Yesaya 1:8

1:8 Daughter Zion ¹  is left isolated,

like a hut in a vineyard,

or a shelter in a cucumber field;

she is a besieged city. ² 

Yesaya 2:7

2:7 Their land is full of gold and silver;

there is no end to their wealth. ³ 

Their land is full of horses;

there is no end to their chariots. ⁴ 

Yesaya 2:11

2:11 Proud men will be brought low,

arrogant men will be humiliated; ⁵ 

the Lord alone will be exalted ⁶ 

in that day.

Yesaya 2:20

2:20 At that time ⁷  men will throw

their silver and gold idols,

which they made for themselves to worship, ⁸ 

into the caves where rodents and bats live, ⁹ 

Yesaya 3:15

3:15 Why do you crush my people

and grind the faces of the poor?” ¹⁰ 

The sovereign Lord who commands armies ¹¹  has spoken.

Yesaya 4:6

4:6 By day it will be a shelter to provide shade from the heat,

as well as safety and protection from the heavy downpour. ¹² 

Yesaya 5:3

5:3 So now, residents of Jerusalem, ¹³ 

people ¹⁴  of Judah,

you decide between me and my vineyard!

Yesaya 5:28

5:28 Their arrows are sharpened,

and all their bows are prepared. ¹⁵ 

The hooves of their horses are hard as flint, ¹⁶ 

and their chariot wheels are like a windstorm. ¹⁷ 

Yesaya 8:10

8:10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted!

Issue your orders, but they will not be executed! ¹⁸ 

For God is with us! ¹⁹ 

Yesaya 8:13

8:13 You must recognize the authority of the Lord who commands armies. ²⁰ 

He is the one you must respect;

he is the one you must fear. ²¹ 

Yesaya 9:9

9:9 All the people were aware ²²  of it,

the people of Ephraim and those living in Samaria. ²³ 

Yet with pride and an arrogant attitude, they said, ²⁴ 

Yesaya 10:29

10:29 They went through the pass,

spent the night at Geba.

Ramah trembled,

Gibeah of Saul ran away.

Yesaya 11:2

11:2 The Lord’s spirit will rest on him ²⁵  –

a spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, ²⁶ 

a spirit that provides the ability to execute plans, ²⁷ 

a spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the Lord. ²⁸ 

Yesaya 13:12

13:12 I will make human beings more scarce than pure gold,

and people more scarce ²⁹  than gold from Ophir.

Yesaya 13:16

13:16 Their children will be smashed to pieces before their very eyes;

their houses will be looted

and their wives raped.

Yesaya 13:18

13:18 Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; ³⁰ 

they have no compassion on a person’s offspring, ³¹ 

they will not ³²  look with pity on children.

Yesaya 14:11

14:11 Your splendor ³³  has been brought down to Sheol,

as well as the sound of your stringed instruments. ³⁴ 

You lie on a bed of maggots,

with a blanket of worms over you. ³⁵ 

Yesaya 14:26

14:26 This is the plan I have devised for the whole earth;

my hand is ready to strike all the nations.” ³⁶ 

Yesaya 17:5

17:5 It will be as when one gathers the grain harvest,

and his hand gleans the ear of grain.

It will be like one gathering the ears of grain

in the Valley of Rephaim.

Yesaya 17:7

17:7 At that time ³⁷  men will trust in their creator; ³⁸ 

they will depend on ³⁹  the Holy One of Israel. ⁴⁰ 

Yesaya 19:13

19:13 The officials of Zoan are fools,

the officials of Memphis ⁴¹  are misled;

the rulers ⁴²  of her tribes lead Egypt astray.

Yesaya 19:15

19:15 Egypt will not be able to do a thing,

head or tail, shoots and stalk. ⁴³ 

Yesaya 19:24

19:24 At that time Israel will be the third member of the group, along with Egypt and Assyria, and will be a recipient of blessing ⁴⁴  in the earth. ⁴⁵ 

Yesaya 21:4

21:4 My heart palpitates, ⁴⁶ 

I shake in fear; ⁴⁷ 

the twilight I desired

has brought me terror.

