Yesaya 8:16

8:16 Tie up the scroll as legal evidence, ¹ 

seal the official record of God’s instructions and give it to my followers. ² 

Yesaya 29:11

29:11 To you this entire prophetic revelation ³  is like words in a sealed scroll. When they hand it to one who can read ⁴  and say, “Read this,” he responds, “I can’t, because it is sealed.”

Yesaya 10:4

10:4 You will have no place to go, except to kneel with the prisoners,

or to fall among those who have been killed. ⁵ 

Despite all this, his anger does not subside,

and his hand is ready to strike again. ⁶ 

[8:16]  ¹ tn Heb “tie up [the] testimony.” The “testimony” probably refers to the prophetic messages God has given him. When the prophecies are fulfilled, he will be able to produce this official, written record to confirm the authenticity of his ministry and to prove to the people that God is sovereign over events.

[8:16]  ² tn Heb “seal [the] instruction among my followers.” The “instruction” probably refers to the prophet’s exhortations and warnings. When the people are judged for the sins, the prophet can produce these earlier messages and essentially say, “I told you so.” In this way he can authenticate his ministry and impress upon the people the reality of God’s authority over them.

[29:11]  ³ tn Heb “vision” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[29:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “one who knows a/the scroll.”

[10:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “except one kneels in the place of the prisoner, and in the place of the slain [who] fall.” On the force of בִּלְתִּי (bilti, “except”) and its logical connection to what precedes, see BDB 116 s.v. בֵלֶת. On the force of תַּחַת (takhat, “in the place of”) here, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:258, n. 6.

[10:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “in all this his anger was not turned, and still his hand was outstretched”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “his had is stretched out still.”

[10:4]  sn See the note at 9:12.