Yesaya 2:8

2:8 Their land is full of worthless idols;

they worship ¹  the product of their own hands,

what their own fingers have fashioned.

Yesaya 10:19

10:19 There will be so few trees left in his forest,

a child will be able to count them. ² 

Yesaya 10:21

10:21 A remnant will come back, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. ³ 

Yesaya 12:5

12:5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done magnificent things,

let this be known ⁴  throughout the earth!

Yesaya 24:9

24:9 They no longer sing and drink wine; ⁵ 

the beer tastes bitter to those who drink it.

Yesaya 26:7

God’s People Anticipate Vindication

26:7 ⁶ The way of the righteous is level,

the path of the righteous that you make is straight. ⁷ 

Yesaya 32:19

32:19 Even if the forest is destroyed ⁸ 

and the city is annihilated, ⁹ 

Yesaya 35:1

The Land and Its People Are Transformed

35:1 Let the desert and dry region be happy; ¹⁰ 

let the wilderness ¹¹  rejoice and bloom like a lily!

Yesaya 41:24

41:24 Look, you are nothing, and your accomplishments are nonexistent;

the one who chooses to worship you is disgusting. ¹² 

Yesaya 43:21

43:21 the people whom I formed for myself,

so they might praise me.” ¹³ 

Yesaya 46:5

46:5 To whom can you compare and liken me?

Tell me whom you think I resemble, so we can be compared!

Yesaya 49:3

49:3 He said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, through whom I will reveal my splendor.” ¹⁴ 

Yesaya 49:11

49:11 I will make all my mountains into a road;

I will construct my roadways.”

[2:8]  ¹ tn Or “bow down to” (NIV, NRSV).

[10:19]  ² tn Heb “and the rest of the trees of his forest will be counted, and a child will record them.”

[10:21]  ³ tn The referent of אֵל גִּבּוֹר (’el gibbor, “mighty God”) is uncertain. The title appears only here and in 9:6, where it is one of the royal titles of the coming ideal Davidic king. (Similar titles appear in Deut 10:17 and Neh 9:32 [“the great, mighty, and awesome God”] and in Jer 32:18 [“the great and mighty God”]. Both titles refer to God.) Though Hos 3:5 pictures Israel someday seeking “David their king,” and provides some support for a messianic interpretation of Isa 10:21, the Davidic king is not mentioned in the immediate context of Isa 10:21 (see Isa 11, however). The preceding verse mentions Israel relying on the Lord, so it is likely that the title refers to God here.

[12:5]  ⁴ tc The translation follows the marginal reading (Qere), which is a Hophal participle from יָדַע (yada’), understood here in a gerundive sense.

[24:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “with a song they do not drink wine.”

[26:7]  ⁶ sn The literary structure of chap. 26 is not entirely clear. The chapter begins with an eschatological song of praise and ends with a lament and prophetic response (vv. 16-21). It is not certain where the song of praise ends or how vv. 7-15 fit into the structure. Verses 10-11a seem to lament the presence of evil and v. 11b anticipates the arrival of judgment, so it is possible that vv. 7-15 are a prelude to the lament and announcement that conclude the chapter.

[26:7]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text has, “upright, the path of the righteous you make level.” There are three possible ways to translate this line. Some take יָשָׁר (yashar) as a divine title: “O Upright One” (cf. NASB, NIV, NKJV, NRSV, NLT). Others regard יָשָׁר as the result of dittography (מֵישָׁרִים יָשָׁר ַמעְגַּל, mesharim yashar ma’gal) and do not include it in the translation. Another possibility is to keep יָשָׁר and render the line as “the path of the righteous that you prepare is straight.”

[26:7]  sn The metaphor of a level/smooth road/path may refer to their morally upright manner of life (see v. 8a), but verse 7b, which attributes the smooth path to the Lord, suggests that the Lord’s vindication and blessing may be the reality behind the metaphor here.

[32:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “and [?] when the forest descends.” The form וּבָרַד (uvarad) is often understood as an otherwise unattested denominative verb meaning “to hail” (HALOT 154 s.v. I ברד). In this case one might translate, “and it hails when the forest is destroyed” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV). Perhaps the text alludes to a powerful wind and hail storm that knocks down limbs and trees. Some prefer to emend the form to וְיָרַד (vÿyarad), “and it descends,” which provides better, though not perfect, symmetry with the parallel line (cf. NAB). Perhaps וּבָרַד should be dismissed as dittographic. In this case the statement (“when the forest descends”) lacks a finite verb and seems incomplete, but perhaps it is subordinate to v. 20.

[32:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “and in humiliation the city is laid low.”

[35:1]  ¹⁰ tn The final mem (ם) on the verb יְשֻׂשׂוּם (yÿsusum) is dittographic (note the initial mem on the following noun מִדְבָּר [midbar]). The ambiguous verbal form is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel). The jussive is used rhetorically here, not as a literal command or prayer.

[35:1]  ¹¹ tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); NAB, NIV, TEV “desert.”

[41:24]  ¹² tn Heb “an object of disgust [is he who] chooses you.”

[43:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “[so] they might declare my praise.”

[49:3]  ¹⁴ sn This verse identifies the servant as Israel. This seems to refer to the exiled nation (cf. 41:8-9; 44:1-2, 21; 45:4; 48:20), but in vv. 5-6 this servant says he has been commissioned to reconcile Israel to God, so he must be distinct from the exiled nation. This servant is an ideal “Israel” who, like Moses of old, mediates a covenant for the nation (see v. 8), leads them out of bondage (v. 9a), and carries out God’s original plan for Israel by positively impacting the pagan nations (see v. 6b). By living according to God’s law, Israel was to be a model of God’s standards of justice to the surrounding nations (Deut 4:6-8). The sinful nation failed, but the servant, the ideal “Israel,” will succeed by establishing justice throughout the earth.