Yesaya 21:17

21:17 Just a handful of archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be left.” ⁴⁸  Indeed, ⁴⁹  the Lord God of Israel has spoken.

Yesaya 22:15

22:15 This is what the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, says:

“Go visit this administrator, Shebna, who supervises the palace, ⁵⁰  and tell him: ⁵¹ 

Yesaya 23:11

23:11 The Lord stretched out his hand over the sea, ⁵² 

he shook kingdoms;

he ⁵³  gave the order

to destroy Canaan’s fortresses. ⁵⁴ 

Yesaya 24:1

The Lord Will Judge the Earth

24:1 Look, the Lord is ready to devastate the earth

and leave it in ruins;

he will mar its surface

and scatter its inhabitants.

Yesaya 24:4

24:4 The earth ⁵⁵  dries up ⁵⁶  and withers,

the world shrivels up and withers;

the prominent people of the earth ⁵⁷  fade away.

Yesaya 24:11

24:11 They howl in the streets because of what happened to the wine; ⁵⁸ 

all joy turns to sorrow; ⁵⁹ 

celebrations disappear from the earth. ⁶⁰ 

Yesaya 24:21

The Lord Will Become King

24:21 At that time ⁶¹  the Lord will punish ⁶² 

the heavenly forces in the heavens ⁶³ 

and the earthly kings on the earth.

Yesaya 25:7

25:7 On this mountain he will swallow up

the shroud that is over all the peoples, ⁶⁴ 

the woven covering that is over all the nations; ⁶⁵ 

Yesaya 25:10

25:10 For the Lord’s power will make this mountain secure. ⁶⁶ 

Moab will be trampled down where it stands, ⁶⁷ 

as a heap of straw is trampled down in ⁶⁸  a manure pile.

Yesaya 26:18

26:18 We were pregnant, we strained,

we gave birth, as it were, to wind. ⁶⁹ 

We cannot produce deliverance on the earth;

people to populate the world are not born. ⁷⁰ 

Yesaya 27:6

27:6 The time is coming when Jacob will take root; ⁷¹ 

Israel will blossom and grow branches.

The produce ⁷²  will fill the surface of the world. ⁷³ 

Yesaya 28:5

28:5 At that time ⁷⁴  the Lord who commands armies will become a beautiful crown

and a splendid diadem for the remnant of his people.

Yesaya 28:11

28:11 For with mocking lips and a foreign tongue

he will speak to these people. ⁷⁵ 

Yesaya 28:29

28:29 This also comes from the Lord who commands armies,

who gives supernatural guidance and imparts great wisdom. ⁷⁶ 

Yesaya 29:2

29:2 I will threaten Ariel,

and she will mourn intensely

and become like an altar hearth ⁷⁷  before me.

Yesaya 30:24

30:24 The oxen and donkeys used in plowing ⁷⁸ 

will eat seasoned feed winnowed with a shovel and pitchfork. ⁷⁹ 

Yesaya 32:5

32:5 A fool will no longer be called honorable;

a deceiver will no longer be called principled.

Yesaya 33:2

33:2 Lord, be merciful to us! We wait for you.

Give us strength each morning! ⁸⁰ 

Deliver us when distress comes. ⁸¹ 

Yesaya 33:5

33:5 The Lord is exalted, ⁸² 

indeed, ⁸³  he lives in heaven; ⁸⁴ 

he fills Zion with justice and fairness.

Yesaya 33:10

33:10 “Now I will rise up,” says the Lord.

“Now I will exalt myself;

now I will magnify myself. ⁸⁵ 

Yesaya 33:24

33:24 No resident of Zion ⁸⁶  will say, “I am ill”;

the people who live there will have their sin forgiven.

