Yesaya 1:18

1:18 ¹ Come, let’s consider your options,” ²  says the Lord.

“Though your sins have stained you like the color red,

you can become ³  white like snow;

though they are as easy to see as the color scarlet,

you can become ⁴  white like wool. ⁵ 

Yesaya 8:3

8:3 I then had sexual relations with the prophetess; she conceived and gave birth to a son. The Lord told me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz,

Yesaya 12:4

12:4 At that time ⁶  you will say:

“Praise the Lord!

Ask him for help! ⁷ 

Publicize his mighty acts among the nations!

Make it known that he is unique! ⁸ 

Yesaya 13:2

13:2 ⁹ On a bare hill raise a signal flag,

shout to them,

wave your hand,

so they might enter the gates of the princes!

Yesaya 16:3

16:3 “Bring a plan, make a decision! ¹⁰ 

Provide some shade in the middle of the day! ¹¹ 

Hide the fugitives! Do not betray ¹²  the one who tries to escape!

Yesaya 16:7

16:7 So Moab wails over its demise ¹³  –

they all wail!

Completely devastated, they moan

about what has happened to the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth. ¹⁴ 

Yesaya 23:2

23:2 Lament, ¹⁵  you residents of the coast,

you merchants of Sidon ¹⁶  who travel over the sea,

whose agents sail over

Yesaya 23:12

23:12 He said,

“You will no longer celebrate,

oppressed ¹⁷  virgin daughter Sidon!

Get up, travel to Cyprus,

but you will find no relief there.” ¹⁸ 

Yesaya 24:15

24:15 So in the east ¹⁹  extol the Lord,

along the seacoasts extol ²⁰  the fame ²¹  of the Lord God of Israel.

Yesaya 28:12

28:12 In the past he said to them, ²² 

“This is where security can be found.

Provide security for the one who is exhausted!

This is where rest can be found.” ²³ 

But they refused to listen.

Yesaya 36:10

36:10 Furthermore it was by the command of the Lord that I marched up against this land to destroy it. The Lord told me, ‘March up against this land and destroy it!’”’” ²⁴ 

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. ²⁵ 

Yesaya 37:10

37:10 “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”

Yesaya 38:3

38:3 “Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you ²⁶  faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, ²⁷  and how I have carried out your will.” ²⁸  Then Hezekiah wept bitterly. ²⁹ 

Yesaya 44:21-22

44:21 Remember these things, O Jacob,

O Israel, for you are my servant.

I formed you to be my servant;

O Israel, I will not forget you! ³⁰ 

44:22 I remove the guilt of your rebellious deeds as if they were a cloud,

the guilt of your sins as if they were a cloud. ³¹ 

Come back to me, for I protect ³²  you.”

Yesaya 47:1

Babylon Will Fall

47:1 “Fall down! Sit in the dirt,

O virgin ³³  daughter Babylon!

Sit on the ground, not on a throne,

O daughter of the Babylonians!

Indeed, ³⁴  you will no longer be called delicate and pampered.

Yesaya 47:12

47:12 Persist ³⁵  in trusting ³⁶  your amulets

and your many incantations,

which you have faithfully recited ³⁷  since your youth!

Maybe you will be successful ³⁸  –

maybe you will scare away disaster. ³⁹ 

Yesaya 50:8

50:8 The one who vindicates me is close by.

Who dares to argue with me? Let us confront each other! ⁴⁰ 

Who is my accuser? ⁴¹  Let him challenge me! ⁴² 

Yesaya 56:1

The Lord Invites Outsiders to Enter

56:1 This is what the Lord says,

“Promote ⁴³  justice! Do what is right!

For I am ready to deliver you;

I am ready to vindicate you openly. ⁴⁴ 

[1:18]  ¹ sn The Lord concludes his case against Israel by offering them the opportunity to be forgiven and by setting before them the alternatives of renewed blessing (as a reward for repentance) and final judgment (as punishment for persistence in sin).

[1:18]  ² tn Traditionally, “let us reason together,” but the context suggests a judicial nuance. The Lord is giving the nation its options for the future.

[1:18]  ³ tn The imperfects must be translated as modal (indicating capability or possibility) to bring out the conditional nature of the offer. This purification will only occur if the people repent and change their ways.

[1:18]  ⁴ tn The imperfects must be translated as modal (indicating capability or possibility) to bring out the conditional nature of the offer. This purification will only occur if the people repent and change their ways.

[1:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “though your sins are like red, they will become white like snow; though they are red like scarlet, they will be like wool.” The point is not that the sins will be covered up, though still retained. The metaphorical language must be allowed some flexibility and should not be pressed into a rigid literalistic mold. The people’s sins will be removed and replaced by ethical purity. The sins that are now as obvious as the color red will be washed away and the ones who are sinful will be transformed.

[12:4]  ⁶ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[12:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “call in his name,” i.e., “invoke his name.”

[12:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “bring to remembrance that his name is exalted.” The Lord’s “name” stands here for his character and reputation.

[13:2]  ⁹ sn The Lord is speaking here (see v. 3).

[16:3]  ¹⁰ sn It is unclear who is being addressed in this verse. Perhaps the prophet, playing the role of a panic stricken Moabite refugee, requests the leaders of Judah (the imperatives are plural) to take pity on the fugitives.

