Yesaya 2:6

The Lord’s Day of Judgment

2:6 Indeed, O Lord, ¹  you have abandoned your people,

the descendants of Jacob.

For diviners from the east are everywhere; ² 

they consult omen readers like the Philistines do. ³ 

Plenty of foreigners are around. ⁴ 

Yesaya 29:23

29:23 For when they see their children,

whom I will produce among them, ⁵ 

they will honor ⁶  my name.

They will honor the Holy One of Jacob; ⁷ 

they will respect ⁸  the God of Israel.

Yesaya 41:14

41:14 Don’t be afraid, despised insignificant Jacob, ⁹ 

men of ¹⁰  Israel.

I am helping you,” says the Lord,

your protector, ¹¹  the Holy One of Israel. ¹² 

Yesaya 42:24

42:24 Who handed Jacob over to the robber?

Who handed Israel over to the looters? ¹³ 

Was it not the Lord, against whom we sinned?

They refused to follow his commands;

they disobeyed his law. ¹⁴ 

Yesaya 43:1

The Lord Will Rescue His People

43:1 Now, this is what the Lord says,

the one who created you, O Jacob,

and formed you, O Israel:

“Don’t be afraid, for I will protect ¹⁵  you.

I call you by name, you are mine.

Yesaya 44:2

44:2 This is what the Lord, the one who made you, says –

the one who formed you in the womb and helps you:

“Don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob,

Jeshurun, ¹⁶  whom I have chosen!

Yesaya 44:5

44:5 One will say, ‘I belong to the Lord,’

and another will use ¹⁷  the name ‘Jacob.’

One will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’

and use the name ‘Israel.’” ¹⁸ 

Yesaya 44:21

44:21 Remember these things, O Jacob,

O Israel, for you are my servant.

I formed you to be my servant;

O Israel, I will not forget you! ¹⁹ 

Yesaya 45:19

45:19 I have not spoken in secret,

in some hidden place. ²⁰ 

I did not tell Jacob’s descendants,

‘Seek me in vain!’ ²¹ 

I am the Lord,

the one who speaks honestly,

who makes reliable announcements. ²² 

Yesaya 46:3

46:3 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob, ²³ 

all you who are left from the family of Israel, ²⁴ 

you who have been carried from birth, ²⁵ 

you who have been supported from the time you left the womb. ²⁶ 

Yesaya 48:20

48:20 Leave Babylon!

Flee from the Babylonians!

Announce it with a shout of joy!

Make this known!

Proclaim it throughout the earth! ²⁷ 

Say, ‘The Lord protects ²⁸  his servant Jacob.

Yesaya 49:26

49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;

they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. ²⁹ 

Then all humankind ³⁰  will recognize that

I am the Lord, your deliverer,

your protector, ³¹  the powerful ruler of Jacob.” ³² 

Yesaya 58:1

The Lord Desires Genuine Devotion

58:1 “Shout loudly! Don’t be quiet!

Yell as loud as a trumpet!

Confront my people with their rebellious deeds; ³³ 

confront Jacob’s family with their sin! ³⁴ 

Yesaya 58:14

58:14 Then you will find joy in your relationship to the Lord, ³⁵ 

and I will give you great prosperity, ³⁶ 

and cause crops to grow on the land I gave to your ancestor Jacob.” ³⁷ 

Know for certain that the Lord has spoken. ³⁸ 

Yesaya 60:16

60:16 You will drink the milk of nations;

you will nurse at the breasts of kings. ³⁹ 

Then you will recognize that I, the Lord, am your deliverer,

your protector, ⁴⁰  the powerful ruler of Jacob. ⁴¹ 

[2:6]  ¹ tn The words “O Lord” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Isaiah addresses the Lord in prayer.

[2:6]  ² tc Heb “they are full from the east.” Various scholars retain the BHS reading and suggest that the prophet makes a general statement concerning Israel’s reliance on foreign customs (J. Watts, Isaiah [WBC], 1:32; J. de Waard, Isaiah, 12-13). Nevertheless, it appears that a word is missing. Based on the parallelism (note “omen readers” in 5:6c), many suggest that קֹסְמִים (qosÿmim, “diviners”) or מִקְסָם (miqsam, “divination”) has been accidentally omitted. Homoioteleuton could account for the omission of an original קֹסְמִים (note how this word and the following מִקֶּדֶם [miqqedem, “from the east”] both end in mem); an original מִקְסָם could have fallen out by homoioarcton (note how this word and the following מִקֶּדֶם both begin with mem).

[2:6]  ³ tn Heb “and omen readers like the Philistines.” Through this line and the preceding, the prophet contends that Israel has heavily borrowed the pagan practices of the east and west (in violation of Lev 19:26; Deut 18:9-14).

[2:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “and with the children of foreigners they [?].” The precise meaning of the final word is uncertain. Some take this verb (I שָׂפַק, safaq) to mean “slap,” supply the object “hands,” and translate, “they slap [hands] with foreigners”; HALOT 1349 s.v. I שׂפק. This could be a reference to foreign alliances. This translation has two disadvantages: It requires the conjectural insertion of “hands” and the use of this verb with its object prefixed with a בְּ (bet) preposition with this meaning does not occur elsewhere. The other uses of this verb refer to clapping at someone, an indication of hostility. The translation above assumes the verb is derived from II שׂפק (“to suffice,” attested in the Qal in 1 Kgs 20:10; HALOT 1349 s.v. II שׂפק). In this case the point is that a sufficient number of foreigners (in this case, too many!) live in the land. The disadvantage of this option is that the preposition prefixed to “the children of foreigners” does not occur with this verb elsewhere. The chosen translation is preferred since it continues the idea of abundant foreign influence and does not require a conjectural insertion or emendation.

