Yesaya 3:16

Washing Away Impurity

3:16 The Lord says,

“The women ¹  of Zion are proud.

They walk with their heads high ² 

and flirt with their eyes.

They skip along ³ 

and the jewelry on their ankles jingles. ⁴ 

Yesaya 5:9

5:9 The Lord who commands armies told me this: ⁵ 

“Many houses will certainly become desolate,

large, impressive houses will have no one living in them. ⁶ 

Yesaya 5:13

5:13 Therefore my ⁷  people will be deported ⁸ 

because of their lack of understanding.

Their ⁹  leaders will have nothing to eat, ¹⁰ 

their ¹¹  masses will have nothing to drink. ¹² 

Yesaya 5:29

5:29 Their roar is like a lion’s;

they roar like young lions.

They growl and seize their prey;

they drag it away and no one can come to the rescue.

Yesaya 9:3

9:3 You ¹³  have enlarged the nation;

you give them great joy. ¹⁴ 

They rejoice in your presence

as harvesters rejoice;

as warriors celebrate ¹⁵  when they divide up the plunder.

Yesaya 10:33

10:33 Look, the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies,

is ready to cut off the branches with terrifying power. ¹⁶ 

The tallest trees ¹⁷  will be cut down,

the loftiest ones will be brought low.

Yesaya 13:4

13:4 ¹⁸ There is a loud noise on the mountains –

it sounds like a large army! ¹⁹ 

There is great commotion among the kingdoms ²⁰  –

nations are being assembled!

The Lord who commands armies is mustering

forces for battle.

Yesaya 14:13

14:13 You said to yourself, ²¹ 

“I will climb up to the sky.

Above the stars of El ²² 

I will set up my throne.

I will rule on the mountain of assembly

on the remote slopes of Zaphon. ²³ 

Yesaya 15:4

15:4 The people of ²⁴  Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,

their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.

For this reason Moab’s soldiers shout in distress;

their courage wavers. ²⁵ 

Yesaya 16:3

16:3 “Bring a plan, make a decision! ²⁶ 

Provide some shade in the middle of the day! ²⁷ 

Hide the fugitives! Do not betray ²⁸  the one who tries to escape!

Yesaya 16:12

16:12 When the Moabites plead with all their might at their high places, ²⁹ 

and enter their temples to pray, their prayers will be ineffective! ³⁰ 

Yesaya 18:6

18:6 They will all be left ³¹  for the birds of the hills

and the wild animals; ³² 

the birds will eat them during the summer,

and all the wild animals will eat them during the winter.

Yesaya 19:12

19:12 But where, oh where, are your wise men? ³³ 

Let them tell you, let them find out

what the Lord who commands armies has planned for Egypt.

Yesaya 21:8

21:8 Then the guard ³⁴  cries out:

“On the watchtower, O sovereign master, ³⁵ 

I stand all day long;

at my post

I am stationed every night.

Yesaya 29:14

29:14 Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people –

an absolutely extraordinary deed. ³⁶ 

Wise men will have nothing to say,

the sages will have no explanations.” ³⁷ 

Yesaya 34:11

34:11 Owls and wild animals ³⁸  will live there, ³⁹ 

all kinds of wild birds ⁴⁰  will settle in it.

The Lord ⁴¹  will stretch out over her

the measuring line of ruin

and the plumb line ⁴²  of destruction. ⁴³ 

Yesaya 37:6

37:6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘This is what the Lord says: “Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard – these insults the king of Assyria’s servants have hurled against me. ⁴⁴ 

Yesaya 38:19

38:19 The living person, the living person, he gives you thanks,

as I do today.

A father tells his sons about your faithfulness.

Yesaya 44:9

44:9 All who form idols are nothing;

the things in which they delight are worthless.

Their witnesses cannot see;

they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.

Yesaya 49:25

49:25 Indeed,” says the Lord,

“captives will be taken from a warrior;

spoils will be rescued from a conqueror.

I will oppose your adversary

and I will rescue your children.

Yesaya 56:10

56:10 All their watchmen ⁴⁵  are blind,

they are unaware. ⁴⁶ 

All of them are like mute dogs,

unable to bark.

They pant, ⁴⁷  lie down,

and love to snooze.

Yesaya 58:6

58:6 No, this is the kind of fast I want. ⁴⁸ 

I want you ⁴⁹  to remove the sinful chains,

to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke,

to set free the oppressed, ⁵⁰ 

and to break every burdensome yoke.

