Yesaya 24:18

24:18 The one who runs away from the sound of the terror

will fall into the pit; ¹ 

the one who climbs out of the pit,

will be trapped by the snare.

For the floodgates of the heavens ²  are opened up ³ 

and the foundations of the earth shake.

Yesaya 29:21

29:21 those who bear false testimony against a person, ⁴ 

who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gate ⁵ 

and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges. ⁶ 

Yesaya 48:13

48:13 Yes, my hand founded the earth;

my right hand spread out the sky.

I summon them;

they stand together.

Yesaya 6:4

6:4 The sound of their voices shook the door frames, ⁷  and the temple was filled with smoke.

Yesaya 40:21

40:21 Do you not know?

Do you not hear?

Has it not been told to you since the very beginning?

Have you not understood from the time the earth’s foundations were made?

Yesaya 14:32

14:32 How will they respond to the messengers of this nation? ⁸ 

Indeed, the Lord has made Zion secure;

the oppressed among his people will find safety in her.

Yesaya 44:28

44:28 who commissions ⁹  Cyrus, the one I appointed as shepherd ¹⁰ 

to carry out all my wishes ¹¹ 

and to decree concerning Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’

and concerning the temple, ‘It will be reconstructed.’” ¹² 

Yesaya 54:11

54:11 “O afflicted one, driven away, ¹³  and unconsoled!

Look, I am about to set your stones in antimony

and I lay your foundation with lapis-lazuli.

Yesaya 59:4

59:4 No one is concerned about justice; ¹⁴ 

no one sets forth his case truthfully.

They depend on false words ¹⁵  and tell lies;

they conceive of oppression ¹⁶ 

and give birth to sin.

Yesaya 44:27

44:27 who says to the deep sea, ‘Be dry!

I will dry up your sea currents,’

Yesaya 28:16

28:16 Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord, says:

“Look, I am laying ¹⁷  a stone in Zion,

an approved ¹⁸  stone,

set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. ¹⁹ 

The one who maintains his faith will not panic. ²⁰ 

Yesaya 51:13

51:13 Why do you forget ²¹  the Lord, who made you,

who stretched out the sky ²² 

and founded the earth?

Why do you constantly tremble all day long ²³ 

at the anger of the oppressor,

when he makes plans to destroy?

Where is the anger of the oppressor? ²⁴ 

Yesaya 51:16

Zion’s Time to Celebrate

51:16 I commission you ²⁵  as my spokesman; ²⁶ 

I cover you with the palm of my hand, ²⁷ 

to establish ²⁸  the sky and to found the earth,

to say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’” ²⁹ 

Yesaya 11:3

11:3 He will take delight in obeying the Lord. ³⁰ 

He will not judge by mere appearances, ³¹ 

or make decisions on the basis of hearsay. ³² 

Yesaya 63:13

63:13 who led them through the deep water?

Like a horse running on flat land ³³  they did not stumble.

Yesaya 9:7

9:7 His dominion will be vast ³⁴ 

and he will bring immeasurable prosperity. ³⁵ 

He will rule on David’s throne

and over David’s kingdom, ³⁶ 

establishing it ³⁷  and strengthening it

by promoting justice and fairness, ³⁸ 

from this time forward and forevermore.

The Lord’s intense devotion to his people ³⁹  will accomplish this.

Yesaya 58:12

58:12 Your perpetual ruins will be rebuilt; ⁴⁰ 

you will reestablish the ancient foundations.

You will be called, ‘The one who repairs broken walls,

the one who makes the streets inhabitable again.’ ⁴¹ 

Yesaya 11:9

11:9 They will no longer injure or destroy

on my entire royal mountain. ⁴² 

For there will be universal submission to the Lord’s sovereignty,

just as the waters completely cover the sea. ⁴³ 

Yesaya 28:17

28:17 I will make justice the measuring line,

fairness the plumb line;

hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge, ⁴⁴ 

the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place.

Yesaya 54:14

54:14 You will be reestablished when I vindicate you. ⁴⁵ 

You will not experience oppression; ⁴⁶ 

indeed, you will not be afraid.

You will not be terrified, ⁴⁷ 

for nothing frightening ⁴⁸  will come near you.

[24:18]  ¹ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[24:18]  ² tn Heb “from the height”; KJV “from on high.”

[24:18]  ³ sn The language reflects the account of the Noahic Flood (see Gen 7:11).

[29:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “the ones who make a man a sinner with a word.” The Hiphil of חָטָא (khata’) here has a delocutive sense: “declare a man sinful/guilty.”

