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 4:5

4:5 Then the Lord will create

over all of Mount Zion ⁵ 

and over its convocations

a cloud and smoke by day

and a bright flame of fire by night; ⁶ 

indeed a canopy will accompany the Lord’s glorious presence. ⁷ 

Yesaya 5:7

5:7 Indeed ⁸  Israel ⁹  is the vineyard of the Lord who commands armies,

the people ¹⁰  of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight.

He waited for justice, but look what he got – disobedience! ¹¹ 

He waited for fairness, but look what he got – cries for help! ¹² 

Yesaya 7:17

7:17 The Lord will bring on you, your people, and your father’s family a time ¹³  unlike any since Ephraim departed from Judah – the king of Assyria!” ¹⁴ 

Yesaya 10:20

10:20 At that time ¹⁵  those left in Israel, those who remain of the family ¹⁶  of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. ¹⁷  Instead they will truly ¹⁸  rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁹ 

Yesaya 14:1-2

14:1 The Lord will certainly have compassion on Jacob; ²⁰  he will again choose Israel as his special people ²¹  and restore ²²  them to their land. Resident foreigners will join them and unite with the family ²³  of Jacob. 14:2 Nations will take them and bring them back to their own place. Then the family of Jacob will make foreigners their servants as they settle in the Lord’s land. ²⁴  They will make their captors captives and rule over the ones who oppressed them.

Yesaya 37:27

37:27 Their residents are powerless; ²⁵ 

they are terrified and ashamed.

They are as short-lived as plants in the field

or green vegetation. ²⁶ 

They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops ²⁷ 

when it is scorched by the east wind. ²⁸ 

Yesaya 57:8

57:8 Behind the door and doorpost you put your symbols. ²⁹ 

Indeed, ³⁰  you depart from me ³¹  and go up

and invite them into bed with you. ³² 

You purchase favors from them, ³³ 

you love their bed,

and gaze longingly ³⁴  on their genitals. ³⁵ 

Yesaya 63:7

A Prayer for Divine Intervention

63:7 I will tell of the faithful acts of the Lord,

of the Lord’s praiseworthy deeds.

I will tell about all ³⁶  the Lord did for us,

the many good things he did for the family of Israel, ³⁷ 

because of ³⁸  his compassion and great faithfulness.

Yesaya 65:22

65:22 No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, ³⁹ 

or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, ⁴⁰ 

for my people will live as long as trees, ⁴¹ 

and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. ⁴² 

[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.

[4:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “over all the place, Mount Zion.” Cf. NLT “Jerusalem”; CEV “the whole city.”

[4:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “a cloud by day, and smoke, and brightness of fire, a flame by night.” Though the accents in the Hebrew text suggest otherwise, it might be preferable to take “smoke” with what follows, since one would expect smoke to accompany fire.

[4:5]  sn The imagery of the cloud by day and fire by night recalls the days of Moses, when a cloud and fire were tangible reminders that the Lord was guiding and protecting his people (Exod 13:21-22; 14:19, 24). In the future age envisioned in Isa 4, the Lord’s protective presence will be a reality.

[4:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “indeed (or “for”) over all the glory, a canopy.” This may allude to Exod 40:34-35, where a cloud overshadows the meeting tent as it is filled with God’s glory.

[5:7]  ⁸ tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[5:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “the house of Israel” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[5:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.

[5:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “but, look, disobedience.” The precise meaning of מִשְׂפָּח (mishpakh), which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. Some have suggested a meaning “bloodshed.” The term is obviously chosen for its wordplay value; it sounds very much like מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, “justice”). The sound play draws attention to the point being made; the people have not met the Lord’s expectations.

[5:7]  ¹² tn Heb “but, look, a cry for help.” The verb (“he waited”) does double duty in the parallelism. צְעָקָה (tsa’qah) refers to the cries for help made by the oppressed. It sounds very much like צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “fairness”). The sound play draws attention to the point being made; the people have not met the Lord’s expectations.

[7:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “days” (so KJV, NAB); NASB, NRSV “such days.”

[7:17]  ¹⁴ sn Initially the prophecy appears to be a message of salvation. Immanuel seems to have a positive ring to it, sour milk and honey elsewhere symbolize prosperity and blessing (see Deut 32:13-14; Job 20:17), verse 16 announces the defeat of Judah’s enemies, and verse 17a could be taken as predicting a return to the glorious days of David and Solomon. However, the message turns sour in verses 17b-25. God will be with his people in judgment, as well as salvation. The curds and honey will be signs of deprivation, not prosperity, the relief announced in verse 16 will be short-lived, and the new era will be characterized by unprecedented humiliation, not a return to glory. Because of Ahaz’s refusal to trust the Lord, potential blessing would be transformed into a curse, just as Isaiah turns an apparent prophecy of salvation into a message of judgment. Because the words “the king of Assyria” are rather awkwardly tacked on to the end of the sentence, some regard them as a later addition. However, the very awkwardness facilitates the prophet’s rhetorical strategy here, as he suddenly turns what sounds like a positive message into a judgment speech. Actually, “the king of Assyria,” stands in apposition to the earlier object “days,” and specifies who the main character of these coming “days” will be.