[29:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “for when he sees his children, the work of my hands in his midst.”

[29:23]  ⁶ tn Or “treat as holy” (also in the following line); NASB, NRSV “will sanctify.”

[29:23]  ⁷ sn Holy One of Jacob is similar to the phrase “Holy One of Israel” common throughout Isaiah; see the sn at Isa 1:4.

[29:23]  ⁸ tn Or “fear,” in the sense of “stand in awe of.”

[41:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “O worm Jacob” (NAB, NIV). The worm metaphor suggests that Jacob is insignificant and despised.

[41:14]  ¹⁰ tn On the basis of the parallelism (note “worm”) and an alleged Akkadian cognate, some read “louse” or “weevil.” Cf. NAB “O maggot Israel”; NRSV “you insect Israel.”

[41:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “your kinsman redeemer.” A גָּאַל (ga’al, “kinsman redeemer”) was a protector of the extended family’s interests.

[41:14]  ¹² sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[42:24]  ¹³ tn Heb “Who gave to the robber Jacob, and Israel to the looters?” In the first line the consonantal text (Kethib) has מְשׁוֹסֶה (mÿshoseh), a Polel participle from שָׁסָה (shasah, “plunder”). The marginal reading (Qere) is מְשִׁיסָּה (mÿshissah), a noun meaning “plunder.” In this case one could translate “Who handed Jacob over as plunder?”

[42:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they were not willing in his ways to walk, and they did not listen to his law.”

[43:1]  ¹⁵ tn Or “redeem.” See the note at 41:14. Cf. NCV “saved you”; CEV “rescued you”; NLT “ransomed you.”

[44:2]  ¹⁶ sn Jeshurun is a poetic name for Israel; it occurs here and in Deut 32:15; 33:5, 26.

[44:5]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew text has a Qal verb form, “and another will call by the name of Jacob.” With support from Symmachus (an ancient Greek textual witness), some read the Niphal, “and another will be called by the name of Jacob.”

[44:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and by the name of Israel he will title.” Some, with support from several ancient versions, prefer to change the Piel (active) verb form to a Pual (passive), “and he will be titled by the name of Israel.”

[44:21]  ¹⁹ tc The verb in the Hebrew text is a Niphal imperfect with a pronominal suffix. Although the Niphal ordinarily has the passive sense, it can have a reflexive nuance as well (see above translation). Some have suggested an emendation to a Qal form: “Do not forget me” (all the ancient versions, NEB, REB; see GKC 369 §117.x). “Do not forget me” would make a good parallel with “remember these things” in the first line. Since the MT is the harder reading and fits with Israel’s complaint that God had forgotten her (Isa 40:27), the MT reading should be retained (NASB, NKJV, NRSV, ESV). The passive has been rendered as an active in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style (so also NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT).

[45:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “in a place of a land of darkness” (ASV similar); NASB “in some dark land.”

[45:19]  ²¹ tn “In vain” translates תֹהוּ (tohu), used here as an adverbial accusative: “for nothing.”

[45:19]  ²² tn The translation above assumes that צֶדֶק (tsedeq) and מֵישָׁרִים (mesharim) are adverbial accusatives (see 33:15). If they are taken as direct objects, indicating the content of what is spoken, one might translate, “who proclaims deliverance, who announces justice.”

[46:3]  ²³ tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV “descendants of Jacob.”

[46:3]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and all the remnant of the house of Israel.”

[46:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “from the womb” (so NRSV); KJV “from the belly”; NAB “from your infancy.”

[46:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “who have been lifted up from the womb.”

[48:20]  ²⁷ tn Heb “to the end of the earth” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

[48:20]  ²⁸ tn Heb “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.

[49:26]  ²⁹ sn Verse 26a depicts siege warfare and bloody defeat. The besieged enemy will be so starved they will their own flesh. The bloodstained bodies lying on the blood-soaked battle site will look as if they collapsed in drunkenness.

[49:26]  ³⁰ tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).

[49:26]  ³¹ tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[49:26]  ³² tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.” See 1:24.

[58:1]  ³³ tn Heb “declare to my people their rebellion.”

[58:1]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and to the house of Jacob their sin.” The verb “declare” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[58:14]  ³⁵ tn For a parallel use of the phrase “find joy in” (Hitpael of עָנַג [’anag] followed by the preposition עַל [’al]), see Ps 37:4.

[58:14]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and I will cause you to ride upon the heights of the land.” The statement seems to be an allusion to Deut 32:13, where it is associated, as here, with God’s abundant provision of food.

[58:14]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and I will cause you to eat the inheritance of Jacob your father.” The Hebrew term נַחֲלָה (nakhalah) likely stands by metonymy for the crops that grow on Jacob’s “inheritance” (i.e., the land he inherited as a result of God’s promise).

[58:14]  ³⁸ tn Heb “for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” The introductory כִּי (ki) may be asseverative (as reflected in the translation) or causal/explanatory, explaining why the preceding promise will become reality (because it is guaranteed by the divine word).

[60:16]  ³⁹ sn The nations and kings are depicted as a mother nursing her children. Restored Zion will be nourished by them as she receives their wealth as tribute.

[60:16]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[60:16]  ⁴¹ sn See 1:24 and 49:26.