Yesaya 3:5

3:5 The people will treat each other harshly;

men will oppose each other;

neighbors will fight. ¹ 

Youths will proudly defy the elderly

and riffraff will challenge those who were once respected. ² 

Yesaya 8:6

8:6 “These people ³  have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah ⁴  and melt in fear over Rezin and the son of Remaliah. ⁵ 

Yesaya 9:9

9:9 All the people were aware ⁶  of it,

the people of Ephraim and those living in Samaria. ⁷ 

Yet with pride and an arrogant attitude, they said, ⁸ 

Yesaya 17:12

17:12 The many nations massing together are as good as dead, ⁹ 

those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea’s waves. ¹⁰ 

The people making such an uproar are as good as dead, ¹¹ 

those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves. ¹² 

[3:5]  ¹ tn Heb “man against man, and a man against his neighbor.”

[3:5]  ² tn Heb “and those lightly esteemed those who are respected.” The verb רָהַב (rahav) does double duty in the parallelism.

[8:6]  ³ tn The Hebrew text begins with “because.” In the Hebrew text vv. 6-7 are one long sentence, with v. 6 giving the reason for judgment and v. 7 formally announcing it.

[8:6]  ⁴ sn The phrase “waters of Shiloah” probably refers to a stream that originated at the Gihon Spring and supplied the city of Jerusalem with water. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:225. In this context these waters stand in contrast to the flood waters of Assyria and symbolize God’s presence and blessings.

[8:6]  ⁵ tn The precise meaning of v. 6 has been debated. The translation above assumes that “these people” are the residents of Judah and that מָשׂוֹשׂ (masos) is alternate form of מָסוֹס (masos, “despair, melt”; see HALOT 606 s.v. מסס). In this case vv. 7-8 in their entirety announce God’s disciplinary judgment on Judah. However, “these people” could refer to the Israelites and perhaps also the Syrians (cf v. 4). In this case מָשׂוֹשׂ probably means “joy.” One could translate, “and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah.” In this case v. 7a announces the judgment of Israel, with vv. 7b-8 then shifting the focus to the judgment of Judah.

[9:9]  ⁶ tn The translation assumes that vv. 9-10 describe the people’s response to a past judgment (v. 8). The perfect is understood as indicating simple past and the vav (ו) is taken as conjunctive. Another option is to take the vav on the perfect as consecutive and translate, “all the people will know.”

[9:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the people, all of them, knew; Ephraim and the residents of Samaria.”

[9:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “with pride and arrogance of heart, saying.”

[17:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the massing of the many nations.” The word הוֹי (hoy) could be translated as a simple interjection here (“ah!”), but since the following verses announce the demise of these nations, it is preferable to take הוֹי as a funeral cry. See the note on the first phrase of 1:4.

[17:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “like the loud noise of the seas, they make a loud noise.”

[17:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the uproar of the peoples.” The term הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse; the words “are as good as dead” are supplied in the translation to reflect this.

[17:12]  ¹² tn Heb “like the uproar of mighty waters they are in an uproar.”