tongue of fire” (so NASB), referring to a tongue-shaped flame.

[5:24]  ³ sn They are compared to a flowering plant that withers quickly in a hot, arid climate.

[5:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “the word.”

[5:24]  ⁵ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[9:19]  ⁶ tn The precise meaning of the verb עְתַּם (’ÿtam), which occurs only here, is uncertain, though the context strongly suggests that it means “burn, scorch.”

[9:19]  ⁷ sn The uncontrollable fire of the people’s wickedness (v. 18) is intensified by the fire of the Lord’s judgment (v. 19). God allows (or causes) their wickedness to become self-destructive as civil strife and civil war break out in the land.

[9:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “men were not showing compassion to their brothers.” The idiom “men to their brothers” is idiomatic for reciprocity. The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite without vav (ו) consecutive or an imperfect used in a customary sense, describing continual or repeated behavior in past time.

[10:16]  ⁹ sn The irrational arrogance of the Assyrians (v. 15) will prompt the judgment about to be described.

[10:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “will send leanness against his healthy ones”; NASB, NIV “will send a wasting disease.”

[10:16]  ¹¹ tc Heb “and in the place of his glory burning will burn, like the burning of fire.” The highly repetitive text (יֵקַד יְקֹד כִּיקוֹד אֵשׁ, yeqad yiqod kiqod ’esh) may be dittographic; if the second consonantal sequence יקד is omitted, the text would read “and in the place of his glory, it will burn like the burning of fire.”

[10:17]  ¹² tn In this context the “Light of Israel” is a divine title (note the parallel title “his holy one”). The title points to God’s royal splendor, which overshadows and, when transformed into fire, destroys the “majestic glory” of the king of Assyria (v. 16b).

[10:17]  ¹³ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[10:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “his.” In vv. 17-19 the Assyrian king and his empire is compared to a great forest and orchard that are destroyed by fire (symbolic of the Lord).

[29:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “from the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] there will be visitation.” The third feminine singular passive verb form תִּפָּקֵד (tippaqed, “she/it will be visited”) is used here in an impersonal sense. See GKC 459 §144.b.

[30:27]  ¹⁶ sn The “name” of the Lord sometimes stands by metonymy for the Lord himself, see Exod 23:21; Lev 24:11; Pss 54:1 (54:3 HT); 124:8. In Isa 30:27 the point is that he reveals that aspect of his character which his name suggests – he comes as Yahweh (“he is present”), the ever present helper of his people who annihilates their enemies and delivers them. The name “Yahweh” originated in a context where God assured a fearful Moses that he would be with him as he confronted Pharaoh and delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt. See Exod 3.

[30:27]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “his anger burns, and heaviness of elevation.” The meaning of the phrase “heaviness of elevation” is unclear, for מַשָּׂאָה (masa’ah, “elevation”) occurs only here. Some understand the term as referring to a cloud (elevated above the earth’s surface), in which case one might translate, “and in heavy clouds” (cf. NAB “with lowering clouds”). Others relate the noun to מָשָׂא (masa’, “burden”) and interpret it as a reference to judgment. In this case one might translate, “and with severe judgment.” The present translation assumes that the noun refers to his glory and that “heaviness” emphasizes its degree.

[30:27]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “his lips are full of anger, and his tongue is like consuming fire.” The Lord’s lips and tongue are used metonymically for his word (or perhaps his battle cry; see v. 31).