Yesaya 1:17

1:17 Learn to do what is right!

Promote justice!

Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! ¹ 

Take up the cause of the orphan!

Defend the rights of the widow! ² 

Yesaya 1:21

Purifying Judgment

1:21 How tragic that the once-faithful city

has become a prostitute! ³ 

She was once a center of ⁴  justice,

fairness resided in her,

but now only murderers. ⁵ 

Yesaya 1:26

1:26 I will reestablish honest judges as in former times,

wise advisers as in earlier days. ⁶ 

Then you will be called, ‘The Just City,

Faithful Town.’”

Yesaya 5:20-23

5:20 Those who call evil good and good evil are as good as dead, ⁷ 

who turn darkness into light and light into darkness,

who turn bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter. ⁸ 

5:21 Those who think they are wise are as good as dead, ⁹ 

those who think they possess understanding. ¹⁰ 

5:22 Those who are champions ¹¹  at drinking wine are as good as dead, ¹² 

who display great courage when mixing strong drinks.

5:23 They pronounce the guilty innocent for a payoff,

they ignore the just cause of the innocent. ¹³ 

Yesaya 10:1-4

10:1 Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead, ¹⁴ 

those who are always instituting unfair regulations, ¹⁵ 

10:2 to keep the poor from getting fair treatment,

and to deprive ¹⁶  the oppressed among my people of justice,

so they can steal what widows own,

and loot what belongs to orphans. ¹⁷ 

10:3 What will you do on judgment day, ¹⁸ 

when destruction arrives from a distant place?

To whom will you run for help?

Where will you leave your wealth?

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

or to fall among those who have been killed. ¹⁹ 

Despite all this, his anger does not subside,

and his hand is ready to strike again. ²⁰ 

Yesaya 33:12-16

33:12 The nations will be burned to ashes; ²¹ 

like thorn bushes that have been cut down, they will be set on fire.

33:13 You who are far away, listen to what I have done!

You who are close by, recognize my strength!”

33:14 Sinners are afraid in Zion;

panic ²²  grips the godless. ²³ 

They say, ²⁴  ‘Who among us can coexist with destructive fire?

Who among us can coexist with unquenchable ²⁵  fire?’

33:15 The one who lives ²⁶  uprightly ²⁷ 

and speaks honestly;

the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures

and rejects a bribe; ²⁸ 

the one who does not plot violent crimes ²⁹ 

and does not seek to harm others ³⁰  –

33:16 This is the person who will live in a secure place; ³¹ 

he will find safety in the rocky, mountain strongholds; ³² 

he will have food

and a constant supply of water.

[1:17]  ¹ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The translation assumes an emendation of חָמוֹץ (khamots, “oppressor [?]”) to חָמוּץ (khamuts, “oppressed”), a passive participle from II חָמַץ (khamats, “oppress”; HALOT 329 s.v. II חמץ) and takes the verb II אָשַׁר (’ashar) in the sense of “make happy” (the delocutive Piel, meaning “call/pronounce happy,” is metonymic here, referring to actually effecting happiness). The parallelism favors this interpretation, for the next two lines speak of positive actions on behalf of the destitute. The other option is to retain the MT pointing and translate, “set right the oppressor,” but the nuance “set right” is not clearly attested elsewhere for the verb I אשׁר. This verb does appear as a participle in Isa 3:12 and 9:16 with the meaning “to lead or guide.” If it can mean to “lead” or “rebuke/redirect” in this verse, the prophet could be contrasting this appeal for societal reformation (v. 17c) with a command to reorder their personal lives (v. 17a-b). J. A. Motyer (The Prophecy of Isaiah, 47) suggests that these three statements (v. 17a-c) provide “the contrast between the two ends of imperfect society, the oppressor and the needy, the one inflicting and the other suffering the hurt. Isaiah looks for a transformed society wherever it needs transforming.”

[1:17]  ² tn This word refers to a woman who has lost her husband, by death or divorce. The orphan and widow are often mentioned in the OT as epitomizing the helpless and impoverished who have been left without the necessities of life due to the loss of a family provider.

