Yesaya 2:5

2:5 O descendants ¹  of Jacob,

come, let us walk in the Lord’s guiding light. ² 

Yesaya 3:24

3:24 A putrid stench will replace the smell of spices, ³ 

a rope will replace a belt,

baldness will replace braided locks of hair,

a sackcloth garment will replace a fine robe,

and a prisoner’s brand will replace beauty.

Yesaya 5:2

5:2 He built a hedge around it, ⁴  removed its stones,

and planted a vine.

He built a tower in the middle of it,

and constructed a winepress.

He waited for it to produce edible grapes,

but it produced sour ones instead. ⁵ 

Yesaya 11:5

11:5 Justice will be like a belt around his waist,

integrity will be like a belt around his hips. ⁶ 

Yesaya 28:26

28:26 His God instructs him;

he teaches him the principles of agriculture. ⁷ 

Yesaya 30:6

30:6 This is a message ⁸  about the animals in the Negev:

Through a land of distress and danger,

inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions, ⁹ 

by snakes and darting adders, ¹⁰ 

they transport ¹¹  their wealth on the backs of donkeys,

their riches on the humps of camels,

to a nation that cannot help them. ¹² 

Yesaya 33:14

33:14 Sinners are afraid in Zion;

panic ¹³  grips the godless. ¹⁴ 

They say, ¹⁵  ‘Who among us can coexist with destructive fire?

Who among us can coexist with unquenchable ¹⁶  fire?’

Yesaya 42:5

42:5 This is what the true God, ¹⁷  the Lord, says –

the one who created the sky and stretched it out,

the one who fashioned the earth and everything that lives on it, ¹⁸ 

the one who gives breath to the people on it,

and life to those who live on it: ¹⁹ 

Yesaya 46:8

46:8 Remember this, so you can be brave! ²⁰ 

Think about it, you rebels! ²¹ 

Yesaya 49:18

49:18 Look all around you! ²² 

All of them gather to you.

As surely as I live,” says the Lord,

“you will certainly wear all of them like jewelry;

you will put them on as if you were a bride.

Yesaya 50:4

The Servant Perseveres

50:4 The sovereign Lord has given me the capacity to be his spokesman, ²³ 

so that I know how to help the weary. ²⁴ 

He wakes me up every morning;

he makes me alert so I can listen attentively as disciples do. ²⁵ 

Yesaya 50:11

50:11 Look, all of you who start a fire

and who equip yourselves with ²⁶  flaming arrows, ²⁷ 

walk ²⁸  in the light ²⁹  of the fire you started

and among the flaming arrows you ignited! ³⁰ 

This is what you will receive from me: ³¹ 

you will lie down in a place of pain. ³² 

Yesaya 63:11

63:11 His people remembered the ancient times. ³³ 

Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea,

along with the shepherd of ³⁴  his flock?

Where is the one who placed his holy Spirit among them, ³⁵ 

[2:5]  ¹ tn Heb “house,” referring to the family line or descendants (likewise in v. 6).

[2:5]  ² tn Heb “let’s walk in the light of the Lord.” In this context, which speaks of the Lord’s instruction and commands, the “light of the Lord” refers to his moral standards by which he seeks to guide his people. One could paraphrase, “let’s obey the Lord’s commands.”

[3:24]  ³ tn Heb “and it will be in place of spices there will be a stench.” The nouns for “spices” and “stench” are right next to each other in the MT for emphatic contrast. The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[5:2]  ⁴ tn Or, “dug it up” (so NIV); KJV “fenced it.’ See HALOT 810 s.v. עזק.

[5:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “wild grapes,” i.e., sour ones (also in v. 4).

[5:2]  sn At this point the love song turns sour as the Lord himself breaks in and completes the story (see vv. 3-6). In the final line of v. 2 the love song presented to the Lord becomes a judgment speech by the Lord.

[11:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “Justice will be the belt [or “undergarment”] on his waist, integrity the belt [or “undergarment”] on his hips.” The point of the metaphor is uncertain. If a belt worn outside the robe is in view, then the point might be that justice/integrity will be readily visible or that these qualities will give support to his rule. If an undergarment is in view, then the idea might be that these characteristics support his rule or that they are basic to everything else.

[28:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “he teaches him the proper way, his God instructs him.”

[30:6]  ⁸ tn Traditionally, “burden” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “oracle.”

