Yesaya 1:29

1:29 Indeed, they ¹  will be ashamed of the sacred trees

you ²  find so desirable;

you will be embarrassed because of the sacred orchards ³ 

where you choose to worship.

Yesaya 2:22

2:22 Stop trusting in human beings,

whose life’s breath is in their nostrils.

For why should they be given special consideration?

Yesaya 10:5

The Lord Turns on Arrogant Assyria

10:5 Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, ⁴ 

a cudgel with which I angrily punish. ⁵ 

Yesaya 10:11

10:11 As I have done to Samaria and its idols,

so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.” ⁶ 

Yesaya 11:2

11:2 The Lord’s spirit will rest on him ⁷  –

a spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, ⁸ 

a spirit that provides the ability to execute plans, ⁹ 

a spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the Lord. ¹⁰ 

Yesaya 15:6

15:6 For the waters of Nimrim are gone; ¹¹ 

the grass is dried up,

the vegetation has disappeared,

and there are no plants.

Yesaya 22:17

22:17 Look, the Lord will throw you far away, ¹²  you mere man! ¹³ 

He will wrap you up tightly. ¹⁴ 

Yesaya 24:4

24:4 The earth ¹⁵  dries up ¹⁶  and withers,

the world shrivels up and withers;

the prominent people of the earth ¹⁷  fade away.

Yesaya 24:14

24:14 They ¹⁸  lift their voices and shout joyfully;

they praise ¹⁹  the majesty of the Lord in the west.

Yesaya 25:3

25:3 So a strong nation will extol you;

the towns of ²⁰  powerful nations will fear you.

Yesaya 26:18

26:18 We were pregnant, we strained,

we gave birth, as it were, to wind. ²¹ 

We cannot produce deliverance on the earth;

people to populate the world are not born. ²² 

Yesaya 28:20

28:20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on,

and the blanket is too narrow to wrap around oneself. ²³ 

Yesaya 29:3

29:3 I will lay siege to you on all sides; ²⁴ 

I will besiege you with troops; ²⁵ 

I will raise siege works against you.

Yesaya 30:2-3

30:2 They travel down to Egypt

without seeking my will, ²⁶ 

seeking Pharaoh’s protection,

and looking for safety in Egypt’s protective shade. ²⁷ 

30:3 But Pharaoh’s protection will bring you nothing but shame,

and the safety of Egypt’s protective shade nothing but humiliation.

Yesaya 33:9

33:9 The land ²⁸  dries up ²⁹  and withers away;

the forest of Lebanon shrivels up ³⁰  and decays.

Sharon ³¹  is like the desert; ³² 

Bashan and Carmel ³³  are parched. ³⁴ 

Yesaya 34:12

34:12 Her nobles will have nothing left to call a kingdom

and all her officials will disappear. ³⁵ 

Yesaya 40:16

40:16 Not even Lebanon could supply enough firewood for a sacrifice; ³⁶ 

its wild animals would not provide enough burnt offerings. ³⁷ 

Yesaya 51:18

51:18 There was no one to lead her

among all the children she bore;

there was no one to take her by the hand

among all the children she raised.

Yesaya 66:6

66:6 The sound of battle comes from the city;

the sound comes from the temple!

It is the sound of the Lord paying back his enemies.

[1:29]  ¹ tc The Hebrew text (and the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a) has the third person here, though a few Hebrew mss (and Targums) read the second person, which is certainly more consistent with the following context. The third person form is the more difficult reading and probably original. This disagreement in person has caused some to emend the first verb (3rd plural) to a 2nd plural form (followed by most English translations). The BHS textual apparatus suggests that the 2nd plural form be read even though there is only sparse textual evidence. LXX, Syriac, and the Vulgate change all the 2nd person verbs in 1:29-31 to 3rd person verbs. It is likely that the change to a 2nd person form represents an attempt at syntactical harmonization (J. de Waard, Isaiah, 10). The abrupt change from 3rd person to 2nd person may have been intentional for rhetorical impact (GKC 462 §144.p). The rapid change from exclamation (they did!) to reproach (you desired!) might be regarded as a rhetorical figure focusing attention on the addressees and their conditions (de Waard, 10; E. König, Stilistik, Rhetorik, Poetik, 239). This use of the 3rd person could also be understood as an impersonal third person: “one will be ashamed” (de Waard, 10). In v. 29 the prophet continues his description of the sinners (v. 28), but then suddenly makes a transition to direct address (switching from 3^rd to 2^nd person) in the middle of his sentence.

[1:29]  ² tn The second person pronouns in vv. 29-30 are masculine plural, indicating that the rebellious sinners (v. 28) are addressed.

[1:29]  ³ tn Or “gardens” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “groves.”

[10:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “Woe [to] Assyria, the club of my anger.” On הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) see the note on the first phrase of 1:4.

[10:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “a cudgel is he, in their hand is my anger.” It seems likely that the final mem (ם) on בְיָדָם (bÿyadam) is not a pronominal suffix (“in their hand”), but an enclitic mem. If so, one can translate literally, “a cudgel is he in the hand of my anger.”

[10:11]  ⁶ tn The statement is constructed as a rhetorical question in the Hebrew text: “Is it not [true that] just as I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols?”

[10:11]  sn This statement indicates that the prophecy dates sometime between 722-701 b.c.

[11:2]  ⁷ sn Like David (1 Sam 16:13), this king will be energized by the Lord’s spirit.

[11:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “a spirit of wisdom and understanding.” The synonyms are joined here to emphasize the degree of wisdom he will possess. His wisdom will enable him to make just legal decisions (v. 3). A very similar phrase occurs in Eph 1:17.

