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 29:4

29:4 You will fall;

while lying on the ground ⁴  you will speak;

from the dust where you lie, your words will be heard. ⁵ 

Your voice will sound like a spirit speaking from the underworld; ⁶ 

from the dust you will chirp as if muttering an incantation. ⁷ 

Yesaya 47:12

47:12 Persist ⁸  in trusting ⁹  your amulets

and your many incantations,

which you have faithfully recited ¹⁰  since your youth!

Maybe you will be successful ¹¹  –

maybe you will scare away disaster. ¹² 

Yesaya 47:15

47:15 They will disappoint you, ¹³ 

those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. ¹⁴ 

Each strays off in his own direction, ¹⁵ 

leaving no one to rescue you.”

Yesaya 59:8

59:8 They are unfamiliar with peace;

their deeds are unjust. ¹⁶ 

They use deceitful methods,

and whoever deals with them is unfamiliar with peace. ¹⁷ 

Yesaya 59:16

The Lord Intervenes

59:16 He sees there is no advocate; ¹⁸ 

he is shocked ¹⁹  that no one intervenes.

So he takes matters into his own hands; ²⁰ 

his desire for justice drives him on. ²¹ 

[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).

[29:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the ground” (so NIV, NCV).

[29:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “and from the dust your word will be low.”

[29:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “and your voice will be like a ritual pit from the earth.” The Hebrew אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. See the note on “incantations” in 8:19. Here the word is used metonymically for the voice that emerges from such a pit.

[29:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “and from the dust your word will chirp.” The words “as if muttering an incantation” are supplied in the translation for clarification. See the parallelism and 8:19.

[47:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”

[47:12]  ⁹ tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.

[47:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”

[47:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”

[47:12]  ¹² tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.

[47:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “So they will be to you”; NIV “That is all they can do for you.”

[47:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “that for which you toiled, your traders from your youth.” The omen readers and star gazers are likened to merchants with whom Babylon has had an ongoing economic relationship.

[47:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “each to his own side, they err.”

[59:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their pathways.”

[59:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “their paths they make crooked, everyone who walks in it does not know peace.”

[59:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “man” (so KJV, ASV); TEV “no one to help.”

[59:16]  ¹⁹ tn Or “appalled” (NAB, NIV, NRSV), or “disgusted.”

[59:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and his arm delivers for him.”

[59:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “and his justice [or “righteousness”] supports him.”