Yesaya 11:4

11:4 He will treat the poor fairly, ¹ 

and make right decisions ²  for the downtrodden of the earth. ³ 

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, ⁴ 

and order the wicked to be executed. ⁵ 

Yesaya 11:15

11:15 The Lord will divide ⁶  the gulf ⁷  of the Egyptian Sea; ⁸ 

he will wave his hand over the Euphrates River ⁹  and send a strong wind, ¹⁰ 

he will turn it into seven dried-up streams, ¹¹ 

and enable them to walk across in their sandals.

Yesaya 14:29

14:29 Don’t be so happy, all you Philistines,

just because the club that beat you has been broken! ¹² 

For a viper will grow out of the serpent’s root,

and its fruit will be a darting adder. ¹³ 

Yesaya 37:36

37:36 The Lord’s messenger ¹⁴  went out and killed 185,000 troops ¹⁵  in the Assyrian camp. When they ¹⁶  got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses! ¹⁷ 

Yesaya 49:10

49:10 They will not be hungry or thirsty;

the sun’s oppressive heat will not beat down on them, ¹⁸ 

for one who has compassion on them will guide them;

he will lead them to springs of water.

Yesaya 58:4

58:4 Look, your fasting is accompanied by ¹⁹  arguments, brawls,

and fistfights. ²⁰ 

Do not fast as you do today,

trying to make your voice heard in heaven.

[11:4]  ¹ tn Heb “with justice” (so NAB) or “with righteousness” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[11:4]  ² tn Heb “make decisions with rectitude”; cf. ASV, NRSV “and decide with equity.”

[11:4]  ³ tn Or “land” (NAB, NCV, CEV). It is uncertain if the passage is picturing universal dominion or focusing on the king’s rule over his covenant people. The reference to God’s “holy mountain” in v. 9 and the description of renewed Israelite conquests in v. 14 suggest the latter, though v. 10 seems to refer to a universal kingdom (see 2:2-4).

[11:4]  ⁴ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and he will strike the earth with the scepter of his mouth.” Some have suggested that in this context אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) as an object of judgment seems too broad in scope. The parallelism is tighter if one emends the word to ץ(י)עָרִ (’arits, “potentate, tyrant”). The phrase “scepter of his mouth” refers to the royal (note “scepter”) decrees that he proclaims with his mouth. Because these decrees will have authority and power (see v. 2) behind them, they can be described as “striking” the tyrants down. Nevertheless, the MT reading may not need emending. Isaiah refers to the entire “earth” as the object of God’s judgment in several places without specifying the wicked as the object of the judgment (Isa 24:17-21; 26:9, 21; 28:22; cf. 13:11).

[11:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “and by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.” The “breath of his lips” refers to his speech, specifically in this context his official decrees that the wicked oppressors be eliminated from his realm. See the preceding note.

[11:15]  ⁶ tn The verb is usually understood as “put under the ban, destroy,” or emended to חָרָב (kharav, “dry up”). However, HALOT 354 s.v. II חרם proposes a homonymic root meaning “divide.”

[11:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “tongue” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[11:15]  ⁸ sn That is, the Red Sea.

[11:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “the river”; capitalized in some English versions (e.g., ASV, NASB, NRSV) as a reference to the Euphrates River.

[11:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “with the [?] of his wind” [or “breath”]. The Hebrew term עַיָם (’ayam) occurs only here. Some attempt to relate the word to an Arabic root and translate, “scorching [or “hot”] wind.” This interpretation fits especially well if one reads “dry up” in the previous line. Others prefer to emend the form to עֹצֶם (’otsem, “strong”). See HALOT 817 s.v. עֲצַם.

[11:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “seven streams.” The Hebrew term נַחַל (nakhal, “stream”) refers to a wadi, or seasonal stream, which runs during the rainy season, but is otherwise dry. The context (see v. 15b) here favors the translation, “dried up streams.” The number seven suggests totality and completeness. Here it indicates that God’s provision for escape will be thorough and more than capable of accommodating the returning exiles.

[14:29]  ¹² sn The identity of this “club” (also referred to as a “serpent” in the next line) is uncertain. It may refer to an Assyrian king, or to Ahaz. For discussion see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:331-32. The viper/adder referred to in the second half of the verse is his successor.

[14:29]  ¹³ tn Heb “flying burning one.” The designation “burning one” may allude to the serpent’s appearance or the effect of its poisonous bite. (See the note at 6:2.) The qualifier “flying” probably refers to the serpent’s quick, darting movements, though one might propose a homonym here, meaning “biting.” (See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:332, n. 18.) Some might think in terms of a mythological flying, fire breathing dragon (cf. NAB “a flying saraph”; CEV “a flying fiery dragon”), but this proposal does not make good sense in 30:6, where the phrase “flying burning one” appears again in a list of desert animals.

[37:36]  ¹⁴ tn Traditionally, “the angel of the Lord” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[37:36]  ¹⁵ tn The word “troops” is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.

[37:36]  ¹⁶ tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.

[37:36]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies”; NLT “they found corpses everywhere.”

[49:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and the heat and the sun will not strike them.” In Isa 35:7, its only other occurrence in the OT, שָׁרָב (sharav) stands parallel to “parched ground” and in contrast to “pool.” In later Hebrew and Aramaic it refers to “dry heat, heat of the sun” (Jastrow 1627 s.v.). Here it likely has this nuance and forms a hendiadys with “sun.”

[58:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “you fast for” (so NASB); NRSV “you fast only to quarrel.”

[58:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and for striking with a sinful fist.”