Yesaya 3:12

3:12 Oppressors treat my ¹  people cruelly;

creditors rule over them. ² 

My people’s leaders mislead them;

they give you confusing directions. ³ 

Yesaya 30:11

30:11 Turn aside from the way,

stray off the path. ⁴ 

Remove from our presence the Holy One of Israel.” ⁵ 

Yesaya 37:34

37:34 He will go back the way he came –

he will not enter this city,’ says the Lord.

Yesaya 40:3

40:3 A voice cries out,

“In the wilderness clear a way for the Lord;

construct in the desert a road for our God.

Yesaya 40:14

40:14 From whom does he receive directions? ⁶ 

Who ⁷  teaches him the correct way to do things, ⁸ 

or imparts knowledge to him,

or instructs him in skillful design? ⁹ 

Yesaya 40:27

40:27 Why do you say, Jacob,

Why do you say, Israel,

“The Lord is not aware of what is happening to me, ¹⁰ 

My God is not concerned with my vindication”? ¹¹ 

Yesaya 43:16

43:16 This is what the Lord says,

the one who made a road through the sea,

a pathway through the surging waters,

Yesaya 49:9

49:9 You will say ¹²  to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’

and to those who are in dark dungeons, ¹³  ‘Emerge.’ ¹⁴ 

They will graze beside the roads;

on all the slopes they will find pasture.

Yesaya 53:6

53:6 All of us had wandered off like sheep;

each of us had strayed off on his own path,

but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him. ¹⁵ 

Yesaya 57:17

57:17 I was angry because of their sinful greed;

I attacked them and angrily rejected them, ¹⁶ 

yet they remained disobedient and stubborn. ¹⁷ 

Yesaya 63:17

63:17 Why, Lord, do you make us stray ¹⁸  from your ways, ¹⁹ 

and make our minds stubborn so that we do not obey you? ²⁰ 

Return for the sake of your servants,

the tribes of your inheritance!

[3:12]  ¹ sn This may refer to the prophet or to the Lord.

[3:12]  ² tc The Hebrew text appears to read literally, “My people, his oppressors, he deals severely, and women rule over them.” The correct text and precise meaning of the verse are debated. The translation above assumes (1) an emendation of נֹגְשָׂיו (nogÿsayv, “his oppressors”) to נֹגְשִׂים (nogÿshim, “oppressors”) by moving the mem (ם) on the following form to the end of the word and dropping the vav (ו) as virtually dittographic; (2) an emendation of מְעוֹלֵל (mÿ’olel, a singular participle that does not agree with the preceding plural subject) to עֹלְלוּ (’olÿlu), a third plural Poel perfect from עָלַל (’alal, “deal severely”; note that the following form begins with a vav [ו]; the text may be haplographic or misdivided); and (3) an emendation (with support from the LXX) of נָשִׁים (nashim, “women”) to נֹשִׁים (noshim, “creditors”; a participle from נָשַׁא, nasa’). Another option is to emend מְעוֹלֵל to עוֹלְלִים (’olÿlim, “children”) and read, “My people’s oppressors are children; women rule over them.” In this case the point is the same as in v. 4; the leadership void left by the judgment will be filled by those incompetent to lead the community – children and women. (The text reflects the ancient Israelite patriarchal mindset.)

[3:12]  ³ tn Heb “and the way of your paths they confuse.” The verb בָּלַע (bala’, “confuse”; HALOT 135 s.v. I בלע) is a homonym of the more common בָּלַע (“swallow”; see HALOT 134 s.v. בלע).

[30:11]  ⁴ sn The imagery refers to the way or path of truth, as revealed by God to the prophet.

[30:11]  ⁵ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[40:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “With whom did he consult, so that he gave discernment to him?”

[40:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “and taught him.” The vav (ו) consecutive with prefixed verbal form continues the previous line. The translation employs an interrogative pronoun for stylistic reasons.

