Yesaya 29:16

29:16 Your thinking is perverse! ¹ 

Should the potter be regarded as clay? ² 

Should the thing made say ³  about its maker, “He didn’t make me”?

Or should the pottery say about the potter, “He doesn’t understand”?

Yesaya 32:6

32:6 For a fool speaks disgraceful things; ⁴ 

his mind plans out sinful deeds. ⁵ 

He commits godless deeds ⁶ 

and says misleading things about the Lord;

he gives the hungry nothing to satisfy their appetite ⁷ 

and gives the thirsty nothing to drink. ⁸ 

Yesaya 41:7

41:7 The craftsman encourages the metalsmith,

the one who wields the hammer encourages ⁹  the one who pounds on the anvil.

He approves the quality of the welding, ¹⁰ 

and nails it down so it won’t fall over.”

Yesaya 45:9

The Lord Gives a Warning

45:9 One who argues with his creator is in grave danger, ¹¹ 

one who is like a mere ¹²  shard among the other shards on the ground!

The clay should not say to the potter, ¹³ 

“What in the world ¹⁴  are you doing?

Your work lacks skill!” ¹⁵ 

Yesaya 58:3

58:3 They lament, ¹⁶  ‘Why don’t you notice when we fast?

Why don’t you pay attention when we humble ourselves?’

Look, at the same time you fast, you satisfy your selfish desires, ¹⁷ 

you oppress your workers. ¹⁸ 

Yesaya 58:13

58:13 You must ¹⁹  observe the Sabbath ²⁰ 

rather than doing anything you please on my holy day. ²¹ 

You must look forward to the Sabbath ²² 

and treat the Lord’s holy day with respect. ²³ 

You must treat it with respect by refraining from your normal activities,

and by refraining from your selfish pursuits and from making business deals. ²⁴ 

Yesaya 64:5

64:5 You assist ²⁵  those who delight in doing what is right, ²⁶ 

who observe your commandments. ²⁷ 

Look, you were angry because we violated them continually.

How then can we be saved? ²⁸ 

Yesaya 65:7

65:7 for your sins and your ancestors’ sins,” ²⁹  says the Lord.

“Because they burned incense on the mountains

and offended ³⁰  me on the hills,

I will punish them in full measure.” ³¹ 

Yesaya 65:22

65:22 No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, ³² 

or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, ³³ 

for my people will live as long as trees, ³⁴ 

and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. ³⁵ 

[29:16]  ¹ tn Heb “your overturning.” The predicate is suppressed in this exclamation. The idea is, “O your perversity! How great it is!” See GKC 470 §147.c. The people “overturn” all logic by thinking their authority supersedes God’s.

[29:16]  ² tn The expected answer to this rhetorical question is “of course not.” On the interrogative use of אִם (’im), see BDB 50 s.v.

[29:16]  ³ tn Heb “that the thing made should say.”

[32:6]  ⁴ tn Or “foolishness,” in a moral-ethical sense. See 9:17.

[32:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “and his heart commits sin”; KJV, ASV “his heart will work iniquity”; NASB “inclines toward wickedness.”

[32:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “in order to do [or “so that he does”] what is godless [or “defiled”].”

[32:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “so that he leaves empty the appetite [or “desire”] of the hungry.”

[32:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “and the drink of the thirsty he causes to fail.”

[41:7]  ⁹ tn The verb “encourages” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[41:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “saying of the welding, ‘It is good.’”

[45:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who argues with the one who formed him.”

[45:9]  ¹² tn The words “one who is like a mere” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and clarification.

[45:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “Should the clay say to the one who forms it?” The rhetorical question anticipates a reply, “Of course not!”

[45:9]  ¹⁴ tn The words “in the world” are supplied in the translation to approximate in English idiom the force of the sarcastic question.

[45:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “your work, there are no hands for it,” i.e., “your work looks like something made by a person who has no hands.”

[58:3]  ¹⁶ tn The words “they lament” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[58:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “you find pleasure”; NASB “you find your desire.”

[58:3]  ¹⁸ tn Or perhaps, “debtors.” See HALOT 865 s.v. * עָצֵב.

[58:13]  ¹⁹ tn Lit., “if you.” In the Hebrew text vv. 13-14 are one long conditional sentence. The protasis (“if” clauses appear in v. 13), with the apodosis (“then” clause) appearing in v. 14.

[58:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “if you turn from the Sabbath your feet.”

[58:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “[from] doing your desires on my holy day.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a supplies the preposition מִן (min) on “doing.”

[58:13]  ²² tn Heb “and call the Sabbath a pleasure”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “a delight.”

[58:13]  ²³ tn Heb “and [call] the holy [day] of the Lord honored.” On קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, “holy”) as indicating a time period, see BDB 872 s.v. 2.e (cf. also Neh 8:9-11).

[58:13]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and you honor it [by refraining] from accomplishing your ways, from finding your desire and speaking a word.” It is unlikely that the last phrase (“speaking a word”) is a prohibition against talking on the Sabbath; instead it probably refers to making transactions or plans (see Hos 10:4). Some see here a reference to idle talk (cf. 2 Sam 19:30).

[64:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “meet [with kindness].”

[64:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the one who rejoices and does righteousness.”

[64:5]  ²⁷ tn Heb “in your ways they remember you.”

[64:5]  ²⁸ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “look, you were angry and we sinned against them continually [or perhaps, “in ancient times”] and we were delivered.” The statement makes little sense as it stands. The first vav [ו] consecutive (“and we sinned”) must introduce an explanatory clause here (see Num 1:48 and Isa 39:1 for other examples of this relatively rare use of the vav [ו] consecutive). The final verb (if rendered positively) makes no sense in this context – God’s anger at their sin resulted in judgment, not deliverance. One of the alternatives involves an emendation to וַנִּרְשָׁע (vannirsha’, “and we were evil”; LXX, NRSV, TEV). The Vulgate and the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a support the MT reading. One can either accept an emendation or cast the statement as a question (as above).

[65:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the iniquities of your fathers.”

[65:7]  ³⁰ tn Or perhaps, “taunted”; KJV “blasphemed”; NAB “disgraced”; NASB “scorned”; NIV “defied”; NRSV “reviled.”

[65:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “I will measure out their pay [from the] beginning into their lap,” i.e., he will give them everything they have earned.

[65:22]  ³² tn Heb “they will not build, and another live [in it].”

[65:22]  ³³ tn Heb “they will not plant, and another eat.”

[65:22]  ³⁴ tn Heb “for like the days of the tree [will be] the days of my people.”

[65:22]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the work of their hands” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “their hard-won gains.”