Yesaya 36:4

36:4 The chief adviser said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is your source of confidence? ⁸⁷ 

Yesaya 36:13

36:13 The chief adviser then stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite dialect, ⁸⁸  “Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria.

Yesaya 36:20

36:20 Who among all the gods of these lands have rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’” ⁸⁹ 

Yesaya 37:20

37:20 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, so all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.” ⁹⁰ 

Yesaya 37:25

37:25 I dug wells

and drank water. ⁹¹ 

With the soles of my feet I dried up

all the rivers of Egypt.’

Yesaya 37:34

37:34 He will go back the way he came –

he will not enter this city,’ says the Lord.

Yesaya 39:8

39:8 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The Lord’s word which you have announced is appropriate.” ⁹²  Then he thought, ⁹³  “For ⁹⁴  there will be peace and stability during my lifetime.”

Yesaya 40:4

40:4 Every valley must be elevated,

and every mountain and hill leveled.

The rough terrain will become a level plain,

the rugged landscape a wide valley.

Yesaya 42:9

42:9 Look, my earlier predictive oracles have come to pass; ⁹⁵ 

now I announce new events.

Before they begin to occur,

I reveal them to you.” ⁹⁶ 

Yesaya 42:15

42:15 I will make the trees on the mountains and hills wither up; ⁹⁷ 

I will dry up all their vegetation.

I will turn streams into islands, ⁹⁸ 

and dry up pools of water. ⁹⁹ 

Yesaya 45:7

45:7 I am ¹⁰⁰  the one who forms light

and creates darkness; ¹⁰¹ 

the one who brings about peace

and creates calamity. ¹⁰² 

I am the Lord, who accomplishes all these things.

Yesaya 47:7

47:7 You said,

‘I will rule forever as permanent queen!’ ¹⁰³ 

You did not think about these things; ¹⁰⁴ 

you did not consider how it would turn out. ¹⁰⁵ 

Yesaya 59:6

59:6 Their webs cannot be used for clothing;

they cannot cover themselves with what they make.

Their deeds are sinful;

they commit violent crimes. ¹⁰⁶ 

Yesaya 59:20

59:20 “A protector ¹⁰⁷  comes to Zion,

to those in Jacob who repent of their rebellious deeds,” ¹⁰⁸  says the Lord.

[1:8]  ¹ tn Heb “daughter of Zion” (so KJV, NASB, NIV). The genitive is appositional, identifying precisely which daughter is in view. By picturing Zion as a daughter, the prophet emphasizes her helplessness and vulnerability before the enemy.

[1:8]  ² tn Heb “like a city besieged.” Unlike the preceding two comparisons, which are purely metaphorical, this third one identifies the reality of Israel’s condition. In this case the comparative preposition, as in v. 7b, has the force, “in every way like,” indicating that all the earmarks of a siege are visible because that is indeed what is taking place. The verb form in MT is Qal passive participle of נָצַר (natsar, “guard”), but since this verb is not often used of a siege (see BDB 666 s.v. I נָצַר), some prefer to repoint the form as a Niphal participle from II צוּר (tsur, “besiege”). However, the latter is not attested elsewhere in the Niphal (see BDB 848 s.v. II צוּר).

[2:7]  ³ tn Or “treasuries”; KJV “treasures.”

[2:7]  ⁴ sn Judah’s royal bureaucracy had accumulated great wealth and military might, in violation of Deut 17:16-17.

[2:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the eyes of the pride of men will be brought low, and the arrogance of men will be brought down.” The repetition of the verbs שָׁפַל (shafal) and שָׁחָח (shakhakh) from v. 9 draws attention to the appropriate nature of the judgment. Those proud men who “bow low” before idols will be forced to “bow low” before God when he judges their sin.

[2:11]  ⁶ tn Or “elevated”; CEV “honored.”

[2:20]  ⁷ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[2:20]  ⁸ tn Or “bow down to.”

