Yesaya 7:14

7:14 For this reason the sovereign master himself will give you a confirming sign. ¹  Look, this ²  young woman ³  is about to conceive ⁴  and will give birth to a son. You, young woman, will name him ⁵  Immanuel. ⁶ 

Yesaya 13:9

13:9 Look, the Lord’s day of judgment ⁷  is coming;

it is a day of cruelty and savage, raging anger, ⁸ 

destroying ⁹  the earth ¹⁰ 

and annihilating its sinners.

Yesaya 15:9

15:9 Indeed, the waters of Dimon ¹¹  are full of blood!

Indeed, I will heap even more trouble on Dimon. ¹² 

A lion will attack ¹³  the Moabite fugitives

and the people left in the land.

Yesaya 20:6

20:6 At that time ¹⁴  those who live on this coast ¹⁵  will say, ‘Look what has happened to our source of hope to whom we fled for help, expecting to be rescued from the king of Assyria! How can we escape now?’”

Yesaya 21:8

21:8 Then the guard ¹⁶  cries out:

“On the watchtower, O sovereign master, ¹⁷ 

I stand all day long;

at my post

I am stationed every night.

Yesaya 30:20

30:20 The sovereign master ¹⁸  will give you distress to eat

and suffering to drink; ¹⁹ 

but your teachers will no longer be hidden;

your eyes will see them. ²⁰ 

Yesaya 37:7

37:7 Look, I will take control of his mind; ²¹  he will receive a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down ²²  with a sword in his own land.”’”

Yesaya 38:5

38:5 “Go and tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor ²³  David says: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will add fifteen years to your life,

Yesaya 38:8

38:8 Look, I will make the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.” ²⁴  And then the shadow went back ten steps. ²⁵ 

Yesaya 38:17

38:17 “Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. ²⁶ 

You delivered me ²⁷  from the pit of oblivion. ²⁸ 

For you removed all my sins from your sight. ²⁹ 

Yesaya 39:6

39:6 ‘Look, a time is coming when everything in your palace and the things your ancestors ³⁰  have accumulated to this day will be carried away to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord.

Yesaya 41:15

41:15 “Look, I am making you like ³¹  a sharp threshing sledge,

new and double-edged. ³² 

You will thresh the mountains and crush them;

you will make the hills like straw. ³³ 

Yesaya 46:9

46:9 Remember what I accomplished in antiquity! ³⁴ 

Truly I am God, I have no peer; ³⁵ 

I am God, and there is none like me,

Yesaya 47:1

Babylon Will Fall

47:1 “Fall down! Sit in the dirt,

O virgin ³⁶  daughter Babylon!

Sit on the ground, not on a throne,

O daughter of the Babylonians!

Indeed, ³⁷  you will no longer be called delicate and pampered.

Yesaya 54:11

54:11 “O afflicted one, driven away, ³⁸  and unconsoled!

Look, I am about to set your stones in antimony

and I lay your foundation with lapis-lazuli.

Yesaya 54:16

54:16 Look, I create the craftsman,

who fans the coals into a fire

and forges a weapon. ³⁹ 

I create the destroyer so he might devastate.

Yesaya 55:5

55:5 Look, you will summon nations ⁴⁰  you did not previously know;

nations ⁴¹  that did not previously know you will run to you,

because of the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, ⁴² 

for he bestows honor on you.

Yesaya 58:4

58:4 Look, your fasting is accompanied by ⁴³  arguments, brawls,

and fistfights. ⁴⁴ 

Do not fast as you do today,

trying to make your voice heard in heaven.

Yesaya 66:12

66:12 For this is what the Lord says:

“Look, I am ready to extend to her prosperity that will flow like a river,

the riches of nations will flow into her like a stream that floods its banks. ⁴⁵ 

You will nurse from her breast ⁴⁶  and be carried at her side;

you will play on her knees.

