Yesaya 1:1-2

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1:1 Here is the message about Judah and Jerusalem ¹  that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz during the time when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah reigned over Judah. ² 

Obedience, not Sacrifice

1:2 Listen, O heavens,

pay attention, O earth! ³ 

For the Lord speaks:

“I raised children, ⁴  I brought them up, ⁵ 

but ⁶  they have rebelled ⁷  against me!

Yesaya 1:25

1:25 I will attack you; ⁸ 

I will purify your metal with flux. ⁹ 

I will remove all your slag. ¹⁰ 

Yesaya 1:30

1:30 For you will be like a tree whose leaves wither,

like an orchard ¹¹  that is unwatered.

Yesaya 2:7-8

2:7 Their land is full of gold and silver;

there is no end to their wealth. ¹² 

Their land is full of horses;

there is no end to their chariots. ¹³ 

2:8 Their land is full of worthless idols;

they worship ¹⁴  the product of their own hands,

what their own fingers have fashioned.

Yesaya 2:10

2:10 Go up into the rocky cliffs,

hide in the ground.

Get away from the dreadful judgment of the Lord, ¹⁵ 

from his royal splendor!

Yesaya 5:3

5:3 So now, residents of Jerusalem, ¹⁶ 

people ¹⁷  of Judah,

you decide between me and my vineyard!

Yesaya 5:11

5:11 Those who get up early to drink beer are as good as dead, ¹⁸ 

those who keep drinking long after dark

until they are intoxicated with wine. ¹⁹ 

Yesaya 10:11

10:11 As I have done to Samaria and its idols,

so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.” ²⁰ 

Yesaya 13:5

13:5 They come from a distant land,

from the horizon. ²¹ 

It is the Lord with his instruments of judgment, ²² 

coming to destroy the whole earth. ²³ 

Yesaya 13:10

13:10 Indeed the stars in the sky and their constellations

no longer give out their light; ²⁴ 

the sun is darkened as soon as it rises,

and the moon does not shine. ²⁵ 

Yesaya 13:18-19

13:18 Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; ²⁶ 

they have no compassion on a person’s offspring, ²⁷ 

they will not ²⁸  look with pity on children.

13:19 Babylon, the most admired ²⁹  of kingdoms,

the Chaldeans’ source of honor and pride, ³⁰ 

will be destroyed by God

just as Sodom and Gomorrah were. ³¹ 

Yesaya 15:6

15:6 For the waters of Nimrim are gone; ³² 

the grass is dried up,

the vegetation has disappeared,

and there are no plants.

Yesaya 16:3

16:3 “Bring a plan, make a decision! ³³ 

Provide some shade in the middle of the day! ³⁴ 

Hide the fugitives! Do not betray ³⁵  the one who tries to escape!

Yesaya 17:2

17:2 The cities of Aroer are abandoned. ³⁶ 

They will be used for herds,

which will lie down there in peace. ³⁷ 

Yesaya 17:12

17:12 The many nations massing together are as good as dead, ³⁸ 

those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea’s waves. ³⁹ 

The people making such an uproar are as good as dead, ⁴⁰ 

those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves. ⁴¹ 

Yesaya 19:13

19:13 The officials of Zoan are fools,

the officials of Memphis ⁴²  are misled;

the rulers ⁴³  of her tribes lead Egypt astray.

Yesaya 24:1

The Lord Will Judge the Earth

24:1 Look, the Lord is ready to devastate the earth

and leave it in ruins;

he will mar its surface

and scatter its inhabitants.

Yesaya 24:20

24:20 The earth will stagger around ⁴⁴  like a drunk;

it will sway back and forth like a hut in a windstorm. ⁴⁵ 

Its sin will weigh it down,

and it will fall and never get up again.

Yesaya 27:6

27:6 The time is coming when Jacob will take root; ⁴⁶ 

Israel will blossom and grow branches.

