Yesaya 3:17

3:17 So ¹  the sovereign master ²  will afflict the foreheads of Zion’s women ³  with skin diseases, ⁴ 

the Lord will make the front of their heads bald.” ⁵ 

Yesaya 4:6

4:6 By day it will be a shelter to provide shade from the heat,

as well as safety and protection from the heavy downpour. ⁶ 

Yesaya 5:11

5:11 Those who get up early to drink beer are as good as dead, ⁷ 

those who keep drinking long after dark

until they are intoxicated with wine. ⁸ 

Yesaya 8:6

8:6 “These people ⁹  have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah ¹⁰  and melt in fear over Rezin and the son of Remaliah. ¹¹ 

Yesaya 8:13

8:13 You must recognize the authority of the Lord who commands armies. ¹² 

He is the one you must respect;

he is the one you must fear. ¹³ 

Yesaya 8:22

8:22 When one looks out over the land, he sees ¹⁴  distress and darkness, gloom ¹⁵  and anxiety, darkness and people forced from the land. ¹⁶ 

Yesaya 9:14

9:14 So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail,

both the shoots and stalk ¹⁷  in one day.

Yesaya 10:5

The Lord Turns on Arrogant Assyria

10:5 Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, ¹⁸ 

a cudgel with which I angrily punish. ¹⁹ 

Yesaya 10:34

10:34 The thickets of the forest will be chopped down with an ax,

and mighty Lebanon will fall. ²⁰ 

Yesaya 12:6

12:6 Cry out and shout for joy, O citizens of Zion,

for the Holy One of Israel ²¹  acts mightily ²²  among you!”

Yesaya 14:4

14:4 you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words: ²³ 

“Look how the oppressor has met his end!

Hostility ²⁴  has ceased!

Yesaya 16:6

16:6 We have heard about Moab’s pride,

their great arrogance,

their boasting, pride, and excess. ²⁵ 

But their boastful claims are empty! ²⁶ 

Yesaya 16:11

16:11 So my heart constantly sighs for Moab, like the strumming of a harp, ²⁷ 

my inner being sighs ²⁸  for Kir Hareseth. ²⁹ 

Yesaya 19:6

19:6 The canals ³⁰  will stink; ³¹ 

the streams of Egypt will trickle and then dry up;

the bulrushes and reeds will decay,

Yesaya 22:3

22:3 ³² All your leaders ran away together –

they fled to a distant place;

all your refugees ³³  were captured together –

they were captured without a single arrow being shot. ³⁴ 

Yesaya 22:8

22:8 They ³⁵  removed the defenses ³⁶  of Judah.

At that time ³⁷  you looked

for the weapons in the House of the Forest. ³⁸ 

Yesaya 23:8

23:8 Who planned this for royal Tyre, ³⁹ 

whose merchants are princes,

whose traders are the dignitaries ⁴⁰  of the earth?

Yesaya 28:10

28:10 Indeed, they will hear meaningless gibberish,

senseless babbling,

a syllable here, a syllable there. ⁴¹ 

Yesaya 29:6

29:6 Judgment will come from the Lord who commands armies, ⁴² 

accompanied by thunder, earthquake, and a loud noise,

by a strong gale, a windstorm, and a consuming flame of fire.

Yesaya 30:3

30:3 But Pharaoh’s protection will bring you nothing but shame,

and the safety of Egypt’s protective shade nothing but humiliation.

Yesaya 33:6

33:6 He is your constant source of stability; ⁴³ 

he abundantly provides safety and great wisdom; ⁴⁴ 

he gives all this to those who fear him. ⁴⁵ 

Yesaya 34:12

34:12 Her nobles will have nothing left to call a kingdom

and all her officials will disappear. ⁴⁶ 

Yesaya 36:1

Sennacherib Invades Judah

36:1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, ⁴⁷  King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

Yesaya 38:20-21

38:20 The Lord is about to deliver me, ⁴⁸ 

and we will celebrate with music ⁴⁹ 

for the rest of our lives in the Lord’s temple.” ⁵⁰ 

38:21 ⁵¹  Isaiah ordered, “Let them take a fig cake and apply it to the ulcerated sore and he will get well.”

