Yesaya 57:9

57:9 You take olive oil as tribute ¹  to your king, ² 

along with many perfumes. ³ 

You send your messengers to a distant place;

you go all the way to Sheol. ⁴ 

Yesaya 65:11

65:11 But as for you who abandon the Lord

and forget about worshiping at ⁵  my holy mountain,

who prepare a feast for the god called ‘Fortune,’ ⁶ 

and fill up wine jugs for the god called ‘Destiny’ ⁷  –

[57:9]  ¹ tn Heb “you journey with oil.”

[57:9]  ² tn Heb “the king.” Since the context refers to idolatry and child sacrifice (see v. 5), some emend מֶלֶך (melekh, “king”) to “Molech.” Perhaps Israel’s devotion to her idols is likened here to a subject taking tribute to a ruler.

[57:9]  ³ tn Heb “and you multiply your perfumes.”

[57:9]  ⁴ sn Israel’s devotion to her idols is inordinate, irrational, and self-destructive.

[65:11]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text has simply, “forget.” The words “about worshiping at” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[65:11]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew has לַגַּד (laggad, “for Gad”), the name of a pagan deity. See HALOT 176 s.v. II גַּד 2.

[65:11]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew has לַמְנִי (lamni, “for Meni”), the name of a pagan deity. See HALOT 602 s.v. מְגִי.