[7:14]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term אוֹת (’ot, “sign”) can refer to a miraculous event (see v. 11), but it does not carry this sense inherently. Elsewhere in Isaiah the word usually refers to a natural occurrence or an object/person vested with special significance (see 8:18; 19:20; 20:3; 37:30; 55:13; 66:19). Only in 38:7-8, 22 does it refer to a miraculous deed that involves suspending or overriding natural laws. The sign outlined in vv. 14-17 involves God’s providential control over events and their timing, but not necessarily miraculous intervention.

[7:14]  ² tn Heb “the young woman.” The Hebrew article has been rendered as a demonstrative pronoun (“this”) in the translation to bring out its force. It is very likely that Isaiah pointed to a woman who was present at the scene of the prophet’s interview with Ahaz. Isaiah’s address to the “house of David” and his use of second plural forms suggests other people were present, and his use of the second feminine singular verb form (“you will name”) later in the verse is best explained if addressed to a woman who is present.

[7:14]  ³ tn Traditionally, “virgin.” Because this verse from Isaiah is quoted in Matt 1:23 in connection with Jesus’ birth, the Isaiah passage has been regarded since the earliest Christian times as a prophecy of Christ’s virgin birth. Much debate has taken place over the best way to translate this Hebrew term, although ultimately one’s view of the doctrine of the virgin birth of Christ is unaffected. Though the Hebrew word used here (עַלְמָה, ’almah) can sometimes refer to a woman who is a virgin (Gen 24:43), it does not carry this meaning inherently. The word is simply the feminine form of the corresponding masculine noun עֶלֶם (’elem, “young man”; cf. 1 Sam 17:56; 20:22). The Aramaic and Ugaritic cognate terms are both used of women who are not virgins. The word seems to pertain to age, not sexual experience, and would normally be translated “young woman.” The LXX translator(s) who later translated the Book of Isaiah into Greek sometime between the second and first century b.c., however, rendered the Hebrew term by the more specific Greek word παρθένος (parqenos), which does mean “virgin” in a technical sense. This is the Greek term that also appears in the citation of Isa 7:14 in Matt 1:23. Therefore, regardless of the meaning of the term in the OT context, in the NT Matthew’s usage of the Greek term παρθένος clearly indicates that from his perspective a virgin birth has taken place.

[7:14]  ⁴ tn Elsewhere the adjective הָרָה (harah), when used predicatively, refers to a past pregnancy (from the narrator’s perspective, 1 Sam 4:19), to a present condition (Gen 16:11; 38:24; 2 Sam 11:5), and to a conception that is about to occur in the near future (Judg 13:5, 7). (There is some uncertainty about the interpretation of Judg 13:5, 7, however. See the notes to those verses.) In Isa 7:14 one could translate, “the young woman is pregnant.” In this case the woman is probably a member of the royal family. Another option, the one followed in the present translation, takes the adjective in an imminent future sense, “the young woman is about to conceive.” In this case the woman could be a member of the royal family, or, more likely, the prophetess with whom Isaiah has sexual relations shortly after this (see 8:3).

[7:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “and you will call his name.” The words “young lady” are supplied in the translation to clarify the identity of the addressee. The verb is normally taken as an archaic third feminine singular form here, and translated, “she will call.” However the form (קָרָאת, qara’t) is more naturally understood as second feminine singular, in which case the words would be addressed to the young woman mentioned just before this. In the three other occurrences of the third feminine singular perfect of I קָרָא (qara’, “to call”), the form used is קָרְאָה (qar’ah; see Gen 29:35; 30:6; 1 Chr 4:9). A third feminine singular perfect קָרָאת does appear in Deut 31:29 and Jer 44:23, but the verb here is the homonym II קָרָא (“to meet, encounter”). The form קָרָאת (from I קָרָא, “to call”) appears in three other passages (Gen 16:11; Isa 60:18; Jer 3:4 [Qere]) and in each case is second feminine singular.

[7:14]  ⁶ sn The name Immanuel means “God [is] with us.”

[13:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “the day of the Lord.”

[13:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “[with] cruelty, and fury, and rage of anger.” Three synonyms for “anger” are piled up at the end of the line to emphasize the extraordinary degree of divine anger that will be exhibited in this judgment.

[13:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “making desolate.”

[13:9]  ¹⁰ tn Or “land” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT).