[2:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “to the shrews and to the bats.” On the meaning of חֲפַרְפָּרָה (khafarparah, “shrew”), see HALOT 341 s.v. חֲפַרְפָּרָה. The BHS text as it stands (לַחְפֹּר פֵּרוֹת, perot lakhpor), makes no sense. Based on Theodotion’s transliteration and a similar reading in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, most scholars suggest that the MT mistakenly divided a noun (a hapax legomenon) that should be translated “moles,” “shrews,” or “rodents.”

[3:15]  ¹⁰ sn The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s outrage at what the leaders have done to the poor. He finds it almost unbelievable that they would have the audacity to treat his people in this manner.

[3:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the master, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].” On the title “the Lord who commands armies,” see the note at 1:9.

[3:15]  sn The use of this title, which also appears in v. 1, forms an inclusio around vv. 1-15. The speech begins and ends with a reference to “the master, the Lord who commands armies.”

[4:6]  ¹² tn Heb “a shelter it will be for shade by day from heat, and for a place of refuge and for a hiding place from cloudburst and rain.” Since both of the last nouns of this verse can mean rain, they can either refer to the rain storm and the rain as distinct items or together refer to a heavy downpour. Regardless, they do not represent unrelated phenomena.

[5:3]  ¹³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.

[5:28]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “bent” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “are strung.”

[5:28]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “regarded like flint.”

[5:28]  ¹⁷ sn They are like a windstorm in their swift movement and in the way they kick up dust.

[8:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “speak a word, but it will not stand.”

[8:10]  ¹⁹ sn In these vv. 9-10 the tone shifts abruptly from judgment to hope. Hostile nations like Assyria may attack God’s people, but eventually they will be destroyed, for God is with his people, sometimes to punish, but ultimately to vindicate. In addition to being a reminder of God’s presence in the immediate crisis faced by Ahaz and Judah, Immanuel (whose name is echoed in this concluding statement) was a guarantee of the nation’s future greatness in fulfillment of God’s covenantal promises. Eventually God would deliver his people from the hostile nations (vv. 9-10) through another child, an ideal Davidic ruler who would embody God’s presence in a special way (see 9:6-7). Jesus the Messiah is the fulfillment of the Davidic ideal prophesied by Isaiah, the one whom Immanuel foreshadowed. Through the miracle of the incarnation he is literally “God with us.” Matthew realized this and applied Isaiah’s ancient prophecy of Immanuel’s birth to Jesus (Matt 1:22-23). The first Immanuel was a reminder to the people of God’s presence and a guarantee of a greater child to come who would manifest God’s presence in an even greater way. The second Immanuel is “God with us” in a heightened and infinitely superior sense. He “fulfills” Isaiah’s Immanuel prophecy by bringing the typology intended by God to realization and by filling out or completing the pattern designed by God. Of course, in the ultimate fulfillment of the type, the incarnate Immanuel’s mother must be a virgin, so Matthew uses a Greek term (παρθένος, parqenos), which carries that technical meaning (in contrast to the Hebrew word עַלְמָה [’almah], which has the more general meaning “young woman”). Matthew draws similar analogies between NT and OT events in 2:15, 18. The linking of these passages by analogy is termed “fulfillment.” In 2:15 God calls Jesus, his perfect Son, out of Egypt, just as he did his son Israel in the days of Moses, an historical event referred to in Hos 11:1. In so doing he makes it clear that Jesus is the ideal Israel prophesied by Isaiah (see Isa 49:3), sent to restore wayward Israel (see Isa 49:5, cf. Matt 1:21). In 2:18 Herod’s slaughter of the infants is another illustration of the oppressive treatment of God’s people by foreign tyrants. Herod’s actions are analogous to those of the Assyrians, who deported the Israelites, causing the personified land to lament as inconsolably as a mother robbed of her little ones (Jer 31:15).

[8:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts], him you must set apart.” The word order is emphatic, with the object being placed first.

[8:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “he is your [object of] fear, he is your [object of] terror.” The roots יָרֵא (yare’) and עָרַץ (’arats) are repeated from v. 12b.