[29:21]  ⁵ sn Legal disputes were resolved at the city gate, where the town elders met. See Amos 5:10.

[29:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “and deprive by emptiness the innocent.”

[6:4]  ⁷ tn On the phrase אַמּוֹת הַסִּפִּים (’ammot hassippim, “pivots of the frames”) see HALOT 763 s.v. סַף.

[14:32]  ⁸ sn The question forces the Philistines to consider the dilemma they will face – surrender and oppression, or battle and death.

[44:28]  ⁹ tn Heb “says to.” It is possible that the sentence is not completed, as the description of Cyrus and his God-given role is developed in the rest of the verse. 45:1 picks up where 44:28a leaves off with the Lord’s actual words to Cyrus finally being quoted in 45:2.

[44:28]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my shepherd.” The shepherd motif is sometimes applied, as here, to a royal figure who is responsible for the well-being of the people whom he rules.

[44:28]  ¹¹ tn Heb “that he might bring to completion all my desire.”

[44:28]  ¹² tn Heb “and [concerning the] temple, you will be founded.” The preposition -לְ (lÿ) is understood by ellipsis at the beginning of the second line. The verb תִּוָּסֵד (tivvased, “you will be founded”) is second masculine singular and is probably addressed to the personified temple (הֵיכָל [hekhal, “temple”] is masculine).

[54:11]  ¹³ tn Or, more literally, “windblown, storm tossed.”

[59:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “no one pleads with justice.”

[59:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “nothing”; NAB “emptiness.”

[59:4]  ¹⁶ tn Or “trouble” (NIV), or “harm.”

[28:16]  ¹⁷ tc The Hebrew text has a third person verb form, which does not agree with the first person suffix that precedes. The form should be emended to יֹסֵד (yosed), a Qal active participle used in a present progressive or imminent future sense.

[28:16]  ¹⁸ tn Traditionally “tested,” but the implication is that it has passed the test and stands approved.

[28:16]  ¹⁹ sn The reality behind the metaphor is not entirely clear from the context. The stone appears to represent someone or something that gives Zion stability. Perhaps the ideal Davidic ruler is in view (see 32:1). Another option is that the image of beginning a building project by laying a precious cornerstone suggests that God is about to transform Zion through judgment and begin a new covenant community that will experience his protection (see 4:3-6; 31:5; 33:20-24; 35:10).

[28:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “will not hurry,” i.e., act in panic.

[51:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “and that you forget.”

[51:13]  ²² tn Or “the heavens” (also in v. 16). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[51:13]  ²³ tn Heb “and that you tremble constantly all the day.”

[51:13]  ²⁴ tn The question anticipates the answer, “Ready to disappear!” See v. 14.

[51:16]  ²⁵ tn The addressee (second masculine singular, as in vv. 13, 15) in this verse is unclear. The exiles are addressed in the immediately preceding verses (note the critical tone of vv. 12-13 and the reference to the exiles in v. 14). However, it seems unlikely that they are addressed in v. 16, for the addressee appears to be commissioned to tell Zion, who here represents the restored exiles, “you are my people.” The addressee is distinct from the exiles. The language of v. 16a is reminiscent of 49:2 and 50:4, where the Lord’s special servant says he is God’s spokesman and effective instrument. Perhaps the Lord, having spoken to the exiles in vv. 1-15, now responds to this servant, who spoke just prior to this in 50:4-11.

[51:16]  ²⁶ tn Heb “I place my words in your mouth.”

[51:16]  ²⁷ tn Heb “with the shadow of my hand.”

[51:16]  ²⁸ tc The Hebrew text has לִנְטֹעַ (lintoa’, “to plant”). Several scholars prefer to emend this form to לִנְטֹת (lintot) from נָטָה (natah, “to stretch out”); see v. 13, as well as 40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; cf. NAB, NCV, NRSV. However, since the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, LXX (and Aquila and Symmachus), and Vulgate support the MT reading, there is no need to emend the form. The interpretation is clear enough: Yahweh fixed the sky in its place.

[51:16]  ²⁹ tn The infinitives in v. 16b are most naturally understood as indicating the purpose of the divine actions described in v. 16a. The relationship of the third infinitive to the commission is clear enough – the Lord has made the addressee (his special servant?) his spokesman so that the latter might speak encouraging words to those in Zion. But how do the first two infinitives relate? The text seems to indicate that the Lord has commissioned the addressee so that the latter might create the universe! Perhaps creation imagery is employed metaphorically here to refer to the transformation that Jerusalem will experience (see 65:17-18).

