Yesaya 23:18

23:18 Her profits and earnings will be set apart for the Lord. They will not be stored up or accumulated, for her profits will be given to those who live in the Lord’s presence and will be used to purchase large quantities of food and beautiful clothes. ¹ 

Yesaya 28:1

The Lord Will Judge Samaria

28:1 The splendid crown of Ephraim’s drunkards is doomed, ² 

the withering flower, its beautiful splendor, ³ 

situated ⁴  at the head of a rich valley,

the crown of those overcome with wine. ⁵ 

Yesaya 34:16

34:16 Carefully read the scroll of the Lord! ⁶ 

Not one of these creatures will be missing, ⁷ 

none will lack a mate. ⁸ 

For the Lord has issued the decree, ⁹ 

and his own spirit gathers them. ¹⁰ 

Yesaya 37:29

37:29 Because you rage against me

and the uproar you create has reached my ears, ¹¹ 

I will put my hook in your nose, ¹² 

and my bridle between your lips,

and I will lead you back

the way you came.”

Yesaya 37:38

37:38 One day, ¹³  as he was worshiping ¹⁴  in the temple of his god Nisroch, ¹⁵  his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. ¹⁶  They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

Yesaya 48:11

48:11 For my sake alone ¹⁷  I will act,

for how can I allow my name to be defiled? ¹⁸ 

I will not share my glory with anyone else! ¹⁹ 

Yesaya 59:19

59:19 In the west, people respect ²⁰  the Lord’s reputation; ²¹ 

in the east they recognize his splendor. ²² 

For he comes like a rushing ²³  stream

driven on by wind sent from the Lord. ²⁴ 

Yesaya 63:17

63:17 Why, Lord, do you make us stray ²⁵  from your ways, ²⁶ 

and make our minds stubborn so that we do not obey you? ²⁷ 

Return for the sake of your servants,

the tribes of your inheritance!

[23:18]  ¹ tn Heb “for eating to fullness and for beautiful covering[s].”

[23:18]  sn The point of this verse, which in its blatant nationalism comes precariously close to comparing the Lord to one who controls or manages a prostitute, is that Tyre will become a subject of Israel and her God. Tyre’s commercial profits will be used to enrich the Lord’s people.

[28:1]  ² tn Heb “Woe [to] the crown [or “wreath”] of the splendor [or “pride”] of the drunkards of Ephraim.” The “crown” is Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom (Ephraim). Priests and prophets are included among these drunkards in v. 7.

[28:1]  ³ tn Heb “the beauty of his splendor.” In the translation the masculine pronoun (“his”) has been replaced by “its” because the referent (the “crown”) is the city of Samaria.

[28:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “which [is].”

[28:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “ones overcome with wine.” The words “the crown of” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The syntactical relationship of the final phrase to what precedes is uncertain. הֲלוּמֵי יָיִן (halume yayin, “ones overcome with wine”) seems to correspond to שִׁכֹּרֵי אֶפְרַיִם (shikkore ’efrayim, “drunkards of Ephraim”) in line 1. The translation assumes that the phrase “the splendid crown” is to be understood in the final line as well.

[34:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “Seek from upon the scroll of the Lord and read.”

[34:16]  sn It is uncertain what particular scroll is referred to here. Perhaps the phrase simply refers to this prophecy and is an admonition to pay close attention to the details of the message.

[34:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “one from these will not be missing.” הֵנָּה (hennah, “these”) is feminine plural in the Hebrew text. It may refer only to the birds mentioned in v. 15b or may include all of the creatures listed in vv. 14b-15 (all of which are identified with feminine nouns).

[34:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “each its mate they will not lack.”

[34:16]  ⁹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “for a mouth, it has commanded.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a and a few medieval mss have פִּיהוּ (pihu, “his mouth [has commanded]”), while a few other medieval mss read פִּי יְהוָה (pi yÿhvah, “the mouth of the Lord [has commanded]”).

[34:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and his spirit, he gathers them.” The pronominal suffix (“them”) is feminine plural, referring to the birds mentioned in v. 15b or to all of the creatures listed in vv. 14b-15 (all of which are identified with feminine nouns).

[37:29]  ¹¹ tc Heb “and your complacency comes up into my ears.” The parallelism is improved if שַׁאֲנַנְךָ (sha’anankha, “your complacency”) is emended to שְׁאוֹנְךָ (shÿ’onÿkha, “your uproar”). See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 237-38. However, the LXX seems to support the MT and Sennacherib’s cavalier dismissal of Yahweh depicts an arrogant complacency (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:658, n. 10).

[37:29]  ¹² sn The word-picture has a parallel in Assyrian sculpture. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 238.

[37:38]  ¹³ sn The assassination of King Sennacherib probably took place in 681 b.c.

[37:38]  ¹⁴ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[37:38]  ¹⁵ sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name Nisroch is a corruption of Nusku.

[37:38]  ¹⁶ sn Extra-biblical sources also mention the assassination of Sennacherib, though they refer to only one assassin. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 239-40.

[48:11]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew text repeats לְמַעֲנִי (lÿma’ani, “for my sake”) for emphasis.

[48:11]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “for how can it be defiled?” The subject of the verb is probably “name” (v. 9).

[48:11]  ¹⁹ sn See 42:8.

[59:19]  ²⁰ tc Heb “fear.” A few medieval Hebrew mss read “see.”

[59:19]  ²¹ tn Heb “and they fear from the west the name of the Lord.”

[59:19]  ²² tn Heb “and from the rising of the sun his splendor.”

[59:19]  ²³ tn Heb “narrow”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “pent-up.”

[59:19]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the wind of the Lord drives it on.” The term רוּחַ (ruakh) could be translated “breath” here (see 30:28).

[63:17]  ²⁵ tn Some suggest a tolerative use of the Hiphil here, “[why do] you allow us to stray?” (cf. NLT). Though the Hiphil of תָעָה (ta’ah) appears to be tolerative in Jer 50:6, elsewhere it is preferable or necessary to take it as causative. See Isa 3:12; 9:15; and 30:28, as well as Gen 20:13; 2 Kgs 21:9; Job 12:24-25; Prov 12:26; Jer 23:13, 32; Hos 4:12; Amos 2:4; Mic 3:5.

[63:17]  ²⁶ tn This probably refers to God’s commands.

[63:17]  ²⁷ tn Heb “[Why do] you harden our heart[s] so as not to fear you.” The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[63:17]  sn How direct this hardening is, one cannot be sure. The speaker may envision direct involvement on the Lord’s part. The Lord has brought the exile as judgment for the nation’s sin and now he continues to keep them at arm’s length by blinding them spiritually. The second half of 64:7 might support this, though the precise reading of the final verb is uncertain. On the other hand, the idiom of lament is sometimes ironic and hyperbolically deterministic. For example, Naomi lamented that Shaddai was directly opposing her and bringing her calamity (Ruth 1:20-21), while the author of Ps 88 directly attributes his horrible suffering and loneliness to God (see especially vv. 6-8, 16-18). Both individuals make little, if any, room for intermediate causes or the principle of sin and death which ravages the human race. In the same way, the speaker in Isa 63:17 (who evidences great spiritual sensitivity and is anything but “hardened”) may be referring to the hardships of exile, which discouraged and even embittered the people, causing many of them to retreat from their Yahwistic faith. In this case, the “hardening” in view is more indirect and can be lifted by the Lord’s intervention. Whether the hardening here is indirect or direct, it is important to recognize that the speaker sees it as one of the effects of rebellion against the Lord (note especially 64:5-6).