The produce ⁴⁷  will fill the surface of the world. ⁴⁸ 

Yesaya 30:4

30:4 Though his ⁴⁹  officials are in Zoan

and his messengers arrive at Hanes, ⁵⁰ 

Yesaya 32:9

The Lord Will Give True Security

32:9 You complacent ⁵¹  women,

get up and listen to me!

You carefree ⁵²  daughters,

pay attention to what I say!

Yesaya 33:9

33:9 The land ⁵³  dries up ⁵⁴  and withers away;

the forest of Lebanon shrivels up ⁵⁵  and decays.

Sharon ⁵⁶  is like the desert; ⁵⁷ 

Bashan and Carmel ⁵⁸  are parched. ⁵⁹ 

Yesaya 33:17

33:17 You will see a king in his splendor; ⁶⁰ 

you will see a wide land. ⁶¹ 

Yesaya 35:6

35:6 Then the lame will leap like a deer,

the mute tongue will shout for joy;

for water will flow ⁶²  in the desert,

streams in the wilderness. ⁶³ 

Yesaya 35:9

35:9 No lions will be there,

no ferocious wild animals will be on it ⁶⁴  –

they will not be found there.

Those delivered from bondage will travel on it,

Yesaya 36:1

Sennacherib Invades Judah

36:1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, ⁶⁵  King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

Yesaya 40:19

40:19 A craftsman casts ⁶⁶  an idol;

a metalsmith overlays it with gold

and forges silver chains for it.

Yesaya 40:25

40:25 “To whom can you compare me? Whom do I resemble?”

says the Holy One. ⁶⁷ 

Yesaya 42:3

42:3 A crushed reed he will not break,

a dim wick he will not extinguish; ⁶⁸ 

he will faithfully make just decrees. ⁶⁹ 

Yesaya 43:22

The Lord Rebukes His People

43:22 “But you did not call for me, O Jacob;

you did not long ⁷⁰  for me, O Israel.

Yesaya 45:17

45:17 Israel will be delivered once and for all by the Lord; ⁷¹ 

you will never again be ashamed or humiliated. ⁷² 

Yesaya 51:15

51:15 I am the Lord your God,

who churns up the sea so that its waves surge.

The Lord who commands armies is his name!

Yesaya 53:6

53:6 All of us had wandered off like sheep;

each of us had strayed off on his own path,

but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him. ⁷³ 

Yesaya 57:9

57:9 You take olive oil as tribute ⁷⁴  to your king, ⁷⁵ 

along with many perfumes. ⁷⁶ 

You send your messengers to a distant place;

you go all the way to Sheol. ⁷⁷ 

Yesaya 59:1-2

Injustice Brings Alienation from God

59:1 Look, the Lord’s hand is not too weak ⁷⁸  to deliver you;

his ear is not too deaf to hear you. ⁷⁹ 

59:2 But your sinful acts have alienated you from your God;

your sins have caused him to reject you and not listen to your prayers. ⁸⁰ 

Yesaya 60:12

60:12 Indeed, ⁸¹  nations or kingdoms that do not serve you will perish;

such nations will be totally destroyed. ⁸² 

Yesaya 61:5

61:5 ⁸³ “Foreigners will take care of ⁸⁴  your sheep;

foreigners will work in your fields and vineyards.

Yesaya 63:8

63:8 He said, “Certainly they will be my people,

children who are not disloyal.” ⁸⁵ 

He became their deliverer.

Yesaya 65:3

65:3 These people continually and blatantly offend me ⁸⁶ 

as they sacrifice in their sacred orchards ⁸⁷ 

and burn incense on brick altars. ⁸⁸ 

[1:1]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:1]  ² tn Heb “The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, [and] Hezekiah, kings of Judah.”

[1:1]  sn Isaiah’s prophetic career probably began in the final year of Uzziah’s reign (ca. 740 b.c., see Isa 6:1) and extended into the later years of Hezekiah’s reign, which ended in 686 b.c.

[1:2]  ³ sn The personified heavens and earth are summoned to God’s courtroom as witnesses against God’s covenant people. Long before this Moses warned the people that the heavens and earth would be watching their actions (see Deut 4:26; 30:19; 31:28; 32:1).

