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 2:12

2:12 Indeed, the Lord who commands armies has planned a day of judgment, ³ 

for ⁴  all the high and mighty,

for all who are proud – they will be humiliated;

Yesaya 6:3

6:3 They called out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy ⁵  is the Lord who commands armies! ⁶  His majestic splendor fills the entire earth!”

Yesaya 8:13

8:13 You must recognize the authority of the Lord who commands armies. ⁷ 

He is the one you must respect;

he is the one you must fear. ⁸ 

Yesaya 14:24

14:24 ⁹ The Lord who commands armies makes this solemn vow:

“Be sure of this:

Just as I have intended, so it will be;

just as I have planned, it will happen.

Yesaya 21:17

21:17 Just a handful of archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be left.” ¹⁰  Indeed, ¹¹  the Lord God of Israel has spoken.

Yesaya 26:13

26:13 O Lord, our God,

masters other than you have ruled us,

but we praise your name alone.

Yesaya 28:5

28:5 At that time ¹²  the Lord who commands armies will become a beautiful crown

and a splendid diadem for the remnant of his people.

Yesaya 33:6

33:6 He is your constant source of stability; ¹³ 

he abundantly provides safety and great wisdom; ¹⁴ 

he gives all this to those who fear him. ¹⁵ 

Yesaya 38:11

38:11 “I thought,

‘I will no longer see the Lord ¹⁶  in the land of the living,

I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world. ¹⁷ 

Yesaya 38:16

38:16 O sovereign master, your decrees can give men life;

may years of life be restored to me. ¹⁸ 

Restore my health ¹⁹  and preserve my life.’

Yesaya 40:3

40:3 A voice cries out,

“In the wilderness clear a way for the Lord;

construct in the desert a road for our God.

Yesaya 40:27

40:27 Why do you say, Jacob,

Why do you say, Israel,

“The Lord is not aware of what is happening to me, ²⁰ 

My God is not concerned with my vindication”? ²¹ 

Yesaya 41:13

41:13 For I am the Lord your God,

the one who takes hold of your right hand,

who says to you, ‘Don’t be afraid, I am helping you.’

Yesaya 43:3

43:3 For I am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, ²²  your deliverer.

I have handed over Egypt as a ransom price,

Ethiopia and Seba ²³  in place of you.

Yesaya 45:5

45:5 I am the Lord, I have no peer, ²⁴ 

there is no God but me.

I arm you for battle, ²⁵  even though you do not recognize ²⁶  me.

Yesaya 45:17

45:17 Israel will be delivered once and for all by the Lord; ²⁷ 

you will never again be ashamed or humiliated. ²⁸ 

Yesaya 53:6

53:6 All of us had wandered off like sheep;

each of us had strayed off on his own path,

but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him. ²⁹ 

Yesaya 59:20

59:20 “A protector ³⁰  comes to Zion,

to those in Jacob who repent of their rebellious deeds,” ³¹  says the Lord.

Yesaya 62:3

62:3 You will be a majestic crown in the hand of the Lord,

a royal turban in the hand of your God.

Yesaya 66:16

66:16 For the Lord judges all humanity ³² 

with fire and his sword;

the Lord will kill many. ³³ 

[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.

[2:12]  ³ tn Heb “indeed [or “for”] the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] has a day.”

[2:12]  ⁴ tn Or “against” (NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[6:3]  ⁵ tn Some have seen a reference to the Trinity in the seraphs’ threefold declaration, “holy, holy, holy.” This proposal has no linguistic or contextual basis and should be dismissed as allegorical. Hebrew sometimes uses repetition for emphasis. (See IBHS 233-34 §12.5a; and GKC 431-32 §133.k.) By repeating the word “holy,” the seraphs emphasize the degree of the Lord’s holiness. For another example of threefold repetition for emphasis, see Ezek 21:27 (Heb. v. 32). (Perhaps Jer 22:29 provides another example.)