[11:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “a spirit of counsel [or “strategy”] and strength.” The construction is a hendiadys; the point is that he will have the strength/ability to execute the plans/strategies he devises. This ability will enable him to suppress oppressors and implement just policies (v. 4).

[11:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.” “Knowledge” is used here in its covenantal sense and refers to a recognition of God’s authority and a willingness to submit to it. See Jer 22:16. “Fear” here refers to a healthy respect for God’s authority which produces obedience. Taken together the two terms emphasize the single quality of loyalty to the Lord. This loyalty guarantees that he will make just legal decisions and implement just policies (vv. 4-5).

[15:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “are waste places”; cf. NRSV “are a desolation.”

[22:17]  ¹² tn Heb “will throw you with a throwing.”

[22:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “O man” (so NASB); NAB “mortal man”; NRSV “my fellow.”

[22:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and the one who wraps you [will] wrap.”

[24:4]  ¹⁵ tn Some prefer to read “land” here, but the word pair אֶרֶץ/תֵּבֵל (erets/tevel [see the corresponding term in the parallel line]) elsewhere clearly designates the earth/world (see 1 Sam 2:8; 1 Chr 16:30; Job 37;12; Pss 19:4; 24:1; 33:8; 89:11; 90:2; 96:13; 98:9; Prov 8:26, 31; Isa 14:16-17; 34:1; Jer 10:12; 51:15; Lam 4:12). According to L. Stadelmann, תבל designates “the habitable part of the world” (The Hebrew Conception of the World [AnBib], 130).

[24:4]  ¹⁶ tn Or “mourns” (BDB 5 s.v. אָבַל). HALOT 6-7 lists the homonyms I אבל (“mourn”) and II אבל (“dry up”). They propose the second here on the basis of parallelism.

[24:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the height of the people of the earth.” The translation assumes an emendation of the singular form מְרוֹם (mÿrom, “height of”) to the plural construct מְרֹמֵי (mÿrome, “high ones of”; note the plural verb at the beginning of the line), and understands the latter as referring to the prominent people of human society.

[24:14]  ¹⁸ sn The remnant of the nations (see v. 13) may be the unspecified subject. If so, then those who have survived the judgment begin to praise God.

[24:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “they yell out concerning.”

[25:3]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew text has a singular form, but it should be emended to a plural or eliminated altogether. The noun may have been accidentally copied from the preceding verse.

[26:18]  ²¹ tn On the use of כְּמוֹ (kÿmo, “like, as”) here, see BDB 455 s.v. Israel’s distress and suffering, likened here to the pains of childbirth, seemed to be for no purpose. A woman in labor endures pain with the hope that a child will be born; in Israel’s case no such positive outcome was apparent. The nation was like a woman who strains to bring forth a child, but can’t push the baby through to daylight. All her effort produces nothing.

[26:18]  ²² tn Heb “and the inhabitants of the world do not fall.” The term נָפַל (nafal) apparently means here, “be born,” though the Qal form of the verb is not used with this nuance anywhere else in the OT. (The Hiphil appears to be used in the sense of “give birth” in v. 19, however.) The implication of verse 18b seems to be that Israel hoped its suffering would somehow end in deliverance and an increase in population. The phrase “inhabitants of the world” seems to refer to the human race in general, but the next verse, which focuses on Israel’s dead, suggests the referent may be more limited.

[28:20]  ²³ sn The bed and blanket probably symbolize their false sense of security. A bed that is too short and a blanket that is too narrow may promise rest and protection from the cold, but in the end they are useless and disappointing. In the same way, their supposed treaty with death will prove useless and disappointing.

[29:3]  ²⁴ tc The Hebrew text has כַדּוּר (khadur, “like a circle”), i.e., “like an encircling wall.” Some emend this phrase to כְּדָוִד (kÿdavid, “like David”), which is supported by the LXX (see v. 1). However, the rendering in the LXX could have arisen from a confusion of the dalet (ד) and resh (ר).

[29:3]  ²⁵ tn The meaning of מֻצָּב (mutsav) is not certain. Because of the parallelism (note “siege works”), some translate “towers.” The noun is derived from נָצַב (natsav, “take one’s stand”) and may refer to the troops stationed outside the city to prevent entrance or departure.

[30:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “those who go to descend to Egypt, but [of] my mouth they do not inquire.”

[30:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “to seek protection in the protection of Pharaoh, and to seek refuge in the shade of Egypt.”

[33:9]  ²⁸ tn Or “earth” (KJV); NAB “the country.”

[33:9]  ²⁹ tn Or “mourns” (BDB 5 s.v. I אָבַל). HALOT 6-7 lists homonyms I אבל (“mourn”) and II אבל (“dry up”). They propose the second here on the basis of parallelism. See 24:4.

[33:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “Lebanon is ashamed.” The Hiphil is exhibitive, expressing the idea, “exhibits shame.” In this context the statement alludes to the withering of vegetation.

[33:9]  ³¹ sn Sharon was a fertile plain along the Mediterranean coast. See 35:2.

[33:9]  ³² tn Or “the Arabah” (NIV). See 35:1.

[33:9]  ³³ sn Both of these areas were known for their trees and vegetation. See 2:13; 35:2.

[33:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “shake off [their leaves]” (so ASV, NRSV); NAB “are stripped bare.”

[34:12]  ³⁵ tn Heb “will be nothing”; NCV, TEV, NLT “will all be gone.”

[40:16]  ³⁶ tn The words “for a sacrifice” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[40:16]  ³⁷ sn The point is that not even the Lebanon forest could supply enough wood and animals for an adequate sacrifice to the Lord.