[1:2]  ⁴ tn Or “sons” (NAB, NASB).

[1:2]  sn “Father” and “son” occur as common terms in ancient Near Eastern treaties and covenants, delineating the suzerain and vassal as participants in the covenant relationship. The prophet uses these terms, the reference to heavens and earth as witnesses, and allusions to deuteronomic covenant curses (1:7-9, 19-20) to set his prophecy firmly against the backdrop of Israel’s covenantal relationship with Yahweh.

[1:2]  ⁵ sn The normal word pair for giving birth to and raising children is יָלַד (yalad, “to give birth to”) and גָּדַל (gadal, “to grow, raise”). The pair גָּדַל and רוּם (rum, “to raise up”) probably occur here to highlight the fact that Yahweh made something important of Israel (cf. R. Mosis, TDOT 2:403).

[1:2]  ⁶ sn Against the backdrop of Yahweh’s care for his chosen people, Israel’s rebellion represents abhorrent treachery. The conjunction prefixed to a nonverbal element highlights the sad contrast between Yahweh’s compassionate care for His people and Israel’s thankless rebellion.

[1:2]  ⁷ sn To rebel carries the idea of “covenant treachery.” Although an act of פֶּשַׁע (pesha’, “rebellion”) often signifies a breach of the law, the legal offense also represents a violation of an existing covenantal relationship (E. Carpenter and M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 3:707).

[1:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “turn my hand against you.” The second person pronouns in vv. 25-26 are feminine singular. Personified Jerusalem is addressed. The idiom “turn the hand against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack,” in Ps 81:15 HT (81:14 ET); Ezek 38:12; Am 1:8; Zech 13:7. In Jer 6:9 it is used of gleaning grapes.

[1:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “I will purify your dross as [with] flux.” “Flux” refers here to minerals added to the metals in a furnace to prevent oxides from forming. For this interpretation of II בֹּר (bor), see HALOT 153 s.v. II בֹּר and 750 s.v. סִיג.

[1:25]  ¹⁰ sn The metaphor comes from metallurgy; slag is the substance left over after the metallic ore has been refined.

[1:30]  ¹¹ tn Or “a garden” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[2:7]  ¹² tn Or “treasuries”; KJV “treasures.”

[2:7]  ¹³ sn Judah’s royal bureaucracy had accumulated great wealth and military might, in violation of Deut 17:16-17.

[2:8]  ¹⁴ tn Or “bow down to” (NIV, NRSV).

[2:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “from the dread of the Lord,” that is, from the dread that he produces in the objects of his judgment.” The words “get away” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[5:3]  ¹⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.

[5:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who arise early in the morning, [who] chase beer.”

[5:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “[who] delay until dark, [until] wine enflames them.”

[5:11]  sn This verse does not condemn drinking per se, but refers to the carousing lifestyle of the rich bureaucrats, made possible by wealth taken from the poor. Their carousing is not the fundamental problem, but a disgusting symptom of the real disease – their social injustice.

[10:11]  ²⁰ tn The statement is constructed as a rhetorical question in the Hebrew text: “Is it not [true that] just as I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols?”

[10:11]  sn This statement indicates that the prophecy dates sometime between 722-701 b.c.

[13:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “from the end of the sky.”

[13:5]  ²² tn Or “anger”; cf. KJV, ASV “the weapons of his indignation.”

[13:5]  ²³ tn Or perhaps, “land” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NLT). Even though the heading and subsequent context (see v. 17) indicate Babylon’s judgment is in view, the chapter has a cosmic flavor that suggests that the coming judgment is universal in scope. Perhaps Babylon’s downfall occurs in conjunction with a wider judgment, or the cosmic style is poetic hyperbole used to emphasize the magnitude and importance of the coming event.

[13:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “do not flash forth their light.”

[13:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “does not shed forth its light.”

[13:18]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and bows cut to bits young men.” “Bows” stands by metonymy for arrows.

[13:18]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the fruit of the womb.”

[13:18]  ²⁸ tn Heb “their eye does not.” Here “eye” is a metonymy for the whole person.

