Yesaya 1:2

Obedience, not Sacrifice

1:2 Listen, O heavens,

pay attention, O earth! ¹ 

For the Lord speaks:

“I raised children, ²  I brought them up, ³ 

but ⁴  they have rebelled ⁵  against me!

Yesaya 7:25

7:25 They will stay away from all the hills that were cultivated, for fear of the thorns and briers. ⁶  Cattle will graze there and sheep will trample on them. ⁷ 

Yesaya 23:4

23:4 Be ashamed, O Sidon,

for the sea ⁸  says this, O fortress of the sea:

“I have not gone into labor

or given birth;

I have not raised young men

or brought up young women.” ⁹ 

Yesaya 27:3

27:3 I, the Lord, protect it; ¹⁰ 

I water it regularly. ¹¹ 

I guard it night and day,

so no one can harm it. ¹² 

Yesaya 32:7

32:7 A deceiver’s methods are evil; ¹³ 

he dreams up evil plans ¹⁴ 

to ruin the poor with lies,

even when the needy are in the right. ¹⁵ 

Yesaya 44:14

44:14 He cuts down cedars

and acquires a cypress ¹⁶  or an oak.

He gets ¹⁷  trees from the forest;

he plants a cedar ¹⁸  and the rain makes it grow.

Yesaya 49:4

49:4 But I thought, ¹⁹  “I have worked in vain;

I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing.” ²⁰ 

But the Lord will vindicate me;

my God will reward me. ²¹ 

Yesaya 50:8-9

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

Who dares to argue with me? Let us confront each other! ²² 

Who is my accuser? ²³  Let him challenge me! ²⁴ 

50:9 Look, the sovereign Lord helps me.

Who dares to condemn me?

Look, all of them will wear out like clothes;

a moth will eat away at them.

[1:2]  ¹ sn The personified heavens and earth are summoned to God’s courtroom as witnesses against God’s covenant people. Long before this Moses warned the people that the heavens and earth would be watching their actions (see Deut 4:26; 30:19; 31:28; 32:1).

[1:2]  ² tn Or “sons” (NAB, NASB).

[1:2]  sn “Father” and “son” occur as common terms in ancient Near Eastern treaties and covenants, delineating the suzerain and vassal as participants in the covenant relationship. The prophet uses these terms, the reference to heavens and earth as witnesses, and allusions to deuteronomic covenant curses (1:7-9, 19-20) to set his prophecy firmly against the backdrop of Israel’s covenantal relationship with Yahweh.

[1:2]  ³ sn The normal word pair for giving birth to and raising children is יָלַד (yalad, “to give birth to”) and גָּדַל (gadal, “to grow, raise”). The pair גָּדַל and רוּם (rum, “to raise up”) probably occur here to highlight the fact that Yahweh made something important of Israel (cf. R. Mosis, TDOT 2:403).

[1:2]  ⁴ sn Against the backdrop of Yahweh’s care for his chosen people, Israel’s rebellion represents abhorrent treachery. The conjunction prefixed to a nonverbal element highlights the sad contrast between Yahweh’s compassionate care for His people and Israel’s thankless rebellion.

[1:2]  ⁵ sn To rebel carries the idea of “covenant treachery.” Although an act of פֶּשַׁע (pesha’, “rebellion”) often signifies a breach of the law, the legal offense also represents a violation of an existing covenantal relationship (E. Carpenter and M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 3:707).

[7:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “and all the hills which were hoed with a hoe, you will not go there [for] fear of the thorns and briers.”

[7:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “and it will become a pasture for cattle and a trampling place for sheep.”

[7:25]  sn At this point one is able to summarize the content of the “sign” (vv. 14-15) as follows: A young woman known to be present when Isaiah delivered this message to Ahaz (perhaps a member of the royal family or the prophetess mentioned in 8:3) would soon give birth to a boy whom the mother would name Immanuel, “God is with us.” Eventually Immanuel would be forced to eat sour milk and honey, which would enable him to make correct moral decisions. How would this situation come about and how would it constitute a sign? Before this situation developed, the Israelites and Syrians would be defeated. But then the Lord would usher in a period of time unlike any since the division of the kingdom almost 200 years before. The Assyrians would overrun the land, destroy the crops, and force the people to subsist on goats’ milk and honey. At that time, as the people saw Immanuel eating his sour milk and honey, the Davidic family would be forced to acknowledge that God was indeed with them. He was present with them in the Syrian-Israelite crisis, fully capable of rescuing them; but he was also present with them in judgment, disciplining them for their lack of trust. The moral of the story is quite clear: Failure to appropriate God’s promises by faith can turn potential blessing into disciplinary judgment.

[23:4]  ⁸ tn J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:430-31) sees here a reference to Yam, the Canaanite god of the sea. He interprets the phrase מָעוֹז הַיָּם (ma’oz hayyam, “fortress of the sea”) as a title of Yam, translating “Mighty One of the Sea.” A more traditional view is that the phrase refers to Sidon.

[23:4]  ⁹ tn Or “virgins” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB).

[23:4]  sn The sea is personified here as a lamenting childless woman. The foreboding language anticipates the following announcement of Tyre’s demise, viewed here as a child of the sea, as it were.

[27:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “her.” Apparently “vineyard” is the antecedent, though normally this noun is understood as masculine (see Lev 25:3, however).

[27:3]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps, “constantly.” Heb “by moments.”

[27:3]  ¹² tn Heb “lest [someone] visit [harm] upon it, night and day I guard it.”

[32:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “as for a deceiver, his implements [or “weapons”] are evil.”

[32:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “he plans evil things”; NIV “he makes up evil schemes.”

[32:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to ruin the poor with words of falsehood, even when the needy speak what is just.”

[44:14]  ¹⁶ tn It is not certain what type of tree this otherwise unattested noun refers to. Cf. ASV “a holm-tree” (NRSV similar).

[44:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “strengthens for himself,” i.e., “secures for himself” (see BDB 55 s.v. אָמֵץ Pi.2).

[44:14]  ¹⁸ tn Some prefer to emend אֹרֶן (’oren) to אֶרֶז (’erez, “cedar”), but the otherwise unattested noun appears to have an Akkadian cognate, meaning “cedar.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 44-45. HALOT 90 s.v. I אֹרֶן offers the meaning “laurel.”

[49:4]  ¹⁹ tn Or “said” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “I replied.”

[49:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “for nothing and emptiness.” Synonyms are combined to emphasize the common idea.

[49:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “But my justice is with the Lord, and my reward [or “wage”] with my God.”

[50:8]  ²² tn Heb “Let us stand together!”

[50:8]  ²³ tn Heb “Who is the master of my judgment?”

[50:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “let him approach me”; NAB, NIV “Let him confront me.”