Yesaya 46:2

46:2 Together they bend low and kneel down;

they are unable to rescue the images; ⁵² 

they themselves ⁵³  head off into captivity. ⁵⁴ 

Yesaya 52:9

52:9 In unison give a joyful shout,

O ruins of Jerusalem!

For the Lord consoles his people;

he protects ⁵⁵  Jerusalem.

Yesaya 57:14

57:14 He says, ⁵⁶ 

“Build it! Build it! Clear a way!

Remove all the obstacles out of the way of my people!”

Yesaya 57:20

57:20 But the wicked are like a surging sea

that is unable to be quiet;

its waves toss up mud and sand.

[3:17]  ¹ tn In the Hebrew text vv. 16-17 and one long sentence, “Because the daughters of Zion are proud and walk…, the sovereign master will afflict….” In v. 17 the Lord refers to himself in the third person.

[3:17]  ² tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in v. 18 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[3:17]  ³ tn Heb “the daughters of Zion.”

[3:17]  ⁴ tn Or “a scab” (KJV, ASV); NIV, NCV, CEV “sores.”

[3:17]  ⁵ tn The precise meaning of this line is unclear because of the presence of the rare word פֹּת (pot). Since the verb in the line means “lay bare, make naked,” some take פֹּת as a reference to the genitals (cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV, CEV). (In 1 Kgs 7:50 a noun פֹּת appears, with the apparent meaning “socket.”) J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:139, n. 2), basing his argument on alleged Akkadian evidence and the parallelism of the verse, takes פֹּת as “forehead.”

[4:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “a shelter it will be for shade by day from heat, and for a place of refuge and for a hiding place from cloudburst and rain.” Since both of the last nouns of this verse can mean rain, they can either refer to the rain storm and the rain as distinct items or together refer to a heavy downpour. Regardless, they do not represent unrelated phenomena.

[5:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who arise early in the morning, [who] chase beer.”

[5:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “[who] delay until dark, [until] wine enflames them.”

[5:11]  sn This verse does not condemn drinking per se, but refers to the carousing lifestyle of the rich bureaucrats, made possible by wealth taken from the poor. Their carousing is not the fundamental problem, but a disgusting symptom of the real disease – their social injustice.

[8:6]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text begins with “because.” In the Hebrew text vv. 6-7 are one long sentence, with v. 6 giving the reason for judgment and v. 7 formally announcing it.

[8:6]  ¹⁰ sn The phrase “waters of Shiloah” probably refers to a stream that originated at the Gihon Spring and supplied the city of Jerusalem with water. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:225. In this context these waters stand in contrast to the flood waters of Assyria and symbolize God’s presence and blessings.

[8:6]  ¹¹ tn The precise meaning of v. 6 has been debated. The translation above assumes that “these people” are the residents of Judah and that מָשׂוֹשׂ (masos) is alternate form of מָסוֹס (masos, “despair, melt”; see HALOT 606 s.v. מסס). In this case vv. 7-8 in their entirety announce God’s disciplinary judgment on Judah. However, “these people” could refer to the Israelites and perhaps also the Syrians (cf v. 4). In this case מָשׂוֹשׂ probably means “joy.” One could translate, “and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah.” In this case v. 7a announces the judgment of Israel, with vv. 7b-8 then shifting the focus to the judgment of Judah.

[8:13]  ¹² tn Heb “the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts], him you must set apart.” The word order is emphatic, with the object being placed first.

[8:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “he is your [object of] fear, he is your [object of] terror.” The roots יָרֵא (yare’) and עָרַץ (’arats) are repeated from v. 12b.

[8:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, ASV, NASB).

[8:22]  ¹⁵ tn The precise meaning of מְעוּף (mÿ’uf) is uncertain; the word occurs only here. See BDB 734 s.v. מָעוּף.

[8:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “ and darkness, pushed.” The word מְנֻדָּח (mÿnudakh) appears to be a Pual participle from נדח (“push”), but the Piel is unattested for this verb and the Pual occurs only here.