[13:19]  ²⁹ tn Or “most beautiful” (NCV, TEV).

[13:19]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans.”

[13:19]  sn The Chaldeans were a group of tribes who lived in southern Mesopotamia. The established the so-called neo-Babylonian empire in the late seventh century b.c. Their most famous king, Nebuchadnezzar, conquered Judah in 605 b.c. and destroyed Jerusalem in 586 b.c.

[13:19]  ³¹ tn Heb “and Babylon…will be like the overthrow by God of Sodom and Gomorrah.” On מַהְפֵּכַת (mahpekhat, “overthrow”) see the note on the word “destruction” in 1:7.

[15:6]  ³² tn Heb “are waste places”; cf. NRSV “are a desolation.”

[16:3]  ³³ sn It is unclear who is being addressed in this verse. Perhaps the prophet, playing the role of a panic stricken Moabite refugee, requests the leaders of Judah (the imperatives are plural) to take pity on the fugitives.

[16:3]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Make your shade like night in the midst of noonday.” “Shade” here symbolizes shelter, while the heat of noonday represents the intense suffering of the Moabites. By comparing the desired shade to night, the speaker visualizes a huge dark shadow cast by a large tree that would provide relief from the sun’s heat.

[16:3]  ³⁵ tn Heb “disclose, uncover.”

[17:2]  ³⁶ tn Three cities are known by this name in the OT: (1) an Aroer located near the Arnon, (2) an Aroer in Ammon, and (3) an Aroer of Judah. (See BDB 792-93 s.v. עֲרֹעֵר, and HALOT 883 s.v. II עֲרוֹעֵר.) There is no mention of an Aroer in Syrian territory. For this reason some want to emend the text here to עֲזֻבוֹת עָרַיהָ עֲדֵי עַד (’azuvot ’arayha ’adey ’ad, “her cities are permanently abandoned”). However, Aroer near the Arnon was taken by Israel and later conquered by the Syrians. (See Josh 12:2; 13:9, 16; Judg 11:26; 2 Kgs 10:33). This oracle pertains to Israel as well as Syria (note v. 3), so it is possible that this is a reference to Israelite and/or Syrian losses in Transjordan.

[17:2]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and they lie down and there is no one scaring [them].”

[17:12]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Woe [to] the massing of the many nations.” The word הוֹי (hoy) could be translated as a simple interjection here (“ah!”), but since the following verses announce the demise of these nations, it is preferable to take הוֹי as a funeral cry. See the note on the first phrase of 1:4.

[17:12]  ³⁹ tn Heb “like the loud noise of the seas, they make a loud noise.”

[17:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “the uproar of the peoples.” The term הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse; the words “are as good as dead” are supplied in the translation to reflect this.

[17:12]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “like the uproar of mighty waters they are in an uproar.”

[19:13]  ⁴² tn Heb “Noph” (so KJV); most recent English versions substitute the more familiar “Memphis.”

[19:13]  ⁴³ tn Heb “the cornerstone.” The singular form should be emended to a plural.

[24:20]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “staggering, staggers.” The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute before the finite verb for emphasis and sound play.

[24:20]  ⁴⁵ tn The words “in a windstorm” are supplied in the translation to clarify the metaphor.

[27:6]  ⁴⁶ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “the coming ones, let Jacob take root.” הַבָּאִים (habba’im, “the coming ones”) should probably be emended to יָמִים בָאִים (yamim va’im, “days [are] coming”) or בְּיָמִים הַבָּאִים (biyamim habba’im, “in the coming days”).

[27:6]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “fruit” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[27:6]  ⁴⁸ sn This apparently refers to a future population explosion. See 26:18.

[30:4]  ⁴⁹ sn This probably refers to Judah’s officials and messengers.

[30:4]  ⁵⁰ sn Zoan was located in the Egyptian delta in the north; Hanes was located somewhere in southern region of lower Egypt, south of Memphis; the exact location is debated.

[32:9]  ⁵¹ tn Or “self-assured”; NASB, NRSV “who are at ease.”