Yesaya 60:5

60:5 Then you will look and smile, ⁵¹ 

you will be excited and your heart will swell with pride. ⁵² 

For the riches of distant lands ⁵³  will belong to you

and the wealth of nations will come to you.

[3:16]  ¹ tn Heb “daughters” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV).

[3:16]  ² tn Heb “with an outstretched neck.” They proudly hold their heads high so that others can see the jewelry around their necks.

[3:16]  ³ tn Heb “walking and skipping, they walk.”

[3:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “and with their feet they jingle.”

[5:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “in my ears, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].”

[5:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “great and good [houses], without a resident.”

[5:13]  ⁷ sn It is not certain if the prophet or the Lord is speaking at this point.

[5:13]  ⁸ tn The suffixed (perfect) form of the verb is used; in this way the coming event is described for rhetorical effect as occurring or as already completed.

[5:13]  ⁹ tn The third masculine singular suffix refers back to “my people.”

[5:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Their glory will be men of hunger.” כָּבוֹד (kavod, “glory”) is in opposition to הָמוֹן (hamon, “masses”) and refers here to the rich and prominent members of the nation. Some prefer to repoint מְתֵי (mÿtey, “men of”) as מִתֵי (mitey, “dead ones of”).

[5:13]  ¹¹ tn The third masculine singular suffix refers back to “my people.”

[5:13]  ¹² tn Heb “and their masses will be parched [by] thirst.”

[9:3]  ¹³ sn The Lord is addressed directly in vv. 3-4.

[9:3]  ¹⁴ tc The Hebrew consonantal text reads “You multiply the nation, you do not make great the joy.” The particle לֹא (lo’, “not”) is obviously incorrect; the marginal reading has לוֹ (lo, “to him”). In this case, one should translate, “You multiply the nation, you increase his (i.e., their) joy.” However, the parallelism is tighter if one emends הַגּוֹי לוֹ (hagoy lo, “the nation, to him”) to הַגִּילָה (haggilah, “the joy,” a noun attested in Isa 65:18), which corresponds to הַשִּׂמְחָה (hasimkhah, “the joy”) later in the verse (H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:386). As attractive as this reading is, it has not textual evidence supporting it. The MT reading (accepting the marginal reading “to him” for the negative particle “not”) affirms that Yahweh caused the nation to grow in population and increased their joy.

[9:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “as they are happy.” The word “warriors” is supplied in the translation to clarify the word picture. This last simile comes close to reality, for vv. 4-5 indicate that the people have won a great military victory over their oppressors.

[10:33]  ¹⁶ tc The Hebrew text reads “with terrifying power,” or “with a crash.” מַעֲרָצָה (ma’aratsah, “terrifying power” or “crash”) occurs only here. Several have suggested an emendation to מַעֲצָד (ma’atsad, “ax”) parallel to “ax” in v. 34; see HALOT 615 s.v. מַעֲצָד and H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:448.

[10:33]  sn As in vv. 12 (see the note there) and 18, the Assyrians are compared to a tree/forest in vv. 33-34.

[10:33]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the exalted of the height.” This could refer to the highest branches (cf. TEV) or the tallest trees (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[13:4]  ¹⁸ sn In vv. 4-10 the prophet appears to be speaking, since the Lord is referred to in the third person. However, since the Lord refers to himself in the third person later in this chapter (see v. 13), it is possible that he speaks throughout the chapter.

[13:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a sound, a roar [is] on the mountains, like many people.”

[13:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “a sound, tumult of kingdoms.”

[14:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “you, you said in your heart.”

[14:13]  ²² sn In Canaanite mythology the stars of El were astral deities under the authority of the high god El.

[14:13]  ²³ sn Zaphon, the Canaanite version of Olympus, was the “mountain of assembly” where the gods met.

[15:4]  ²⁴ tn The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[15:4]  ²⁵ tc The Hebrew text has, “For this reason the soldiers of Moab shout, his inner being quivers for him.” To achieve tighter parallelism, some emend the first line, changing חֲלֻצֵי (khalutse, “soldiers”) to חַלְצֵי (khaltse, “loins”) and יָרִיעוּ (yari’u, “they shout,” from רוּעַ, rua’) to יָרְעוּ (yor’u, “they quiver”), a verb from יָרַע (yara’), which also appears in the next line. One can then translate v. 4b as “For this reason the insides of the Moabites quiver, their whole body shakes” (cf. NAB, NRSV).