[10:20]  ¹⁵ tn Or “in that day.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[10:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “house” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[10:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “on one who strikes him down.” This individual is the king (“foreign leader”) of the oppressing nation (which NLT specifies as “the Assyrians”).

[10:20]  ¹⁸ tn Or “sincerely”; KJV, ASV, NAB, NRSV “in truth.”

[10:20]  ¹⁹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[14:1]  ²⁰ tn The sentence begins with כִּי (ki), which is understood as asseverative (“certainly”) in the translation. Another option is to translate, “For the Lord will have compassion.” In this case one of the reasons for Babylon’s coming demise (13:22b) is the Lord’s desire to restore his people.

[14:1]  ²¹ tn The words “as his special people” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:1]  ²² tn Or “settle” (NASB, NIV, NCV, NLT).

[14:1]  ²³ tn Heb “house.”

[14:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and the house of Jacob will take possession of them [i.e., the nations], on the land of the Lord, as male servants and female servants.”

[37:27]  ²⁵ tn Heb “short of hand”; KJV, ASV “of small power”; NASB “short of strength.”

[37:27]  ²⁶ tn Heb “they are plants in the field and green vegetation.” The metaphor emphasizes how short-lived these seemingly powerful cities really were. See Ps 90:5-6; Isa 40:6-8, 24.

[37:27]  ²⁷ tn Heb “[they are] grass on the rooftops.” See the preceding note.

[37:27]  ²⁸ tc The Hebrew text has “scorched before the standing grain” (perhaps meaning “before it reaches maturity”), but it is preferable to emend קָמָה (qamah, “standing grain”) to קָדִים (qadim, “east wind”) with the support of 1Q Isa^a; cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:657, n. 8.

[57:8]  ²⁹ tn The precise referent of זִכָּרוֹן (zikkaron) in this context is uncertain. Elsewhere the word refers to a memorial or commemorative sign. Here it likely refers to some type of idolatrous symbol.

[57:8]  ³⁰ tn Or “for” (KJV, NRSV).

[57:8]  ³¹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “from me you uncover.” The translation assumes an emendation of the Piel form גִּלִּית (gillit, “you uncover”), which has no object expressed here, to the Qal גָּלִית (galit, “you depart”).

[57:8]  ³² tn Heb “you make wide your bed” (NASB similar).

[57:8]  ³³ tc Heb “and you [second masculine singular, unless the form be taken as third feminine singular] cut for yourself [feminine singular] from them.” Most English translations retain the MT reading in spite of at least three problems. This section makes significant use of feminine verbs and noun suffixes because of the sexual imagery. The verb in question is likely a 2nd person masculine singular verb. Nevertheless, this kind of fluctuation in gender appears elsewhere (GKC 127-28 §47.k and 462 §144.p; cf. Jer 3:5; Ezek 22:4; 23:32; cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 2:473, n. 13). Secondly, when this verbal root signifies establishing a covenant, it is normally accompanied by the noun for “covenant” (בְּרִית, bÿrit). Finally, this juxtaposition of the verb “to cut” and “covenant” normally is followed by the preposition “with,” while here it is “from.” The translation above assumes an emendation of וַתִּכְרָת (vatikhrah, “and you cut”) to וְכָרִית (vÿkharit, “and you purchase”) from the root כָּרָה (kharah); see HALOT 497 s.v. II כרה.

[57:8]  ³⁴ tn The Hebrew text has simply חָזָה (khazah, “gaze”). The adverb “longingly” is interpretive (see the context, where sexual lust is depicted).

[57:8]  ³⁵ tn Heb “[at] a hand you gaze.” The term יָד (yad, “hand”) probably has the sense of “power, manhood” here, where it is used, as in Ugaritic, as a euphemism for the genitals. See HALOT 387 s.v. I יָד.

[63:7]  ³⁶ tn Heb “according to all which.”

[63:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “greatness of goodness to the house of Israel which he did for them.”

[63:7]  ³⁸ tn Heb “according to.”

[65:22]  ³⁹ tn Heb “they will not build, and another live [in it].”

[65:22]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “they will not plant, and another eat.”

[65:22]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “for like the days of the tree [will be] the days of my people.”

[65:22]  ⁴² tn Heb “the work of their hands” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “their hard-won gains.”