[16:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Make your shade like night in the midst of noonday.” “Shade” here symbolizes shelter, while the heat of noonday represents the intense suffering of the Moabites. By comparing the desired shade to night, the speaker visualizes a huge dark shadow cast by a large tree that would provide relief from the sun’s heat.

[16:3]  ¹² tn Heb “disclose, uncover.”

[16:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “So Moab wails for Moab.”

[16:7]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew text has, “for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth you [masculine plural] moan, surely destroyed.” The “raisin cakes” could have cultic significance (see Hos 3:1), but the next verse focuses on agricultural disaster, so here the raisin cakes are mentioned as an example of the fine foods that are no longer available (see 2 Sam 6:19; Song 2:5) because the vines have been destroyed by the invader (see v. 8). Some prefer to take אֲשִׁישֵׁי (’ashishe, “raisin cakes of”) as “men of” (see HALOT 95 s.v. *אָשִׁישׁ; cf. NIV). The verb form תֶהְגּוּ (tehgu, “you moan”) is probably the result of dittography (note that the preceding word ends in tav [ת]) and should be emended to הגו (a perfect, third plural form), “they moan.”

[23:2]  ¹⁵ tn Or “keep quiet”; NAB “Silence!”

[23:2]  ¹⁶ map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[23:12]  ¹⁷ tn Or “violated, raped,” the point being that Daughter Sidon has lost her virginity in the most brutal manner possible.

[23:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “[to the] Kittim, get up, cross over; even there there will be no rest for you.” On “Kittim” see the note on “Cyprus” at v. 1.

[24:15]  ¹⁹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “in the lights,” interpreted by some to mean “in the region of light,” referring to the east. Some scholars have suggested the emendation of בָּאֻרִים (ba’urim) to בְּאִיֵּי הַיָּם (bÿ’iyyey hayyam, “along the seacoasts”), a phrase that is repeated in the next line. In this case, the two lines form synonymous parallelism. If one retains the MT reading (as above), “in the east” and “along the seacoasts” depict the two ends of the earth to refer to all the earth (as a merism).

[24:15]  ²⁰ tn The word “extol” is supplied in the translation; the verb in the first line does double duty in the parallelism.

[24:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “name,” which here stands for God’s reputation achieved by his mighty deeds.

[28:12]  ²² tn Heb “who said to them.”

[28:12]  ²³ sn This message encapsulates the Lord’s invitation to his people to find security in his protection and blessing.

[36:10]  ²⁴ sn In v. 10 the chief adviser develops further the argument begun in v. 7. He claims that Hezekiah has offended the Lord and that the Lord has commissioned Assyria as his instrument of discipline and judgment.

[37:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “by which the servants of the king of Assyria have insulted me.”

[38:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “walked before you.” For a helpful discussion of the background and meaning of this Hebrew idiom, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 254.

[38:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and with a complete heart”; KJV, ASV “with a perfect heart.”

[38:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and that which is good in your eyes I have done.”

[38:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “wept with great weeping”; NCV “cried loudly”; TEV “began to cry bitterly.”

[44:21]  ³⁰ tc The verb in the Hebrew text is a Niphal imperfect with a pronominal suffix. Although the Niphal ordinarily has the passive sense, it can have a reflexive nuance as well (see above translation). Some have suggested an emendation to a Qal form: “Do not forget me” (all the ancient versions, NEB, REB; see GKC 369 §117.x). “Do not forget me” would make a good parallel with “remember these things” in the first line. Since the MT is the harder reading and fits with Israel’s complaint that God had forgotten her (Isa 40:27), the MT reading should be retained (NASB, NKJV, NRSV, ESV). The passive has been rendered as an active in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style (so also NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT).

[44:22]  ³¹ tn Heb “I blot out like a cloud your rebellious deeds, and like a cloud your sins.” “Rebellious deeds” and “sins” stand by metonymy for the guilt they produce. Both עָב (’av) and עָנָן (’anan) refer to the clouds in the sky. It is tempting for stylistic purposes to translate the second with “fog” or “mist” (cf. NAB, NRSV “cloud…mist”; NIV “cloud…morning mist”; NLT “morning mists…clouds”), but this distinction between the synonyms is unwarranted here. The point of the simile seems to be this: The Lord forgives their sins, causing them to vanish just as clouds disappear from the sky (see Job 7:9; 30:15).

[44:22]  ³² tn Heb “redeem.” See the note at 41:14.

[47:1]  ³³ tn בְּתוּלַה (bÿtulah) often refers to a virgin, but the phrase “virgin daughter” is apparently stylized (see also 23:12; 37:22). In the extended metaphor of this chapter, where Babylon is personified as a queen (vv. 5, 7), she is depicted as being both a wife and mother (vv. 8-9).

[47:1]  ³⁴ tn Or “For” (NASB, NRSV).

[47:12]  ³⁵ tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”

[47:12]  ³⁶ tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.

[47:12]  ³⁷ tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”

[47:12]  ³⁸ tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”

[47:12]  ³⁹ tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.

[50:8]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “Let us stand together!”

[50:8]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “Who is the master of my judgment?”

[50:8]  ⁴² tn Heb “let him approach me”; NAB, NIV “Let him confront me.”

[56:1]  ⁴³ tn Heb “guard”; KJV “Keep”; NAB “Observe”; NASB “Preserve”; NIV, NRSV “Maintain.”

[56:1]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “for near is my deliverance to enter, and my vindication [or “righteousness”] to be revealed.”