Yesaya 16:5

16:5 Then a trustworthy king will be established;

he will rule in a reliable manner,

this one from David’s family. ¹ 

He will be sure to make just decisions

and will be experienced in executing justice. ² 

Yesaya 40:10

40:10 Look, the sovereign Lord comes as a victorious warrior; ³ 

his military power establishes his rule. ⁴ 

Look, his reward is with him;

his prize goes before him. ⁵ 

Yesaya 40:22

40:22 He is the one who sits on the earth’s horizon; ⁶ 

its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him. ⁷ 

He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain, ⁸ 

and spreads it out ⁹  like a pitched tent. ¹⁰ 

Yesaya 48:14

48:14 All of you, gather together and listen!

Who among them ¹¹  announced these things?

The Lord’s ally ¹²  will carry out his desire against Babylon;

he will exert his power against the Babylonians. ¹³ 

Yesaya 52:15

52:15 his form was so marred he no longer looked human ¹⁴  –

so now ¹⁵  he will startle ¹⁶  many nations.

Kings will be shocked by his exaltation, ¹⁷ 

for they will witness something unannounced to them,

and they will understand something they had not heard about.

Yesaya 62:9

62:9 But those who harvest the grain ¹⁸  will eat it,

and will praise the Lord.

Those who pick the grapes will drink the wine ¹⁹ 

in the courts of my holy sanctuary.”

[16:5]  ¹ tn Heb “and a throne will be established in faithfulness, and he will sit on it in reliability, in the tent of David.”

[16:5]  ² tn Heb “one who judges and seeks justice, and one experienced in fairness.” Many understand מְהִר (mÿhir) to mean “quick, prompt” (see BDB 555 s.v. מָהִיר), but HALOT 552 s.v. מָהִיר offers the meaning “skillful, experienced,” and translates the phrase in v. 5 “zealous for what is right.”

[40:10]  ³ tn Heb “comes as a strong one”; ASV “will come as a mighty one.” The preposition בְּ (bet) here carries the nuance “in the capacity of.” It indicates that the Lord possesses the quality expressed by the noun. See GKC 379 §119.i and HALOT 104 s.v. בְּ.

[40:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “his arm rules for him” (so NIV, NRSV). The Lord’s “arm” symbolizes his military power (see Isa 51:9-10; 63:5).

[40:10]  ⁵ tn As the Lord returns to Jerusalem as a victorious warrior, he brings with him the spoils of victory, called here his “reward” and “prize.” These terms might also be translated “wages” and “recompense.” Verse 11 indicates that his rescued people, likened to a flock of sheep, are his reward.

[40:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “the circle of the earth” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[40:22]  ⁷ tn The words “before him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[40:22]  ⁸ tn The otherwise unattested noun דֹּק (doq), translated here “thin curtain,” is apparently derived from the verbal root דקק (“crush”) from which is derived the adjective דַּק (daq, “thin”; see HALOT 229 s.v. דקק). The nuance “curtain” is implied from the parallelism (see “tent” in the next line).

[40:22]  ⁹ tn The meaning of the otherwise unattested verb מָתַח (matakh, “spread out”) is determined from the parallelism (note the corresponding verb “stretch out” in the previous line) and supported by later Hebrew and Aramaic cognates. See HALOT 654 s.v. *מתה.

[40:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “like a tent [in which] to live”; NAB, NASB “like a tent to dwell (live NIV, NRSV) in.”

[48:14]  ¹¹ sn This probably refers to the idol gods (see v. 5).

[48:14]  ¹² tn Or “friend,” or “covenant partner.”

[48:14]  sn The Lord’s ally is a reference to Cyrus.

[48:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “and his arm [against] the Babylonians.”

[52:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and his form from the sons of men.” The preposition מִן (min) here carries the sense “away from,” i.e., “so as not to be.”

[52:15]  ¹⁵ tn This statement completes the sentence begun in v. 14a. The introductory כֵּן (ken) answers to the introductory כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher) of v. 14a. Verses 14b-15a are parenthetical, explaining why many were horrified.

[52:15]  ¹⁶ tn Traditionally the verb יַזֶּה (yazzeh, a Hiphil stem) has been understood as a causative of נָזָה (nazah, “spurt, spatter”) and translated “sprinkle.” In this case the passage pictures the servant as a priest who “sprinkles” (or spiritually cleanses) the nations. Though the verb נָזָה does occur in the Hiphil with the meaning “sprinkle,” the usual interpretation is problematic. In all other instances where the object or person sprinkled is indicated, the verb is combined with a preposition. This is not the case in Isaiah 52:15, unless one takes the following עָלָיו (’alayv, “on him”) with the preceding line. But then one would have to emend the verb to a plural, make the nations the subject of the verb “sprinkle,” and take the servant as the object. Consequently some interpreters doubt the cultic idea of “sprinkling” is present here. Some emend the text; others propose a homonymic root meaning “spring, leap,” which in the Hiphil could mean “cause to leap, startle” and would fit the parallelism of the verse nicely.

[52:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Because of him kings will shut their mouths,” i.e., be speechless.

[62:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “it,” the grain mentioned in v. 8a.

[62:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and those who gather it will drink it.” The masculine singular pronominal suffixes attached to “gather” and “drink” refer back to the masculine noun תִּירוֹשׁ (tirosh, “wine”) in v. 8b.