Yesaya 28:13

28:13 So the Lord’s word to them will sound like

meaningless gibberish,

senseless babbling,

a syllable here, a syllable there. ¹ 

As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk, ² 

and be injured, ensnared, and captured. ³ 

Yesaya 49:26

49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;

they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. ⁴ 

Then all humankind ⁵  will recognize that

I am the Lord, your deliverer,

your protector, ⁶  the powerful ruler of Jacob.” ⁷ 

Yesaya 55:2

55:2 Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? ⁸ 

Why spend ⁹  your hard-earned money ¹⁰  on something that will not satisfy?

Listen carefully ¹¹  to me and eat what is nourishing! ¹² 

Enjoy fine food! ¹³ 

Yesaya 57:11

57:11 Whom are you worried about?

Whom do you fear, that you would act so deceitfully

and not remember me

or think about me? ¹⁴ 

Because I have been silent for so long, ¹⁵ 

you are not afraid of me. ¹⁶ 

[28:13]  ¹ tn Heb “And the word of the Lord will be to them, ‘tsahv latsahv,’ etc.” See the note at v. 10. In this case the “Lord’s word” is not the foreigner’s strange sounding words (as in v. 10), but the Lord’s repeated appeals to them (like the one quoted in v. 12). As time goes on, the Lord’s appeals through the prophets will have no impact on the people; they will regard prophetic preaching as gibberish.

[28:13]  ² tn Heb “as a result they will go and stumble backward.” Perhaps an infant falling as it attempts to learn to walk is the background image here (cf. v. 9b). The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) could be taken as indicating purpose (“in order that”), rather than simple result. In this case the people’s insensitivity to the message is caused by the Lord as a means of expediting their downfall.

[28:13]  ³ sn When divine warnings and appeals become gibberish to the spiritually insensitive, they have no guidance and are doomed to destruction.

[49:26]  ⁴ sn Verse 26a depicts siege warfare and bloody defeat. The besieged enemy will be so starved they will their own flesh. The bloodstained bodies lying on the blood-soaked battle site will look as if they collapsed in drunkenness.

[49:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).

[49:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[49:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.” See 1:24.

[55:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “for what is not food.”

[55:2]  ⁹ tn The interrogative particle and the verb “spend” are understood here by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[55:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your labor,” which stands by metonymy for that which one earns.

[55:2]  ¹¹ tn The infinitive absolute follows the imperative and lends emphasis to the exhortation.

[55:2]  ¹² tn Heb “good” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[55:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “Let your appetite delight in fine food.”

[55:2]  sn Nourishing, fine food here represents the blessings God freely offers. These include forgiveness, a new covenantal relationship with God, and national prominence (see vv. 3-6).

[57:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “you do not place [it] on your heart.”

[57:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Is it not [because] I have been silent, and from long ago?”

[57:11]  ¹⁶ sn God’s patience with sinful Israel has caused them to think that they can sin with impunity and suffer no consequences.