[40:14]  ⁸ tn The phrase אֹרַח מִשְׁפָּט (’orakh mishpat) could be translated “path of justice” (so NASB, NRSV), but in this context, where creative ability and skill is in view, the phrase is better understood in the sense of “the way that is proper or fitting” (see BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 6); cf. NIV, NCV “the right way.”

[40:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “or the way of understanding causes him to know?”

[40:14]  sn The implied answer to the rhetorical questions in vv. 13-14 is, “No one.” In contrast to Marduk, the creator-god of Mesopotamian myths who receives help from the god of wisdom, the Lord neither needs nor receives any such advice or help. See R. Whybray, Heavenly Counsellor (SOTSMS), 64-77.

[40:27]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my way is hidden from the Lord” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[40:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and from my God my justice passes away”; NRSV “my right is disregarded by my God.”

[49:9]  ¹² tn Heb “to say.” In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct is subordinated to what precedes.

[49:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “in darkness” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “the prisoners of darkness.”

[49:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “show yourselves” (so ASV, NAB, NASB).

[53:6]  ¹⁵ tn Elsewhere the Hiphil of פָגַע (paga’) means “to intercede verbally” (Jer 15:11; 36:25) or “to intervene militarily” (Isa 59:16), but neither nuance fits here. Apparently here the Hiphil is the causative of the normal Qal meaning, “encounter, meet, touch.” The Qal sometimes refers to a hostile encounter or attack; when used in this way the object is normally introduced by the preposition -בְּ (bet, see Josh 2:16; Judg 8:21; 15:12, etc.). Here the causative Hiphil has a double object – the Lord makes “sin” attack “him” (note that the object attacked is introduced by the preposition -בְּ. In their sin the group was like sheep who had wandered from God’s path. They were vulnerable to attack; the guilt of their sin was ready to attack and destroy them. But then the servant stepped in and took the full force of the attack.

[57:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and I struck him, hiding, and I was angry.” פָּנַיִם (panayim, “face”) is the implied object of “hiding.”

[57:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he walked [as an] apostate in the way of his heart.”

[63:17]  ¹⁸ tn Some suggest a tolerative use of the Hiphil here, “[why do] you allow us to stray?” (cf. NLT). Though the Hiphil of תָעָה (ta’ah) appears to be tolerative in Jer 50:6, elsewhere it is preferable or necessary to take it as causative. See Isa 3:12; 9:15; and 30:28, as well as Gen 20:13; 2 Kgs 21:9; Job 12:24-25; Prov 12:26; Jer 23:13, 32; Hos 4:12; Amos 2:4; Mic 3:5.

[63:17]  ¹⁹ tn This probably refers to God’s commands.

[63:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “[Why do] you harden our heart[s] so as not to fear you.” The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[63:17]  sn How direct this hardening is, one cannot be sure. The speaker may envision direct involvement on the Lord’s part. The Lord has brought the exile as judgment for the nation’s sin and now he continues to keep them at arm’s length by blinding them spiritually. The second half of 64:7 might support this, though the precise reading of the final verb is uncertain. On the other hand, the idiom of lament is sometimes ironic and hyperbolically deterministic. For example, Naomi lamented that Shaddai was directly opposing her and bringing her calamity (Ruth 1:20-21), while the author of Ps 88 directly attributes his horrible suffering and loneliness to God (see especially vv. 6-8, 16-18). Both individuals make little, if any, room for intermediate causes or the principle of sin and death which ravages the human race. In the same way, the speaker in Isa 63:17 (who evidences great spiritual sensitivity and is anything but “hardened”) may be referring to the hardships of exile, which discouraged and even embittered the people, causing many of them to retreat from their Yahwistic faith. In this case, the “hardening” in view is more indirect and can be lifted by the Lord’s intervention. Whether the hardening here is indirect or direct, it is important to recognize that the speaker sees it as one of the effects of rebellion against the Lord (note especially 64:5-6).