[9:9]  ²² tn The translation assumes that vv. 9-10 describe the people’s response to a past judgment (v. 8). The perfect is understood as indicating simple past and the vav (ו) is taken as conjunctive. Another option is to take the vav on the perfect as consecutive and translate, “all the people will know.”

[9:9]  ²³ tn Heb “and the people, all of them, knew; Ephraim and the residents of Samaria.”

[9:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “with pride and arrogance of heart, saying.”

[11:2]  ²⁵ sn Like David (1 Sam 16:13), this king will be energized by the Lord’s spirit.

[11:2]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ 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).

[13:12]  ²⁹ tn The verb is supplied in the translation from the first line. The verb in the first line (“I will make scarce”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse.

[13:18]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and bows cut to bits young men.” “Bows” stands by metonymy for arrows.

[13:18]  ³¹ tn Heb “the fruit of the womb.”

[13:18]  ³² tn Heb “their eye does not.” Here “eye” is a metonymy for the whole person.

[14:11]  ³³ tn Or “pride” (NCV, CEV); KJV, NIV, NRSV “pomp.”

[14:11]  ³⁴ tn Or “harps” (NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[14:11]  ³⁵ tn Heb “under you maggots are spread out, and worms are your cover.”

[14:26]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and this is the hand that is outstretched over all the nations.”

[17:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “in that day” (so ASV, NASB, NIV); KJV “At that day.”

[17:7]  ³⁸ tn Heb “man will gaze toward his maker.”

[17:7]  ³⁹ tn Heb “his eyes will look toward.”

[17:7]  ⁴⁰ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[19:13]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “Noph” (so KJV); most recent English versions substitute the more familiar “Memphis.”

[19:13]  ⁴² tn Heb “the cornerstone.” The singular form should be emended to a plural.

[19:15]  ⁴³ tn Heb “And there will not be for Egypt a deed, which head and tail, shoot and stalk can do.” In 9:14-15 the phrase “head or tail” refers to leaders and prophets, respectively. This interpretation makes good sense in this context, where both leaders and advisers (probably including prophets and diviners) are mentioned (vv. 11-14). Here, as in 9:14, “shoots and stalk” picture a reed, which symbolizes the leadership of the nation in its entirety.

[19:24]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “will be a blessing” (so NCV).

[19:24]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “land” (KJV, NAB).

[21:4]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “wanders,” perhaps here, “is confused.”

[21:4]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “shuddering terrifies me.”

[21:17]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “and the remnant of the number of the bow, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few.”

[21:17]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “for” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[22:15]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “who is over the house” (so ASV); NASB “who is in charge of the royal household.”

[22:15]  ⁵¹ tn The words “and tell him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[23:11]  ⁵² tn Heb “his hand he stretched out over the sea.”

[23:11]  ⁵³ tn Heb “the Lord.” For stylistic reasons the pronoun (“he”) has been used in the translation here.

[23:11]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “concerning Canaan, to destroy her fortresses.” NIV, NLT translate “Canaan” as “Phoenicia” here.

[24:4]  ⁵⁵ 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]  ⁵⁶ 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]  ⁵⁷ 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.

[24:11]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “[there is] an outcry over the wine in the streets.”

[24:11]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “all joy turns to evening,” the darkness of evening symbolizing distress and sorrow.

[24:11]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “the joy of the earth disappears.”

[24:21]  ⁶¹ tn Or “in that day” (so KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[24:21]  ⁶² tn Heb “visit [in judgment].”

[24:21]  ⁶³ tn Heb “the host of the height in the height.” The “host of the height/heaven” refers to the heavenly luminaries (stars and planets, see, among others, Deut 4:19; 17:3; 2 Kgs 17:16; 21:3, 5; 23:4-5; 2 Chr 33:3, 5) that populate the divine/heavenly assembly in mythological and prescientific Israelite thought (see Job 38:7; Isa 14:13).