[9:14]  ¹⁷ sn The metaphor in this line is that of a reed being cut down.

[10:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Woe [to] Assyria, the club of my anger.” On הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) see the note on the first phrase of 1:4.

[10:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a cudgel is he, in their hand is my anger.” It seems likely that the final mem (ם) on בְיָדָם (bÿyadam) is not a pronominal suffix (“in their hand”), but an enclitic mem. If so, one can translate literally, “a cudgel is he in the hand of my anger.”

[10:34]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew text has, “and Lebanon, by/as [?] a mighty one, will fall.” The translation above takes the preposition בְּ (bet) prefixed to “mighty one” as indicating identity, “Lebanon, as a mighty one, will fall.” In this case “mighty one” describes Lebanon. (In Ezek 17:23 and Zech 11:2 the adjective is used of Lebanon’s cedars.) Another option is to take the preposition as indicating agency and interpret “mighty one” as a divine title (see Isa 33:21). One could then translate, “and Lebanon will fall by [the agency of] the Mighty One.”

[12:6]  ²¹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[12:6]  ²² tn Or “is great” (TEV). However, the context emphasizes his mighty acts of deliverance (cf. NCV), not some general or vague character quality.

[14:4]  ²³ tn Heb “you will lift up this taunt over the king of Babylon, saying.”

[14:4]  ²⁴ tc The word in the Hebrew text (מַדְהֵבָה, madhevah) is unattested elsewhere and of uncertain meaning. Many (following the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a) assume a dalet-resh (ד-ר) confusion and emend the form to מַרְהֵבָה (marhevah, “onslaught”). See HALOT 548 s.v. II *מִדָּה and HALOT 633 s.v. *מַרְהֵבָה.

[16:6]  ²⁵ tn עֶבְרָה (’evrah) often means “anger, fury,” but here it appears to refer to boastful outbursts or excessive claims. See HALOT 782 s.v. עֶבְרָה.

[16:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “not so his boasting.”

[16:11]  ²⁷ tn Heb “so my intestines sigh for Moab like a harp.” The word מֵעַי (me’ay, “intestines”) is used here of the seat of the emotions. English idiom requires the word “heart.” The point of the comparison to a harp is not entirely clear. Perhaps his sighs of mourning resemble a harp in sound, or his constant sighing is like the repetitive strumming of a harp.

[16:11]  ²⁸ tn The verb is supplied in the translation; “sighs” in the preceding line does double duty in the parallel structure.

[16:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Kir Heres” (so ASV, NRSV, TEV, CEV), a variant name for “Kir Hareseth” (see v. 7).

[19:6]  ³⁰ tn Heb “rivers” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, CEV “streams”; TEV “channels.”

[19:6]  ³¹ tn The verb form appears as a Hiphil in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a; the form in MT may be a so-called “mixed form,” reflecting the Hebrew Hiphil stem and the functionally corresponding Aramaic Aphel stem. See HALOT 276 s.v. I זנח.

[22:3]  ³² tn Verse 3 reads literally, “All your leaders ran away, apart from a bow they were captured, all your found ones were captured together, to a distant place they fled.” J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:403, n. 3) suggests that the lines of the verse are arranged chiastically; lines 1 and 4 go together, while lines 2 and 3 are parallel. To translate the lines in the order they appear in the Hebrew text is misleading to the English reader, who is likely unfamiliar with, or at least insensitive to, chiastic parallelism. Consequently, the translation above arranges the lines as follows: line 1 (Hebrew) = line 1 (in translation); line 2 (Hebrew) = line 4 (in translation); line 3 (Hebrew) = line 3 (in translation); line 4 (Hebrew) = line 2 (in translation).

[22:3]  ³³ tn Heb “all your found ones.” To achieve tighter parallelism (see “your leaders”) some prefer to emend the form to אַמִּיצַיִךְ (’ammitsayikh, “your strong ones”) or to נֶאֱמָצַיִךְ (ne’ematsayikh, “your strengthened ones”).