[6:3]  sn Or “The Lord who commands armies has absolute sovereign authority!” The basic sense of the word “holy” is “set apart from that which is commonplace, special, unique.” In this context the Lord’s holiness is first and foremost his transcendent sovereignty as the ruler of the world. He is “set apart” from the world over which he rules. Note the emphasis on the elevated position of his throne in v. 1 and his designation as “the king” in v. 5. At the same time his holiness encompasses his moral authority, which derives from his royal position. As king he has the right to dictate to his subjects how they are to live; indeed his very own character sets the standard for proper behavior. He is “set apart” from his subjects in a moral sense as well. He sets the standard; they fall short of it. Note that in v. 5 Isaiah laments that he is morally unworthy to be in the king’s presence.

[6:3]  ⁶ tn Perhaps in this context, the title has a less militaristic connotation and pictures the Lord as the ruler of the heavenly assembly. See the note at 1:9.

[8:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts], him you must set apart.” The word order is emphatic, with the object being placed first.

[8:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “he is your [object of] fear, he is your [object of] terror.” The roots יָרֵא (yare’) and עָרַץ (’arats) are repeated from v. 12b.

[14:24]  ⁹ sn Having announced the downfall of the Chaldean empire, the Lord appends to this prophecy a solemn reminder that the Assyrians, the major Mesopotamian power of Isaiah’s day, would be annihilated, foreshadowing what would subsequently happen to Babylon and the other hostile nations.

[21:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the remnant of the number of the bow, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few.”

[21:17]  ¹¹ tn Or “for” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[28:5]  ¹² tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[33:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he is the stability of your times.”

[33:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a rich store of deliverance, wisdom, and knowledge.”

[33:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the fear of the Lord, it is his treasure.”

[38:11]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew text has יָהּ יָהּ (yah yah, the abbreviated form of יְהוָה [yÿhvah] repeated), but this is probably a corruption of יְהוָה.

[38:11]  ¹⁷ tc The Hebrew text has חָדֶל (khadel), which appears to be derived from a verbal root meaning “to cease, refrain.” But the form has probably suffered an error of transmission; the original form (attested in a few medieval Hebrew mss) was likely חֶלֶד (kheled, “world”).

[38:16]  ¹⁸ tn The translation offered here is purely speculative. The text as it stands is meaningless and probably corrupt. It reads literally, “O lord, on account of them [the suffix is masculine plural], they live, and to all in them [the suffix is feminine plural], life of my spirit.”

[38:16]  ¹⁹ tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as indicative, “you restore my health,” but the following imperatival form suggests it be understood as an imperfect of request.

[40:27]  ²⁰ tn Heb “my way is hidden from the Lord” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[40:27]  ²¹ tn Heb “and from my God my justice passes away”; NRSV “my right is disregarded by my God.”

[43:3]  ²² sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[43:3]  ²³ sn Seba is not the same as Sheba in southern Arabia; cf. Gen 1:10; 1 Chr 1:9.

[45:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and there is none besides.” On the use of עוֹד (’od) here, see BDB 729 s.v. 1.c.

[45:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “gird you” (so NASB) or “strengthen you” (so NIV).

[45:5]  ²⁶ tn Or “know” (NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT); NIV “have not acknowledged.”

[45:17]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Israel will be delivered by the Lord [with] a permanent deliverance.”

[45:17]  ²⁸ tn Heb “you will not be ashamed and you will not be humiliated for ages of future time.”

[53:6]  ²⁹ tn Elsewhere the Hiphil of פָגַע (paga’) means “to intercede verbally” (Jer 15:11; 36:25) or “to intervene militarily” (Isa 59:16), but neither nuance fits here. Apparently here the Hiphil is the causative of the normal Qal meaning, “encounter, meet, touch.” The Qal sometimes refers to a hostile encounter or attack; when used in this way the object is normally introduced by the preposition -בְּ (bet, see Josh 2:16; Judg 8:21; 15:12, etc.). Here the causative Hiphil has a double object – the Lord makes “sin” attack “him” (note that the object attacked is introduced by the preposition -בְּ. In their sin the group was like sheep who had wandered from God’s path. They were vulnerable to attack; the guilt of their sin was ready to attack and destroy them. But then the servant stepped in and took the full force of the attack.

[59:20]  ³⁰ tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[59:20]  ³¹ tn Heb “and to those who turn from rebellion in Jacob.”

[66:16]  ³² tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV “upon all men”; TEV “all the people of the world.”

[66:16]  ³³ tn Heb “many are the slain of the Lord.”