[25:7]  ⁶⁴ tn The Hebrew text reads, “the face of the shroud, the shroud over all the nations.” Some emend the second הַלּוֹט (hallot) to a passive participle הַלּוּט (hallut, “that is wrapped”).

[25:7]  ⁶⁵ sn The point of the imagery is unclear. Perhaps the shroud/covering referred to was associated with death in some way (see v. 8).

[25:10]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “for the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain”; TEV “will protect Mount Zion”; NCV “will protect (rest on NLT) Jerusalem.”

[25:10]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “under him,” i.e., “in his place.”

[25:10]  ⁶⁸ tc The marginal reading (Qere) is בְּמוֹ (bÿmo, “in”). The consonantal text (Kethib) has בְּמִי (bÿmi, “in the water of”).

[26:18]  ⁶⁹ 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]  ⁷⁰ 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.

[27:6]  ⁷¹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “the coming ones, let Jacob take root.” הַבָּאִים (habba’im, “the coming ones”) should probably be emended to יָמִים בָאִים (yamim va’im, “days [are] coming”) or בְּיָמִים הַבָּאִים (biyamim habba’im, “in the coming days”).

[27:6]  ⁷² tn Heb “fruit” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[27:6]  ⁷³ sn This apparently refers to a future population explosion. See 26:18.

[28:5]  ⁷⁴ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[28:11]  ⁷⁵ sn This verse alludes to the coming Assyrian invasion, when the people will hear a foreign language that sounds like gibberish to them. The Lord is the subject of the verb “will speak,” as v. 12 makes clear. He once spoke in meaningful terms, but in the coming judgment he will speak to them, as it were, through the mouth of foreign oppressors. The apparent gibberish they hear will be an outward reminder that God has decreed their defeat.

[28:29]  ⁷⁶ sn Verses 23-29 emphasize that God possesses great wisdom and has established a natural order. Evidence of this can be seen in the way farmers utilize divinely imparted wisdom to grow and harvest crops. God’s dealings with his people will exhibit this same kind of wisdom and order. Judgment will be accomplished according to a divinely ordered timetable and, while severe enough, will not be excessive. Judgment must come, just as planting inevitably follows plowing. God will, as it were, thresh his people, but he will not crush them to the point where they will be of no use to him.

[29:2]  ⁷⁷ tn The term אֲרִיאֵל (’ari’el, “Ariel”) is the word translated “altar hearth” here. The point of the simile is not entirely clear. Perhaps the image likens Jerusalem’s coming crisis to a sacrificial fire.

[30:24]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground.”

[30:24]  ⁷⁹ sn Crops will be so abundant that even the work animals will eat well.

[33:2]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “Be their arm each morning.” “Arm” is a symbol for strength. The mem suffixed to the noun has been traditionally understood as a third person suffix, but this is contrary to the context, where the people speak of themselves in the first person. The mem (מ) is probably enclitic with ellipsis of the pronoun, which can be supplied from the context. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:589, n. 1.

[33:2]  ⁸¹ tn Heb “[Be] also our deliverance in the time of distress.”

[33:5]  ⁸² tn Or “elevated”; NCV, NLT “is very great.”

[33:5]  ⁸³ tn Or “for” (KJV, NASB, NIV).

[33:5]  ⁸⁴ tn Heb “on high” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “in the heavens.”

[33:10]  ⁸⁵ tn Or “lift myself up” (KJV); NLT “show my power and might.”

[33:24]  ⁸⁶ tn The words “of Zion” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[36:4]  ⁸⁷ tn Heb “What is this object of trust in which you are trusting?”

[36:13]  ⁸⁸ tn The Hebrew text includes “and he said.”

[36:20]  ⁸⁹ tn Heb “that the Lord might rescue Jerusalem from my hand?” The logic runs as follows: Since no god has ever been able to withstand the Assyrian onslaught, how can the people of Jerusalem possibly think the Lord will rescue them?

[37:20]  ⁹⁰ tn The parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:19 reads, “that you, Lord, are the only God.”