[11:3]  ³⁰ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “and his smelling is in the fear of the Lord.” In Amos 5:21 the Hiphil of רוּחַ (ruakh, “smell”) carries the nuance of “smell with delight, get pleasure from.” There the Lord declares that he does not “smell with delight” (i.e., get pleasure from) Israel’s religious assemblies, which probably stand by metonymy for the incense offered during these festivals. In Isa 11:3 there is no sacrificial context to suggest such a use, but it is possible that “the fear of the Lord” is likened to incense. This coming king will get the same kind of delight from obeying (fearing) the Lord, as a deity does in the incense offered by worshipers. Some regard such an explanation as strained in this context, and prefer to omit this line from the text as a virtual dittograph of the preceding statement.

[11:3]  ³¹ tn Heb “by what appears to his eyes”; KJV “after the sight of his eyes”; NIV “by what he sees with his eyes.”

[11:3]  ³² tn Heb “by what is heard by his ears”; NRSV “by what his ears hear.”

[63:13]  ³³ tn Heb “in the desert [or “steppe”].”

[9:7]  ³⁴ tc The Hebrew text has לְםַרְבֵּה (lÿmarbeh), which is a corrupt reading. לם is dittographic; note the preceding word, שָׁלוֹם (shalom). The corrected text reads literally, “great is the dominion.”

[9:7]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and to peace there will be no end” (KJV and ASV both similar). On the political and socio-economic sense of שָׁלוֹם (shalom) in this context, see the note at v. 6 on “Prince of Peace.”

[9:7]  ³⁶ tn Heb “over the throne of David, and over his kingdom.” The referent of the pronoun “his” (i.e., David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:7]  ³⁷ tn The feminine singular pronominal suffix on this form and the following one (translated “it” both times) refers back to the grammatically feminine noun “kingdom.”

[9:7]  ³⁸ tn Heb “with/by justice and fairness”; ASV “with justice and with righteousness.”

[9:7]  ³⁹ tn Heb “the zeal of the Lord.” In this context the Lord’s “zeal” refers to his intense devotion to and love for his people which prompts him to vindicate them and to fulfill his promises to David and the nation.

[58:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and they will build from you ancient ruins.”

[58:12]  ⁴¹ tc The Hebrew text has “the one who restores paths for dwelling.” The idea of “paths to dwell in” is not a common notion. Some have proposed emending נְתִיבוֹת (nÿtivot, “paths”) to נְתִיצוֹת (nÿtitsot, “ruins”), a passive participle from נָתַץ (natats, “tear down”; see HALOT 732 s.v. *נְתִיצָה), because tighter parallelism with the preceding line is achieved. However, none of the textual sources support this emendation. The line may mean that paths must be repaired in order to dwell in the land.

[11:9]  ⁴² tn Heb “in all my holy mountain.” In the most basic sense the Lord’s “holy mountain” is the mountain from which he rules over his kingdom (see Ezek 28:14, 16). More specifically it probably refers to Mount Zion/Jerusalem or to the entire land of Israel (see Pss 2:6; 15:1; 43:3; Isa 56:7; 57:13; Ezek 20:40; Ob 16; Zeph 3:11). If the Lord’s universal kingdom is in view in this context (see the note on “earth” at v. 4), then the phrase would probably be metonymic here, standing for God’s worldwide dominion (see the next line).

[11:9]  ⁴³ tn Heb “for the earth will be full of knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” The translation assumes that a universal kingdom is depicted here, but אֶרֶץ (’erets) could be translated “land” (see the note at v. 4). “Knowledge of the Lord” refers here to a recognition of the Lord’s sovereignty which results in a willingness to submit to his authority. See the note at v. 2.

[28:17]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “[the] refuge, [the] lie.” See v. 15.

[54:14]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “in righteousness [or “vindication”] you will be established.” The precise meaning of צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah) here is uncertain. It could mean “righteousness, justice,” indicating that the city will be a center for justice. But the context focuses on deliverance, suggesting that the term means “deliverance, vindication” here.

[54:14]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “Be far from oppression!” The imperative is used here in a rhetorical manner to express certainty and assurance. See GKC 324 §110.c.

[54:14]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “from terror.” The rhetorical command, “be far” is understood by ellipsis here. Note the preceding context.

[54:14]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “it,” i.e., the “terror” just mentioned.