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 17:10

17:10 For you ignore ³  the God who rescues you;

you pay no attention to your strong protector. ⁴ 

So this is what happens:

You cultivate beautiful plants

and plant exotic vines. ⁵ 

Yesaya 44:6

The Absurdity of Idolatry

44:6 This is what the Lord, Israel’s king, says,

their protector, ⁶  the Lord who commands armies:

“I am the first and I am the last,

there is no God but me.

Yesaya 56:11

56:11 The dogs have big appetites;

they are never full. ⁷ 

They are shepherds who have no understanding;

they all go their own way,

each one looking for monetary gain. ⁸ 

[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.

[17:10]  ³ tn Heb “you have forgotten” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[17:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the rocky cliff of your strength you do not remember.”

[17:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “a vine, a strange one.” The substantival adjective זָר (zar) functions here as an appositional genitive. It could refer to a cultic plant of some type, associated with a pagan rite. But it is more likely that it refers to an exotic, or imported, type of vine, one that is foreign (i.e., “strange”) to Israel.

[44:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “his kinsman redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[56:11]  ⁷ sn The phrase never full alludes to the greed of the leaders.

[56:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “for his gain from his end.”