[15:9]  ¹¹ tc The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a reads “Dibon” instead of “Dimon” in this verse.

[15:9]  ¹² tn Heb “Indeed I will place on Dimon added things.” Apparently the Lord is speaking.

[15:9]  ¹³ tn The words “will attack” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[20:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).

[20:6]  ¹⁵ sn This probably refers to the coastal region of Philistia (cf. TEV).

[21:8]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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).

[30:20]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).

[30:20]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and the Master will give to you bread – distress, and water – oppression.”

[30:20]  ²⁰ tn Heb “but your teachers will no longer be hidden, your eyes will be seeing your teachers.” The translation assumes that the form מוֹרֶיךָ (morekha) is a plural participle, referring to spiritual leaders such as prophets and priests. Another possibility is that the form is actually singular (see GKC 273-74 §93.ss) or a plural of respect, referring to God as the master teacher. See HALOT 560-61 s.v. III מוֹרֶה. For discussion of the views, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:560.

[37:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “I will put in him a spirit.” The precise sense of רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) is uncertain in this context. It may refer to a spiritual being who will take control of his mind (see 1 Kgs 22:19), or it could refer to a disposition of concern and fear. In either case the Lord’s sovereignty over the king is apparent.

[37:7]  ²² tn Heb “cause him to fall” (so KJV, ASV, NAB), that is, “kill him.”

[38:5]  ²³ tn Heb “father” (so KJV, NAB, NIV).

[38:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the shadow on the steps which [the sun] had gone down, on the steps of Ahaz, with the sun, back ten steps.”

[38:8]  sn These steps probably functioned as a type of sundial. See HALOT 614 s.v. מַעֲלָה and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 256.

[38:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and the sun returned ten steps on the steps which it had gone down.”

[38:17]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Look, for peace bitterness was to me bitter”; NAB “thus is my bitterness transformed into peace.”

[38:17]  ²⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads, “you loved my soul,” but this does not fit syntactically with the following prepositional phrase. חָשַׁקְתָּ (khashaqta, “you loved”), may reflect an aural error; most emend the form to חָשַׂכְת, (khasakht, “you held back”).

[38:17]  ²⁸ tn בְּלִי (bÿli) most often appears as a negation, meaning “without,” suggesting the meaning “nothingness, oblivion,” here. Some translate “decay” or “destruction.”

[38:17]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for you threw behind your back all my sins.”

[39:6]  ³⁰ tn Heb “fathers” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV).

[41:15]  ³¹ tn Heb “into” (so NIV); ASV “have made thee to be.”

[41:15]  ³² tn Heb “owner of two-mouths,” i.e., double-edged.

[41:15]  ³³ sn The mountains and hills symbolize hostile nations that are obstacles to Israel’s restoration.

[46:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “remember the former things, from antiquity”; KJV, ASV “the former things of old.”

[46:9]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and there is no other” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[47:1]  ³⁶ tn בְּתוּלַה (bÿtulah) often refers to a virgin, but the phrase “virgin daughter” is apparently stylized (see also 23:12; 37:22). In the extended metaphor of this chapter, where Babylon is personified as a queen (vv. 5, 7), she is depicted as being both a wife and mother (vv. 8-9).

[47:1]  ³⁷ tn Or “For” (NASB, NRSV).

[54:11]  ³⁸ tn Or, more literally, “windblown, storm tossed.”

[54:16]  ³⁹ tn Heb “who brings out an implement for his work.”

[55:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “a nation,” but the singular is collective here, as the plural verbs in the next line indicate (note that both “know” and “run” are third plural forms).

[55:5]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “a nation,” but the singular is collective here, as the plural verbs that follow indicate.

[55:5]  ⁴² sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[58:4]  ⁴³ tn Heb “you fast for” (so NASB); NRSV “you fast only to quarrel.”

[58:4]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and for striking with a sinful fist.”

[66:12]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “Look, I am ready to extend to her like a river prosperity [or “peace”], and like an overflowing stream, the riches of nations.”

[66:12]  ⁴⁶ tn The words “from her breast” are supplied in the translation for clarification (see v. 11).