[16:3]  ²⁶ sn It is unclear who is being addressed in this verse. Perhaps the prophet, playing the role of a panic stricken Moabite refugee, requests the leaders of Judah (the imperatives are plural) to take pity on the fugitives.

[16:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Make your shade like night in the midst of noonday.” “Shade” here symbolizes shelter, while the heat of noonday represents the intense suffering of the Moabites. By comparing the desired shade to night, the speaker visualizes a huge dark shadow cast by a large tree that would provide relief from the sun’s heat.

[16:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “disclose, uncover.”

[16:12]  ²⁹ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[16:12]  ³⁰ tn Heb “when he appears, when he grows tired, Moab on the high places, and enters his temple to pray, he will not prevail.” It is possible that “when he grows tired” is an explanatory gloss for the preceding “when he appears.”

[18:6]  ³¹ tn Heb “they will be left together” (so NASB).

[18:6]  ³² tn Heb “the beasts of the earth” (so KJV, NASB).

[19:12]  ³³ tn Heb “Where are they? Where are your wise men?” The juxtaposition of the interrogative pronouns is emphatic. See HALOT 38 s.v. אֶי.

[21:8]  ³⁴ tn The Hebrew text has, “the lion,” but this makes little sense here. אַרְיֵה (’aryeh, “lion”) is probably a corruption of an original הָרֹאֶה (haro’eh, “the one who sees”), i.e., the guard mentioned previously in v. 6.

[21:8]  ³⁵ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay). Some translations take this to refer to the Lord (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV), while others take it to refer to the guard’s human master (“my lord”; cf. NIV, NLT).

[29:14]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Therefore I will again do something amazing with these people, an amazing deed, an amazing thing.” This probably refers to the amazing transformation predicted in vv. 17-24, which will follow the purifying judgment implied in vv. 15-16.

[29:14]  ³⁷ tn Heb “the wisdom of their wise ones will perish, the discernment of their discerning ones will keep hidden.”

[34:11]  ³⁸ tn קָאַת (qa’at) refers to some type of bird (cf. Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (see Zeph 2:14). קִפּוֹד (qippod) may also refer to a type of bird (NAB “hoot owl”; NIV “screech owl”; TEV “ravens”), but some have suggested a rodent may be in view (cf. NCV “small animals”; ASV “porcupine”; NASB, NRSV “hedgehog”).

[34:11]  ³⁹ tn Heb “will possess it” (so NIV).

[34:11]  ⁴⁰ tn The Hebrew text has יַנְשׁוֹף וְעֹרֵב (yanshof vÿ’orev). Both the יַנְשׁוֹף (“owl”; see Lev 11:17; Deut 14:16) and עֹרֵב (“raven”; Lev 11:15; Deut 14:14) were types of wild birds.

[34:11]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:11]  ⁴² tn Heb “stones,” i.e., the stones used in a plumb bob.

[34:11]  ⁴³ sn The metaphor in v. 11b emphasizes that God has carefully planned Edom’s demise.

[37:6]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “by which the servants of the king of Assyria have insulted me.”

[56:10]  ⁴⁵ sn The “watchmen” are probably spiritual leaders, most likely prophets and priests, responsible for giving the people moral direction.

[56:10]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “they do not know”; KJV “they are all ignorant”; NIV “they all lack knowledge.”

[56:10]  ⁴⁷ tn The Hebrew text has הֹזִים (hozim), which appears to be derived from an otherwise unattested verbal root הָזָה (hazah). On the basis of alleged cognates, BDB 223 s.v. הָזָה offers the definition “dream, rave” while HALOT 243 s.v. הזה lists “pant.” In this case the dog metaphor of the preceding lines continues. The reference to dogs at the beginning of v. 11 favors the extension of the metaphor. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has חזים (“seers”) here. In this case the “watchmen” are directly identified as prophets and depicted as lazy.

[58:6]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “Is this not a fast I choose?” “No” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[58:6]  ⁴⁹ tn The words “I want you” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[58:6]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “crushed.”

[60:5]  ⁵¹ tn Or “shine,” or “be radiant” (NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[60:5]  ⁵² tn Heb “and it will tremble and be wide, your heart.”

[60:5]  ⁵³ tn Heb “the wealth of the sea,” i.e., wealth that is transported from distant lands via the sea.