Yesaya 2:4

2:4 He will judge disputes between nations;

he will settle cases for many peoples.

They will beat their swords into plowshares, ¹ 

and their spears into pruning hooks. ² 

Nations will not take up the sword against other nations,

and they will no longer train for war.

Yesaya 28:21

28:21 For the Lord will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim, ³ 

he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon, ⁴ 

to accomplish his work,

his peculiar work,

to perform his task,

his strange task. ⁵ 

Yesaya 44:7

44:7 Who is like me? Let him make his claim! ⁶ 

Let him announce it and explain it to me –

since I established an ancient people – ⁷ 

let them announce future events! ⁸ 

Yesaya 44:13

44:13 A carpenter takes measurements; ⁹ 

he marks out an outline of its form; ¹⁰ 

he scrapes ¹¹  it with chisels,

and marks it with a compass.

He patterns it after the human form, ¹² 

like a well-built human being,

and puts it in a shrine. ¹³ 

[2:4]  ¹ sn Instead of referring to the large plow as a whole, the plowshare is simply the metal tip which actually breaks the earth and cuts the furrow.

[2:4]  ² sn This implement was used to prune the vines, i.e., to cut off extra leaves and young shoots (H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:93; M. Klingbeil, NIDOTTE 1:1117-18). It was a short knife with a curved hook at the end sharpened on the inside like a sickle. Breaking weapons and fashioning agricultural implements indicates a transition from fear and stress to peace and security.

[28:21]  ³ sn This probably alludes to David’s victory over the Philistines at Baal Perazim. See 2 Sam 5:20.

[28:21]  ⁴ sn This probably alludes to the Lord’s victory over the Canaanites at Gibeon, during the days of Joshua. See Josh 10:10-11.

[28:21]  ⁵ sn God’s judgment of his own people is called “his peculiar work” and “his strange task,” because he must deal with them the way he treated their enemies in the past.

[44:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “let him call” or “let him proclaim” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “Let him stand up and speak.”

[44:7]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads, “from (the time) I established an ancient people, and the coming things.” Various emendations have been proposed. One of the options assumes the reading מַשְׁמִיעִים מֵעוֹלָם אוֹתִיּוֹת (mashmi’im me’olam ’otiyyot); This literally reads “the ones causing to hear from antiquity coming things,” but more idiomatically would read “as for those who predict from antiquity what will happen” (cf. NAB, NEB, REB). The emendation directs the attention of the reader to those who claim to be able to predict the future, challenging them to actually do what they claim they can do. The MT presents Yahweh as an example to whom these alleged “predictors of the future” can compare themselves. Since the ancient versions are unanimous in their support of the MT, the emendations should be set aside.

[44:7]  ⁸ tn Heb and those things which are coming let them declare for themselves.”

[44:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “stretches out a line” (ASV similar); NIV “measures with a line.”

[44:13]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “works” (so NASB) or “fashions” (so NRSV); NIV “he roughs it out.”

[44:13]  ¹² tn Heb “he makes it like the pattern of a man”; NAB “like a man in appearance.”

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