Yesaya 31:4

The Lord Will Defend Zion

31:4 Indeed, this is what the Lord says to me:

“The Lord will be like a growling lion,

like a young lion growling over its prey. ¹ 

Though a whole group of shepherds gathers against it,

it is not afraid of their shouts

or intimidated by their yelling. ² 

In this same way the Lord who commands armies will descend

to do battle on Mount Zion and on its hill. ³ 

Yesaya 33:1

The Lord Will Restore Zion

33:1 The destroyer is as good as dead, ⁴ 

you who have not been destroyed!

The deceitful one is as good as dead, ⁵ 

the one whom others have not deceived!

When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed;

when you finish ⁶  deceiving, others will deceive you!

Yesaya 36:7-8

36:7 Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar.’ 36:8 Now make a deal with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them.

Yesaya 58:13

58:13 You must ⁷  observe the Sabbath ⁸ 

rather than doing anything you please on my holy day. ⁹ 

You must look forward to the Sabbath ¹⁰ 

and treat the Lord’s holy day with respect. ¹¹ 

You must treat it with respect by refraining from your normal activities,

and by refraining from your selfish pursuits and from making business deals. ¹² 

[31:4]  ¹ tn Heb “As a lion growls, a young lion over its prey.” In the Hebrew text the opening comparison is completed later in the verse (“so the Lord will come down…”), after a parenthesis describing how fearless the lion is. The present translation divides the verse into three sentences for English stylistic reasons.

[31:4]  ² tn Heb “Though there is summoned against it fullness of shepherds, by their voice it is not terrified, and to their noise it does not respond.”

[31:4]  ³ tn Some prefer to translate the phrase לִצְבֹּא עַל (litsbo’ ’al) as “fight against,” but the following context pictures the Lord defending, not attacking, Zion.

[33:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “Woe [to] the destroyer.”

[33:1]  sn In this context “the destroyer” appears to refer collectively to the hostile nations (vv. 3-4). Assyria would probably have been primary in the minds of the prophet and his audience.

[33:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the deceitful one”; NAB, NIV “O traitor”; NRSV “you treacherous one.” In the parallel structure הוֹי (hoy, “woe [to]”) does double duty.

[33:1]  ⁶ tc The form in the Hebrew text appears to derive from an otherwise unattested verb נָלָה (nalah). The translation follows the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a in reading ככלתך, a Piel infinitival form from the verbal root כָּלָה (kalah), meaning “finish.”

[58:13]  ⁷ tn Lit., “if you.” In the Hebrew text vv. 13-14 are one long conditional sentence. The protasis (“if” clauses appear in v. 13), with the apodosis (“then” clause) appearing in v. 14.

[58:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “if you turn from the Sabbath your feet.”

[58:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “[from] doing your desires on my holy day.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a supplies the preposition מִן (min) on “doing.”

[58:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and call the Sabbath a pleasure”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “a delight.”

[58:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and [call] the holy [day] of the Lord honored.” On קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, “holy”) as indicating a time period, see BDB 872 s.v. 2.e (cf. also Neh 8:9-11).

[58:13]  ¹² tn Heb “and you honor it [by refraining] from accomplishing your ways, from finding your desire and speaking a word.” It is unlikely that the last phrase (“speaking a word”) is a prohibition against talking on the Sabbath; instead it probably refers to making transactions or plans (see Hos 10:4). Some see here a reference to idle talk (cf. 2 Sam 19:30).