[30:6]  ⁹ tc Heb “[a land of] a lioness and a lion, from them.” Some emend מֵהֶם (mehem, “from them”) to מֵהֵם (mehem), an otherwise unattested Hiphil participle from הָמַם (hamam, “move noisily”). Perhaps it would be better to take the initial mem (מ) as enclitic and emend the form to הֹמֶה (homeh), a Qal active participle from הָמָה (hamah, “to make a noise”); cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:542, n. 9.

[30:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “flying fiery one.” See the note at 14:29.

[30:6]  ¹¹ tn Or “carry” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[30:6]  ¹² sn This verse describes messengers from Judah transporting wealth to Egypt in order to buy Pharaoh’s protection through a treaty.

[33:14]  ¹³ tn Or “trembling” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “shake with fear.”

[33:14]  ¹⁴ tn Or “the defiled”; TEV “The sinful people of Zion”; NLT “The sinners in Jerusalem.”

[33:14]  ¹⁵ tn The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[33:14]  ¹⁶ tn Or “perpetual”; or “everlasting” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[42:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the God.” The definite article here indicates distinctiveness or uniqueness.

[42:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and its offspring” (so NASB); NIV “all that comes out of it.”

[42:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and spirit [i.e., “breath”] to the ones walking in it” (NAB, NASB, and NRSV all similar).

[46:8]  ²⁰ tn The meaning of the verb אָשַׁשׁ (’ashash, which appears here in the Hitpolel stem) is uncertain. BDB 84 s.v. אשׁשׁ relates it to a root meaning “found, establish” in Arabic; HALOT 100 s.v. II אשׁשׁ gives the meaning “pluck up courage.” The imperative with vav (ו) may indicate purpose following the preceding imperative.

[46:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “return [it], rebels, to heart”; NRSV “recall it to mind, you transgressors.”

[49:18]  ²² tn Heb “Lift up around your eyes and see.”

[50:4]  ²³ tn Heb “has given to me a tongue of disciples.”

[50:4]  sn Verses 4-11 contain the third of the so-called servant songs, which depict the career of the Lord’s special servant, envisioned as an ideal Israel (49:3) who rescues the exiles and fulfills God’s purposes for the world. Here the servant alludes to opposition (something hinted at in 49:4), but also expresses his determination to persevere with the Lord’s help.

[50:4]  ²⁴ tc Heb “to know [?] the weary with a word.” Comparing it with Arabic and Aramaic cognates yields the meaning of “help, sustain.” Nevertheless, the meaning of עוּת (’ut) is uncertain. The word occurs only here in the OT (see BDB 736 s.v.). Various scholars have suggested an emendation to עָנוֹת (’anot) from עָנָה (’anah, “answer”): “so that I know how to respond kindly to the weary.” Since the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a and the Vulgate support the MT reading, that reading is retained.

[50:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “he arouses for me an ear, to hear like disciples.”

[50:11]  ²⁶ tc Several more recent commentators have proposed an emendation of מְאַזְּרֵי (mÿ’azzÿre, “who put on”) to מְאִירִי (mÿ’iri, “who light”). However, both Qumran scrolls of Isaiah and the Vulgate support the MT reading (cf. NIV, ESV).

[50:11]  ²⁷ tn On the meaning of זִיקוֹת (ziqot, “flaming arrows”), see HALOT 268 s.v. זִיקוֹת.

[50:11]  ²⁸ tn The imperative is probably rhetorical and has a predictive force.

[50:11]  ²⁹ tn Or perhaps, “flame” (so ASV).

[50:11]  ³⁰ sn Perhaps the servant here speaks to his enemies and warns them that they will self-destruct.

[50:11]  ³¹ tn Heb “from my hand” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[50:11]  ³² sn The imagery may be that of a person who becomes ill and is forced to lie down in pain on a sickbed. Some see this as an allusion to a fiery place of damnation because of the imagery employed earlier in the verse.

[63:11]  ³³ tn Heb “and he remembered the days of antiquity, Moses, his people.” The syntax of the statement is unclear. The translation assumes that “his people” is the subject of the verb “remembered.” If original, “Moses” is in apposition to “the days of antiquity,” more precisely identifying the time period referred to. However, the syntactical awkwardness suggests that “Moses” may have been an early marginal note (perhaps identifying “the shepherd of his flock” two lines later) that has worked its way into the text.

[63:11]  ³⁴ tn The Hebrew text has a plural form, which if retained and taken as a numerical plural, would probably refer to Moses, Aaron, and the Israelite tribal leaders at the time of the Exodus. Most prefer to emend the form to the singular (רָעָה, ra’ah) and understand this as a reference just to Moses.

[63:11]  ³⁵ sn See the note at v. 10.