[1:21]  ³ tn Heb “How she has become a prostitute, the faithful city!” The exclamatory אֵיכָה (’ekhah, “how!”) is used several times as the beginning of a lament (see Lam 1:1; 2;1; 4:1-2). Unlike a number of other OT passages that link references to Israel’s harlotry to idolatry, Isaiah here makes the connection with social and moral violations.

[1:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “filled with.”

[1:21]  ⁵ tn Or “assassins.” This refers to the oppressive rich and/or their henchmen. R. Ortlund (Whoredom, 78) posits that it serves as a synecdoche for all varieties of criminals, the worst being mentioned to imply all lesser ones. Since Isaiah often addressed his strongest rebuke to the rulers and leaders of Israel, he may have in mind the officials who bore the responsibility to uphold justice and righteousness.

[1:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “I will restore your judges as in the beginning; and your counselors as in the beginning.” In this context, where social injustice and legal corruption are denounced (see v. 23), the “judges” are probably government officials responsible for making legal decisions, while the “advisers” are probably officials who helped the king establish policies. Both offices are also mentioned in 3:2.

[5:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who call.” See the note at v. 8.

[5:20]  ⁸ sn In this verse the prophet denounces the perversion of moral standards. Darkness and bitterness are metaphors for evil; light and sweetness symbolize uprightness.

[5:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the wise in their own eyes.” See the note at v. 8.

[5:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[who] before their faces are understanding.”

[5:21]  sn Verses 18-21 contain three “woe-sayings” that are purely accusatory and have no formal announcement of judgment attached (as in the “woe-sayings” recorded in vv. 8-17). While this lack of symmetry is odd, it has a clear rhetorical purpose. Having established a pattern in vv. 8-17, the prophet deviates from it in vv. 18-21 to grab his audience’s attention. By placing the “woes” in rapid succession and heaping up the accusatory elements, he highlights the people’s guilt and introduces an element of tension and anticipation. One is reasonably certain that judgment will come, and when it does, it will be devastating. This anticipated devastation is described in frightening detail after the sixth and final woe (see vv. 22-30).

[5:22]  ¹¹ tn The language used here is quite sarcastic and paves the way for the shocking description of the enemy army in vv. 25-30. The rich leaders of Judah are nothing but “party animals” who are totally incapable of withstanding real warriors.

[5:22]  ¹² tn Heb “Woe [to]….” See the note at v. 8.

[5:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the just cause of the innocent ones they turn aside from him.”

[5:23]  sn In vv. 22-23 the prophet returns to themes with which he opened his speech. The accusatory elements of vv. 8, 11-12, 18-23 are arranged in a chiastic manner: (A) social injustice (8), (B) carousing (11-12a), (C) spiritual insensitivity (12b) // (C') spiritual insensitivity (18-21), (B') carousing (22), (A') social injustice (23).

[10:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who decree evil decrees.” On הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) see the note on the first phrase of 1:4.

[10:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “[to] the writers who write out harm.” The participle and verb are in the Piel, suggesting repetitive action.

[10:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “rob” (ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV); KJV “take away the right from the poor.”

[10:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “so that widows are their plunder, and they can loot orphans.”

[10:2]  sn On the socio-economic background of vv. 1-2, see the note at 1:23.

[10:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the day of visitation” (so KJV, ASV), that is, the day when God arrives to execute justice on the oppressors.

[10:4]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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.

[33:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “will be a burning to lime.” See Amos 2:1.

[33:14]  ²² tn Or “trembling” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “shake with fear.”

[33:14]  ²³ tn Or “the defiled”; TEV “The sinful people of Zion”; NLT “The sinners in Jerusalem.”

[33:14]  ²⁴ tn The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[33:14]  ²⁵ tn Or “perpetual”; or “everlasting” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[33:15]  ²⁶ tn Heb “walks” (so NASB, NIV).

[33:15]  ²⁷ tn Or, possibly, “justly”; NAB “who practices virtue.”

[33:15]  ²⁸ tn Heb “[who] shakes off his hands from grabbing hold of a bribe.”

[33:15]  ²⁹ tn Heb “[who] shuts his ear from listening to bloodshed.”

[33:15]  ³⁰ tn Heb “[who] closes his eyes from seeing evil.”

[33:16]  ³¹ tn Heb “he [in the] exalted places will live.”

[33:16]  ³² tn Heb “mountain strongholds, cliffs [will be] his elevated place.”