[37:25]  ⁹¹ tc The Hebrew text has simply, “I dug and drank water.” But the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:24 has “foreign waters.” זָרִים (zarim, “foreign”) may have accidentally dropped out of the Isaianic text by homoioteleuton (cf. NCV, NIV, NLT). Note that the preceding word, מַיִם (mayim, “water) also ends in mem (ם). The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has “foreign waters” for this line. However, in several other passages the 1QIsa^a scroll harmonizes with 2 Kgs 19 against the MT (Isa 36:5; 37:9, 20). Since the addition of “foreign” to this text in Isaiah by a later scribe would be more likely than its deletion, the MT reading should be accepted.

[39:8]  ⁹² tn Heb “good” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “favorable.”

[39:8]  ⁹³ tn Heb “and he said.” The verb אָמַר (’amar, “say”) is sometimes used of what one thinks (that is, says to oneself).

[39:8]  ⁹⁴ tn Or “surely”; cf. CEV “At least.”

[42:9]  ⁹⁵ tn Heb “the former things, look, they have come.”

[42:9]  ⁹⁶ tn Heb “before they sprout up, I cause you to hear.” The pronoun “you” is plural, referring to the people of Israel. In this verse “the former things” are the Lord’s earlier predictive oracles which have come to pass, while “the new things” are predicted events that have not yet begun to take place. “The former things” are earlier events in Israel’s history which God announced beforehand, such as the Exodus (see 43:16-18). “The new things” are the predictions about the servant (42:1-7). and may also include Cyrus’ conquests (41:25-27).

[42:15]  ⁹⁷ tn Heb “I will dry up the mountains and hills.” The “mountains and hills” stand by synecdoche for the trees that grow on them. Some prefer to derive the verb from a homonymic root and translate, “I will lay waste.”

[42:15]  ⁹⁸ tc The Hebrew text reads, “I will turn streams into coastlands [or “islands”].” Scholars who believe that this reading makes little sense have proposed an emendation of אִיִּים (’iyyim, “islands”) to צִיּוֹת (tsiyyot, “dry places”; cf. NCV, NLT, TEV). However, since all the versions support the MT reading, there is insufficient grounds for an emendation here. Although the imagery of changing rivers into islands is somewhat strange, J. N. Oswalt describes this imagery against the backdrop of rivers of the Near East. The receding of these rivers at times occasioned the appearance of previously submerged islands (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:126).

[42:15]  ⁹⁹ sn The imagery of this verse, which depicts the Lord bringing a curse of infertility to the earth, metaphorically describes how the Lord will destroy his enemies.

[45:7]  ¹⁰⁰ tn The words “I am” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the participle at the beginning of v. 7 stands in apposition to “the Lord” in v. 6.

[45:7]  ¹⁰¹ tn On the surface v. 7a appears to describe God’s sovereign control over the cycle of day and night, but the following statement suggests that “light” and “darkness” symbolize “deliverance” and “judgment.”

[45:7]  ¹⁰² sn This verses affirms that God is ultimately sovereign over his world, including mankind and nations. In accordance with his sovereign will, he can cause wars to cease and peace to predominate (as he was about to do for his exiled people through Cyrus), or he can bring disaster and judgment on nations (as he was about to do to Babylon through Cyrus).

[47:7]  ¹⁰³ tn Heb “Forever I [will be] permanent queen”; NIV “the eternal queen”; CEV “queen forever.”

[47:7]  ¹⁰⁴ tn Heb “you did not set these things upon your heart [or “mind”].”

[47:7]  ¹⁰⁵ tn Heb “you did not remember its outcome”; NAB “you disregarded their outcome.”

[59:6]  ¹⁰⁶ tn Heb “their deeds are deeds of sin, and the work of violence [is] in their hands.”

[59:20]  ¹⁰⁷ tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[59:20]  ¹⁰⁸ tn Heb “and to those who turn from rebellion in Jacob.”