Yesaya 8:9

8:9 You will be broken, ¹  O nations;

you will be shattered! ² 

Pay attention, all you distant lands of the earth!

Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered!

Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered! ³ 

Yesaya 17:8

17:8 They will no longer trust in ⁴  the altars their hands made,

or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made. ⁵ 

Yesaya 28:18

28:18 Your treaty with death will be dissolved; ⁶ 

your agreement ⁷  with Sheol will not last. ⁸ 

When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by, ⁹ 

you will be overrun by it. ¹⁰ 

Yesaya 37:22

37:22 this is what the Lord says about him: ¹¹ 

“The virgin daughter Zion ¹² 

despises you – she makes fun of you;

daughter Jerusalem

shakes her head after you. ¹³ 

Yesaya 42:11

42:11 Let the desert and its cities shout out,

the towns where the nomads of Kedar live!

Let the residents of Sela shout joyfully;

let them shout loudly from the mountaintops.

Yesaya 53:5

53:5 He was wounded because of ¹⁴  our rebellious deeds,

crushed because of our sins;

he endured punishment that made us well; ¹⁵ 

because of his wounds we have been healed. ¹⁶ 

Yesaya 57:10

57:10 Because of the long distance you must travel, you get tired, ¹⁷ 

but you do not say, ‘I give up.’ ¹⁸ 

You get renewed energy, ¹⁹ 

so you don’t collapse. ²⁰ 

Yesaya 60:19

60:19 The sun will no longer supply light for you by day,

nor will the moon’s brightness shine on you;

the Lord will be your permanent source of light –

the splendor of your God will shine upon you. ²¹ 

[8:9]  ¹ tn The verb רֹעוּ (ro’u) is a Qal imperative, masculine plural from רָעַע (ra’a’, “break”). Elsewhere both transitive (Job 34:24; Ps 2:9; Jer 15:12) and intransitive (Prov 25:19; Jer 11:16) senses are attested for the Qal of this verb. Because no object appears here, the form is likely intransitive: “be broken.” In this case the imperative is rhetorical (like “be shattered” later in the verse) and equivalent to a prediction, “you will be broken.” On the rhetorical use of the imperative in general, see IBHS 572 §34.4c; GKC 324 §110.c.

[8:9]  ² tn The imperatival form (Heb “be shattered”) is rhetorical and expresses the speaker’s firm conviction of the outcome of the nations’ attack. See the note on “be broken.”

[8:9]  ³ tn The initial imperative (“get ready for battle”) acknowledges the reality of the nations’ hostility; the concluding imperative (Heb “be shattered”) is rhetorical and expresses the speakers’ firm conviction of the outcome of the nations’ attack. (See the note on “be broken.”) One could paraphrase, “Okay, go ahead and prepare for battle since that’s what you want to do, but your actions will backfire and you’ll be shattered.” This rhetorical use of the imperatives is comparable to saying to a child who is bent on climbing a high tree, “Okay, go ahead, climb the tree and break your arm!” What this really means is: “Okay, go ahead and climb the tree since that’s what you really want to do, but your actions will backfire and you’ll break your arm.” The repetition of the statement in the final two lines of the verse gives the challenge the flavor of a taunt (ancient Israelite “trash talking,” as it were).

[17:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “he will not gaze toward.”

[17:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “and that which his fingers made he will not see, the Asherah poles and the incense altars.”

[28:18]  ⁶ tn On the meaning of כָּפַר (kafar) in this context, see HALOT 494 s.v. I כפר and J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:515, n. 9.

[28:18]  ⁷ tn Normally the noun חָזוּת (khazut) means “vision.” See the note at v. 15.

[28:18]  ⁸ tn Or “will not stand” (NIV, NRSV).

[28:18]  ⁹ tn See the note at v. 15.

[28:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you will become a trampling place for it.”

[37:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “this is the word which the Lord has spoken about him.”

[37:22]  ¹² sn Zion (Jerusalem) is pictured here as a young, vulnerable daughter whose purity is being threatened by the would-be Assyrian rapist. The personification hints at the reality which the young girls of the city would face if the Assyrians conquer it.

[37:22]  ¹³ sn Shaking the head was a mocking gesture of derision.

[53:5]  ¹⁴ tn The preposition מִן (min) has a causal sense (translated “because of”) here and in the following clause.

[53:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the punishment of our peace [was] on him.” שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “peace”) is here a genitive of result, i.e., “punishment that resulted in our peace.”

[53:5]  ¹⁶ sn Continuing to utilize the imagery of physical illness, the group acknowledges that the servant’s willingness to carry their illnesses (v. 4) resulted in their being healed. Healing is a metaphor for forgiveness here.

[57:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “by the greatness [i.e., “length,” see BDB 914 s.v. רֹב 2] of your way you get tired.”

[57:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “it is hopeless” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NRSV “It is useless.”

[57:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the life of your hand you find.” The term חַיָּה (khayyah, “life”) is here used in the sense of “renewal” (see BDB 312 s.v.) while יָד (yad) is used of “strength.”

[57:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “you do not grow weak.”

[60:19]  ²¹ tn Heb “and your God for your splendor.”