Yesaya 7:23

7:23 At that time ¹  every place where there had been a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels will be overrun ²  with thorns and briers.

Yesaya 7:25

7:25 They will stay away from all the hills that were cultivated, for fear of the thorns and briers. ³  Cattle will graze there and sheep will trample on them. ⁴ 

Yesaya 10:26

10:26 The Lord who commands armies is about to beat them ⁵  with a whip, similar to the way he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb. ⁶  He will use his staff against the sea, lifting it up as he did in Egypt. ⁷ 

Yesaya 11:16

11:16 There will be a highway leading out of Assyria

for the remnant of his people, ⁸ 

just as there was for Israel,

when ⁹  they went up from the land of Egypt.

Yesaya 14:12

14:12 Look how you have fallen from the sky,

O shining one, son of the dawn! ¹⁰ 

You have been cut down to the ground,

O conqueror ¹¹  of the nations! ¹² 

Yesaya 23:7

23:7 Is this really your boisterous city ¹³ 

whose origins are in the distant past, ¹⁴ 

and whose feet led her to a distant land to reside?

Yesaya 41:4

41:4 Who acts and carries out decrees? ¹⁵ 

Who ¹⁶  summons the successive generations from the beginning?

I, the Lord, am present at the very beginning,

and at the very end – I am the one. ¹⁷ 

Yesaya 63:16

63:16 For you are our father,

though Abraham does not know us

and Israel does not recognize us.

You, Lord, are our father;

you have been called our protector from ancient times. ¹⁸ 

[7:23]  ¹ tn Heb “in that day.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[7:23]  ² tn Heb “will become” (so NASB); NAB “shall be turned to.”

[7:25]  ³ tn Heb “and all the hills which were hoed with a hoe, you will not go there [for] fear of the thorns and briers.”

[7:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “and it will become a pasture for cattle and a trampling place for sheep.”

[7:25]  sn At this point one is able to summarize the content of the “sign” (vv. 14-15) as follows: A young woman known to be present when Isaiah delivered this message to Ahaz (perhaps a member of the royal family or the prophetess mentioned in 8:3) would soon give birth to a boy whom the mother would name Immanuel, “God is with us.” Eventually Immanuel would be forced to eat sour milk and honey, which would enable him to make correct moral decisions. How would this situation come about and how would it constitute a sign? Before this situation developed, the Israelites and Syrians would be defeated. But then the Lord would usher in a period of time unlike any since the division of the kingdom almost 200 years before. The Assyrians would overrun the land, destroy the crops, and force the people to subsist on goats’ milk and honey. At that time, as the people saw Immanuel eating his sour milk and honey, the Davidic family would be forced to acknowledge that God was indeed with them. He was present with them in the Syrian-Israelite crisis, fully capable of rescuing them; but he was also present with them in judgment, disciplining them for their lack of trust. The moral of the story is quite clear: Failure to appropriate God’s promises by faith can turn potential blessing into disciplinary judgment.

[10:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “him” (so KJV, ASV, NASB); the singular refers to the leader or king who stands for the entire nation. This is specified by NCV, CEV as “the Assyrians.”

[10:26]  ⁶ sn According to Judg 7:25, the Ephraimites executed the Midianite general Oreb at a rock which was subsequently named after the executed enemy.

[10:26]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and his staff [will be] against the sea, and he will lift it in the way [or “manner”] of Egypt.” If the text is retained, “the sea” symbolizes Assyria’s hostility, the metaphor being introduced because of the reference to Egypt. The translation above assumes an emendation of עַל הַיָּם (’al hayyam, “against the sea”) to עַלֵיהֶם (’alehem, “against them”). The proposed shift from the third singular pronoun (note “beat him” earlier in the verse) to the plural is not problematic, for the singular is collective. Note that a third plural pronoun is used at the end of v. 25 (“their destruction”). The final phrase, “in the way/manner of Egypt,” probably refers to the way in which God used the staff of Moses to bring judgment down on Egypt.

[11:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “and there will be a highway for the remnant of his people who remain, from Assyria.”

[11:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “in the day” (so KJV).

[14:12]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text has הֵילֵל בֶּן־שָׁחַר (helel ben-shakhar, “Helel son of Shachar”), which is probably a name for the morning star (Venus) or the crescent moon. See HALOT 245 s.v. הֵילֵל.

[14:12]  sn What is the background for the imagery in vv. 12-15? This whole section (vv. 4b-21) is directed to the king of Babylon, who is clearly depicted as a human ruler. Other kings of the earth address him in vv. 9ff., he is called “the man” in v. 16, and, according to vv. 19-20, he possesses a physical body. Nevertheless the language of vv. 12-15 has led some to see a dual referent in the taunt song. These verses, which appear to be spoken by other pagan kings to a pagan king (cf. vv. 9-11), contain several titles and motifs that resemble those of Canaanite mythology, including references to Helel son of Shachar, the stars of El, the mountain of assembly, the recesses of Zaphon, and the divine title Most High. Apparently these verses allude to a mythological story about a minor god (Helel son of Shachar) who tried to take over Zaphon, the mountain of the gods. His attempted coup failed and he was hurled down to the underworld. The king of Babylon is taunted for having similar unrealized delusions of grandeur. Some Christians have seen an allusion to the fall of Satan here, but this seems contextually unwarranted (see J. Martin, “Isaiah,” BKCOT, 1061).

[14:12]  ¹¹ tn Some understand the verb to from חָלַשׁ (khalash, “to weaken”), but HALOT 324 s.v. II חלשׁ proposes a homonym here, meaning “to defeat.”

[14:12]  ¹² sn In this line the taunting kings hint at the literal identity of the king, after likening him to the god Helel and a tree. The verb גָדַע (gada’, “cut down”) is used of chopping down trees in 9:10 and 10:33.

[23:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “Is this to you, boisterous one?” The pronoun “you” is masculine plural, like the imperatives in v. 6, so it is likely addressed to the Egyptians and residents of the coast. “Boisterous one” is a feminine singular form, probably referring to the personified city of Tyre.

[23:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in the days of antiquity [is] her beginning.”

[41:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Who acts and accomplishes?”; NASB “Who has performed and accomplished it.”

[41:4]  ¹⁶ tn The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[41:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I, the Lord, [am with] the first, and with the last ones I [am] he.”

[63:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “our protector [or “redeemer”] from antiquity [is] your name.”