Yesaya 6:13

6:13 Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, ¹  like one of the large sacred trees ²  or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. ³  That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family.” ⁴ 

Yesaya 10:22

10:22 For though your people, Israel, are as numerous as ⁵  the sand on the seashore, only a remnant will come back. ⁶  Destruction has been decreed; ⁷  just punishment ⁸  is about to engulf you. ⁹ 

Yesaya 48:19

48:19 Your descendants would have been as numerous as sand, ¹⁰ 

and your children ¹¹  like its granules.

Their name would not have been cut off

and eliminated from my presence. ¹² 

Yesaya 51:2

51:2 Look at Abraham, your father,

and Sarah, who gave you birth. ¹³ 

When I summoned him, he was a lone individual, ¹⁴ 

but I blessed him ¹⁵  and gave him numerous descendants. ¹⁶ 

Yesaya 54:3

54:3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left;

your children will conquer ¹⁷  nations

and will resettle desolate cities.

Yesaya 60:22

60:22 The least of you will multiply into ¹⁸  a thousand;

the smallest of you will become a large nation.

When the right time comes, I the Lord will quickly do this!” ¹⁹ 

[6:13]  ¹ tn Or “be burned” (NRSV); NIV “laid waste.”

[6:13]  ² tn Heb “like a massive tree or like a big tree” (perhaps, “like a terebinth or like an oak”).

[6:13]  ³ tn The Hebrew text has “which in the felling, a sacred pillar in them.” Some take מַצֶּבֶת (matsevet) as “stump,” and translate, “which, when chopped down, have a stump remaining in them.” But elsewhere מַצֶּבֶת refers to a memorial pillar (2 Sam 18:18) and the word resembles מַצֶּבָה (matsevah, “sacred pillar”). בָּם (bam, “in them”) may be a corruption of בָּמָה (bamah, “high place”; the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has במה). אֳשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) becomes a problem in this case, but one might emend the form to וּכְּאֲשֵׁרָה (ukÿ’asherah, “or like an Asherah pole”) and translate, “like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole.” Though the text is difficult, the references to sacred trees and a sacred pillar suggest that the destruction of a high place is in view, an apt metaphor for the judgment of idolatrous Judah.

[6:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “a holy offspring [is] its sacred pillar.” If מַצֶּבֶת (matsevet) is taken as “stump,” one can see in this statement a brief glimpse of hope. The tree (the nation) is chopped down, but the stump (a righteous remnant) remains from which God can restore the nation. However, if מַצֶּבֶת is taken as “sacred pillar” (מַצֶּבָה, matsevah; see the previous note), it is much more difficult to take the final statement in a positive sense. In this case “holy offspring” alludes to God’s ideal for his covenant people, the offspring of the patriarchs. Ironically that “holy” nation is more like a “sacred pillar” and it will be thrown down like a sacred pillar from a high place and its land destroyed like the sacred trees located at such shrines. Understood in this way, the ironic statement is entirely negative in tone, just like the rest of the preceding announcement of judgment. It also reminds the people of their failure; they did not oppose pagan religion, instead they embraced it. Now they will be destroyed in the same way they should have destroyed paganism.

[10:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “are like.”

[10:22]  ⁶ sn The twofold appearance of the statement “a remnant will come back” (שְׁאָר יָשׁוּב, she’ar yashuv) in vv. 21-22 echoes and probably plays off the name of Isaiah’s son Shear-jashub (see 7:3). In its original context the name was meant to encourage Ahaz (see the note at 7:3), but here it has taken on new dimensions. In light of Ahaz’s failure and the judgment it brings down on the land, the name Shear-jashub now foreshadows the destiny of the nation. According to vv. 21-22, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that a remnant of God’s people will return; the bad news is that only a remnant will be preserved and come back. Like the name Immanuel, this name foreshadows both judgment (see the notes at 7:25 and 8:8) and ultimate restoration (see the note at 8:10).

[10:22]  ⁷ tn Or “predetermined”; cf. ASV, NASB “is determined”; TEV “is in store.”

[10:22]  ⁸ tn צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah) often means “righteousness,” but here it refers to God’s just judgment.

[10:22]  ⁹ tn Or “is about to overflow.”

[48:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “like sand”; NCV “as many as the grains of sand.”

[48:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and the issue from your inner parts.”

[48:19]  ¹² tn Heb “and his name would not be cut off and would not be destroyed from before me.”

[51:2]  ¹³ sn Although Abraham and Sarah are distant ancestors of the people the prophet is addressing, they are spoken of as the immediate parents.

[51:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “one”; NLT “was alone”; TEV “was childless.”

[51:2]  ¹⁵ tn “Bless” may here carry the sense of “endue with potency, reproductive power.” See Gen 1:28.

[51:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and I made him numerous.”

[54:3]  ¹⁷ tn Or “take possession of”; NAB “shall dispossess.”

[60:22]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “will become” (so NASB, NIV).

[60:22]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “I, the Lord, in its time, I will quickly do it.”