Yesaya 8:9

8:9 You will be broken, ¹  O nations;

you will be shattered! ² 

Pay attention, all you distant lands of the earth!

Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered!

Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered! ³ 

Yesaya 19:17

19:17 The land of Judah will humiliate Egypt. Everyone who hears about Judah will be afraid because of what the Lord who commands armies is planning to do to them. ⁴ 

Yesaya 28:19

28:19 Whenever it sweeps by, it will overtake you;

indeed, ⁵  every morning it will sweep by,

it will come through during the day and the night.” ⁶ 

When this announcement is understood,

it will cause nothing but terror.

Yesaya 36:15

36:15 Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”

Yesaya 48:3

48:3 “I announced events beforehand, ⁷ 

I issued the decrees and made the predictions; ⁸ 

suddenly I acted and they came to pass.

Yesaya 48:18

48:18 If only you had obeyed my ⁹  commandments,

prosperity would have flowed to you like a river, ¹⁰ 

deliverance would have come to you like the waves of the sea. ¹¹ 

Yesaya 52:7

52:7 How delightful it is to see approaching over the mountains ¹² 

the feet of a messenger who announces peace,

a messenger who brings good news, who announces deliverance,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” ¹³ 

Yesaya 62:11

62:11 Look, the Lord announces to the entire earth: ¹⁴ 

“Say to Daughter Zion,

‘Look, your deliverer comes!

Look, his reward is with him

and his reward goes before him!’” ¹⁵ 

[8:9]  ¹ tn The verb רֹעוּ (ro’u) is a Qal imperative, masculine plural from רָעַע (ra’a’, “break”). Elsewhere both transitive (Job 34:24; Ps 2:9; Jer 15:12) and intransitive (Prov 25:19; Jer 11:16) senses are attested for the Qal of this verb. Because no object appears here, the form is likely intransitive: “be broken.” In this case the imperative is rhetorical (like “be shattered” later in the verse) and equivalent to a prediction, “you will be broken.” On the rhetorical use of the imperative in general, see IBHS 572 §34.4c; GKC 324 §110.c.

[8:9]  ² tn The imperatival form (Heb “be shattered”) is rhetorical and expresses the speaker’s firm conviction of the outcome of the nations’ attack. See the note on “be broken.”

[8:9]  ³ tn The initial imperative (“get ready for battle”) acknowledges the reality of the nations’ hostility; the concluding imperative (Heb “be shattered”) is rhetorical and expresses the speakers’ firm conviction of the outcome of the nations’ attack. (See the note on “be broken.”) One could paraphrase, “Okay, go ahead and prepare for battle since that’s what you want to do, but your actions will backfire and you’ll be shattered.” This rhetorical use of the imperatives is comparable to saying to a child who is bent on climbing a high tree, “Okay, go ahead, climb the tree and break your arm!” What this really means is: “Okay, go ahead and climb the tree since that’s what you really want to do, but your actions will backfire and you’ll break your arm.” The repetition of the statement in the final two lines of the verse gives the challenge the flavor of a taunt (ancient Israelite “trash talking,” as it were).

[19:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the land of Judah will become [a source of] shame to Egypt, everyone to whom one mentions it [i.e., the land of Judah] will fear because of the plan of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] which he is planning against him.”

[28:19]  ⁵ tn Or “for” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[28:19]  ⁶ tn The words “it will come through” are supplied in the translation. The verb “will sweep by” does double duty in the parallel structure.

[48:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “the former things beforehand I declared.”

[48:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “and from my mouth they came forth and I caused them to be heard.”

[48:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “paid attention to” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “had listened to.”

[48:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “like a river your peace would have been.” שָׁלוֹם (shalom) probably refers here to the peace and prosperity which God promised in return for obedience to the covenant.

[48:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah) probably refers here to divine deliverance from enemies. See v. 19.

[52:7]  ¹² tn Heb “How delightful on the mountains.”

[52:7]  ¹³ tn Or “has become king.” When a new king was enthroned, his followers would give this shout. For other examples of this enthronement formula (Qal perfect 3rd person masculine singular מָלַךְ [malakh], followed by the name of the king), see 2 Sam 15:10; 1 Kgs 1:11, 13, 18; 2 Kgs 9:13. The Lord is an eternal king, but here he is pictured as a victorious warrior who establishes his rule from Zion.

[62:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to the end of the earth” (so NASB, NRSV).

[62:11]  ¹⁵ sn As v. 12 indicates, the returning exiles are the Lord’s reward/prize. See also 40:10 and the note there.