Yesaya 29:13

29:13 The sovereign master ¹  says,

“These people say they are loyal to me; ² 

they say wonderful things about me, ³ 

but they are not really loyal to me. ⁴ 

Their worship consists of

nothing but man-made ritual. ⁵ 

Yesaya 31:3

31:3 The Egyptians are mere humans, not God;

their horses are made of flesh, not spirit.

The Lord will strike with ⁶  his hand;

the one who helps will stumble

and the one being helped will fall.

Together they will perish. ⁷ 

Yesaya 44:13

44:13 A carpenter takes measurements; ⁸ 

he marks out an outline of its form; ⁹ 

he scrapes ¹⁰  it with chisels,

and marks it with a compass.

He patterns it after the human form, ¹¹ 

like a well-built human being,

and puts it in a shrine. ¹² 

[29:13]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).

[29:13]  ² tn Heb “Because these people draw near to me with their mouth.”

[29:13]  ³ tn Heb “and with their lips they honor me.”

[29:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “but their heart is far from me.” The heart is viewed here as the seat of the will, from which genuine loyalty derives.

[29:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught.”

[31:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “will extend”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV “stretch out.”

[31:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “together all of them will come to an end.”

[44:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “stretches out a line” (ASV similar); NIV “measures with a line.”

[44:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “he makes an outline with the [?].” The noun שֶׂרֶד (shered) occurs only here; it apparently refers to some type of tool or marker. Cf. KJV “with a line”; ASV “with a pencil”; NAB, NRSV “with a stylus”; NASB “with red chalk”; NIV “with a marker.”

[44:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “works” (so NASB) or “fashions” (so NRSV); NIV “he roughs it out.”

[44:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he makes it like the pattern of a man”; NAB “like a man in appearance.”

[44:13]  ¹² tn Heb “like the glory of man to sit [in] a house”; NIV “that it may dwell in a shrine.”