Yesaya 9:4

9:4 For their oppressive yoke

and the club that strikes their shoulders,

the cudgel the oppressor uses on them, ¹ 

you have shattered, as in the day of Midian’s defeat. ² 

Yesaya 14:31

14:31 Wail, O city gate!

Cry out, O city!

Melt with fear, ³  all you Philistines!

For out of the north comes a cloud of smoke,

and there are no stragglers in its ranks. ⁴ 

Yesaya 25:2

25:2 Indeed, ⁵  you have made the city ⁶  into a heap of rubble,

the fortified town into a heap of ruins;

the fortress of foreigners ⁷  is no longer a city,

it will never be rebuilt.

Yesaya 25:5

25:5 like heat ⁸  in a dry land,

you humble the boasting foreigners. ⁹ 

Just as the shadow of a cloud causes the heat to subside, ¹⁰ 

so he causes the song of tyrants to cease. ¹¹ 

Yesaya 33:19

33:19 You will no longer see a defiant ¹²  people

whose language you do not comprehend, ¹³ 

whose derisive speech you do not understand. ¹⁴ 

Yesaya 37:6

37:6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘This is what the Lord says: “Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard – these insults the king of Assyria’s servants have hurled against me. ¹⁵ 

Yesaya 60:18

60:18 Sounds of violence ¹⁶  will no longer be heard in your land,

or the sounds of ¹⁷  destruction and devastation within your borders.

You will name your walls, ‘Deliverance,’

and your gates, ‘Praise.’

Yesaya 62:9

62:9 But those who harvest the grain ¹⁸  will eat it,

and will praise the Lord.

Those who pick the grapes will drink the wine ¹⁹ 

in the courts of my holy sanctuary.”

[9:4]  ¹ tn Heb “for the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the scepter of the oppressor against him.” The singular pronouns are collective, referring to the people. The oppressed nation is compared to an ox weighed down by a heavy yoke and an animal that is prodded and beaten.

[9:4]  ² sn This alludes to Gideon’s victory over Midian (Judg 7-8), when the Lord delivered Israel from an oppressive foreign invader.

[14:31]  ³ tn Or “despair” (see HALOT 555 s.v. מוג). The form נָמוֹג (namog) should be taken here as an infinitive absolute functioning as an imperative. See GKC 199-200 §72.v.

[14:31]  ⁴ tn Heb “and there is no one going alone in his appointed places.” The meaning of this line is uncertain. בּוֹדֵד (boded) appears to be a participle from בָּדַד (badad, “be separate”; see BDB 94 s.v. בָּדַד). מוֹעָד (mo’ad) may mean “assembly” or, by extension, “multitude” (see HALOT 558 s.v. *מוֹעָד), but the referent of the third masculine pronominal suffix attached to the noun is unclear. It probably refers to the “nation” mentioned in the next line.

[25:2]  ⁵ tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[25:2]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text has “you have made from the city.” The prefixed mem (מ) on עִיר (’ir, “city”) was probably originally an enclitic mem suffixed to the preceding verb. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:456, n. 3.

[25:2]  ⁷ tc Some with support from the LXX emend זָרִים (zarim, “foreigners”) to זֵדִים (zedim, “the insolent”).

[25:5]  ⁸ tn Or “drought” (TEV).

[25:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “the tumult of foreigners.”

[25:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[like] heat in the shadow of a cloud.”

[25:5]  ¹¹ tn The translation assumes that the verb יַעֲנֶה (ya’aneh) is a Hiphil imperfect from עָנָה (’anah, “be afflicted, humiliated”). In this context with “song” as object it means to “quiet” (see HALOT 853-54 s.v. II ענה). Some prefer to emend the form to the second person singular, so that it will agree with the second person verb earlier in the verse. BDB 776 s.v. III עָנָה Qal.1 understands the form as Qal, with “song” as subject, in which case one might translate “the song of tyrants will be silent.” An emendation of the form to a Niphal (יֵעָנֶה, ye’aneh) would yield the same translation.

[33:19]  ¹² tn The Hebrew form נוֹעָז (no’az) is a Niphal participle derived from יָעַז (ya’az, an otherwise unattested verb) or from עָזָז (’azaz, “be strong,” unattested elsewhere in the Niphal). Some prefer to emend the form to לוֹעֵז (lo’ez) which occurs in Ps 114:1 with the meaning “speak a foreign language.” See HALOT 809 s.v. עזז, 533 s.v. לעז. In this case, one might translate “people who speak a foreign language.”

[33:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “a people too deep of lip to hear.” The phrase “deep of lip” must be an idiom meaning “lips that speak words that are unfathomable [i.e., incomprehensible].”

[33:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “derision of tongue there is no understanding.” The Niphal of לָעַג (la’ag) occurs only here. In the Qal and Hiphil the verb means “to deride, mock.” A related noun is used in 28:11.

[37:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “by which the servants of the king of Assyria have insulted me.”

[60:18]  ¹⁶ tn The words “sounds of” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[60:18]  ¹⁷ tn The words “sounds of” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[62:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “it,” the grain mentioned in v. 8a.

[62:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and those who gather it will drink it.” The masculine singular pronominal suffixes attached to “gather” and “drink” refer back to the masculine noun תִּירוֹשׁ (tirosh, “wine”) in v. 8b.