[22:3]  ³⁴ tn Heb “apart from [i.e., without] a bow they were captured”; cf. NAB, NRSV “without the use of a bow.”

[22:8]  ³⁵ tn Heb “he,” i.e., the enemy invader. NASB, by its capitalization of the pronoun, takes this to refer to the Lord.

[22:8]  ³⁶ tn Heb “covering.”

[22:8]  ³⁷ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV), likewise at the beginning of v. 12.

[22:8]  ³⁸ sn Perhaps this refers to a royal armory, or to Solomon’s “House of the Forest of Lebanon,” where weapons may have been kept (see 1 Kgs 10:16-17).

[23:8]  ³⁹ tn The precise meaning of הַמַּעֲטִירָה (hamma’atirah) is uncertain. The form is a Hiphil participle from עָטַר (’atar), a denominative verb derived from עֲטָרָה (’atarah, “crown, wreath”). The participle may mean “one who wears a crown” or “one who distributes crowns.” In either case, Tyre’s prominence in the international political arena is in view.

[23:8]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “the honored” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “renowned.”

[28:10]  ⁴¹ tn The meaning of this verse has been debated. The text has literally “indeed [or “for”] a little there, a little there” ( כִּי צַו לָצָו צַו לָצָו קַו לָקָו קַו, ki tsav latsav, tsav latsav, qav laqav, qav laqav). The present translation assumes that the repetitive syllables are gibberish that resembles baby talk (cf v. 9b) and mimics what the people will hear when foreign invaders conquer the land (v. 11). In this case זְעֵיר (zÿ’er, “a little”) refers to the short syllabic structure of the babbling (cf. CEV). Some take צַו (tsav) as a derivative of צָוָה (tsavah, “command”) and translate the first part of the statement as “command after command, command after command.” Proponents of this position (followed by many English versions) also take קַו (qav) as a noun meaning “measuring line” (see v. 17), understood here in the abstract sense of “standard” or “rule.”

[29:6]  ⁴² tn Heb “from the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] there will be visitation.” The third feminine singular passive verb form תִּפָּקֵד (tippaqed, “she/it will be visited”) is used here in an impersonal sense. See GKC 459 §144.b.

[33:6]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and he is the stability of your times.”

[33:6]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “a rich store of deliverance, wisdom, and knowledge.”

[33:6]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “the fear of the Lord, it is his treasure.”

[34:12]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “will be nothing”; NCV, TEV, NLT “will all be gone.”

[36:1]  ⁴⁷ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[38:20]  ⁴⁸ tn The infinitive construct is used here to indicate that an action is imminent. See GKC 348-49 §114.i, and IBHS 610 §36.2.3g.

[38:20]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “and music [or perhaps, “stringed instruments”] we will play.”

[38:20]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “all the days of our lives in the house of the Lord.”

[38:20]  sn Note that vv. 21-22 have been placed between vv. 6-7, where they logically belong. See 2 Kgs 20:7-8.

[38:21]  ⁵¹ tc If original to Isaiah 38, vv. 21-22 have obviously been misplaced in the course of the text’s transmission, and would most naturally be placed here, between Isa 38:6 and 38:7. See 2 Kgs 20:7-8, where these verses are placed at this point in the narrative, not at the end. Another possibility is that these verses were not in the original account, and a scribe, familiar with the 2 Kgs version of the story, appended vv. 21-22 to the end of the account in Isaiah 38.

[46:2]  ⁵² tn Heb “[the] burden,” i.e., their images, the heavy burden carried by the animals.

[46:2]  ⁵³ tn נַפְשָׁם (nafsham, “their souls/lives”) is equivalent here to a third masculine plural suffix, but the third feminine singular verb הָלָכָה (halakhah, “they go”) agrees with the feminine noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul, life”).

[46:2]  ⁵⁴ sn The downfall of Babylon is depicted here. The idols are carried off by the victorious enemy; the gods are likened to defeated captives who cower before the enemy and are taken into exile.

[52:9]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.

[57:14]  ⁵⁶ tn Since God is speaking throughout this context, perhaps we should emend the text to “and I say.” However, divine speech is introduced in v. 15.