[32:9]  ⁵² tn Or “self-confident”; NAB “overconfident.”

[33:9]  ⁵³ tn Or “earth” (KJV); NAB “the country.”

[33:9]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “mourns” (BDB 5 s.v. I אָבַל). HALOT 6-7 lists homonyms I אבל (“mourn”) and II אבל (“dry up”). They propose the second here on the basis of parallelism. See 24:4.

[33:9]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “Lebanon is ashamed.” The Hiphil is exhibitive, expressing the idea, “exhibits shame.” In this context the statement alludes to the withering of vegetation.

[33:9]  ⁵⁶ sn Sharon was a fertile plain along the Mediterranean coast. See 35:2.

[33:9]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “the Arabah” (NIV). See 35:1.

[33:9]  ⁵⁸ sn Both of these areas were known for their trees and vegetation. See 2:13; 35:2.

[33:9]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “shake off [their leaves]” (so ASV, NRSV); NAB “are stripped bare.”

[33:17]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “your eyes will see a king in his beauty”; NIV, NRSV “the king.”

[33:17]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “a land of distances,” i.e., an extensive land.

[35:6]  ⁶² tn Heb “burst forth” (so NAB); KJV “break out.”

[35:6]  ⁶³ tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT “desert.”

[35:9]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “will go up on it”; TEV “will pass that way.”

[36:1]  ⁶⁵ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[40:19]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “pours out”; KJV “melteth.”

[40:25]  ⁶⁷ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[42:3]  ⁶⁸ sn The “crushed reed” and “dim wick” symbolize the weak and oppressed who are on the verge of extinction.

[42:3]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “faithfully he will bring out justice” (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[43:22]  ⁷⁰ tn Or “strive”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “been weary of me.”

[45:17]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “Israel will be delivered by the Lord [with] a permanent deliverance.”

[45:17]  ⁷² tn Heb “you will not be ashamed and you will not be humiliated for ages of future time.”

[53:6]  ⁷³ tn Elsewhere the Hiphil of פָגַע (paga’) means “to intercede verbally” (Jer 15:11; 36:25) or “to intervene militarily” (Isa 59:16), but neither nuance fits here. Apparently here the Hiphil is the causative of the normal Qal meaning, “encounter, meet, touch.” The Qal sometimes refers to a hostile encounter or attack; when used in this way the object is normally introduced by the preposition -בְּ (bet, see Josh 2:16; Judg 8:21; 15:12, etc.). Here the causative Hiphil has a double object – the Lord makes “sin” attack “him” (note that the object attacked is introduced by the preposition -בְּ. In their sin the group was like sheep who had wandered from God’s path. They were vulnerable to attack; the guilt of their sin was ready to attack and destroy them. But then the servant stepped in and took the full force of the attack.

[57:9]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “you journey with oil.”

[57:9]  ⁷⁵ 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]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “and you multiply your perfumes.”

[57:9]  ⁷⁷ sn Israel’s devotion to her idols is inordinate, irrational, and self-destructive.

[59:1]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[59:1]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “or his ear too heavy [i.e., “dull”] to hear.”

[59:2]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “and your sins have caused [his] face to be hidden from you so as not to hear.”

[60:12]  ⁸¹ tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); TEV “But.”

[60:12]  ⁸² tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

[61:5]  ⁸³ sn The Lord speaks in vv. 7-8 (and possibly v. 9). It is not clear where the servant’s speech (see vv. 1-3a) ends and the Lord’s begins. Perhaps the direct address to the people signals the beginning of the Lord’s speech.

[61:5]  ⁸⁴ tn Heb “will stand [in position] and shepherd.”

[63:8]  ⁸⁵ tn Heb “children [who] do not act deceitfully.” Here the verb refers to covenantal loyalty.

[65:3]  ⁸⁶ tn Heb “the people who provoke me to anger to my face continually.”

[65:3]  ⁸⁷ tn Or “gardens” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[65:3]  ⁸⁸ tn Or perhaps, “on tiles.”