Yesaya 37:8

37:8 When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish, he left and went to Libnah, where the king was campaigning. ¹ 

Yesaya 40:6

40:6 A voice says, “Cry out!”

Another asks, ²  “What should I cry out?”

The first voice responds: ³  “All people are like grass, ⁴ 

and all their promises ⁵  are like the flowers in the field.

Yesaya 48:20

48:20 Leave Babylon!

Flee from the Babylonians!

Announce it with a shout of joy!

Make this known!

Proclaim it throughout the earth! ⁶ 

Say, ‘The Lord protects ⁷  his servant Jacob.

[37:8]  ¹ tn Heb “and the chief adviser returned and he found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.”

[40:6]  ² tn Heb “and he says.” Apparently a second “voice” responds to the command of the first “voice.”

[40:6]  ³ tn The words “the first voice responds” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The first voice tells the second one what to declare.

[40:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “all flesh is grass.” The point of the metaphor is explained in v. 7.

[40:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “and all his loyalty.” The antecedent of the third masculine suffix is בָּשָׂר (basar, “flesh”), which refers collectively to mankind. The LXX, apparently understanding the antecedent as “grass,” reads “glory,” but חֶסֶד (khesed) rarely, if ever, has this nuance. The normal meaning of חֶסֶד (“faithfulness, loyalty, devotion”) fits very well in the argument. Human beings and their faithfulness (verbal expressions of faithfulness are specifically in view; cf. NRSV “constancy”) are short-lived and unreliable, in stark contrast to the decrees and promises of the eternal God.

[48:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “to the end of the earth” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

[48:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.