Yesaya 1:4

1:4 ¹ The sinful nation is as good as dead, ² 

the people weighed down by evil deeds.

They are offspring who do wrong,

children ³  who do wicked things.

They have abandoned the Lord,

and rejected the Holy One of Israel. ⁴ 

They are alienated from him. ⁵ 

Yesaya 5:19

5:19 They say, “Let him hurry, let him act quickly, ⁶ 

so we can see;

let the plan of the Holy One of Israel ⁷  take shape ⁸  and come to pass,

then we will know it!”

Yesaya 5:24

5:24 Therefore, as flaming fire ⁹  devours straw,

and dry grass disintegrates in the flames,

so their root will rot,

and their flower will blow away like dust. ¹⁰ 

For they have rejected the law of the Lord who commands armies,

they have spurned the commands ¹¹  of the Holy One of Israel. ¹² 

Yesaya 10:17

10:17 The light of Israel ¹³  will become a fire,

their Holy One ¹⁴  will become a flame;

it will burn and consume the Assyrian king’s ¹⁵  briers

and his thorns in one day.

Yesaya 10:20

10:20 At that time ¹⁶  those left in Israel, those who remain of the family ¹⁷  of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. ¹⁸  Instead they will truly ¹⁹  rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. ²⁰ 

Yesaya 41:14

41:14 Don’t be afraid, despised insignificant Jacob, ²¹ 

men of ²²  Israel.

I am helping you,” says the Lord,

your protector, ²³  the Holy One of Israel. ²⁴ 

Yesaya 41:16

41:16 You will winnow them and the wind will blow them away;

the wind will scatter them.

You will rejoice in the Lord;

you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.

Yesaya 41:20

41:20 I will do this so ²⁵  people ²⁶  will observe and recognize,

so they will pay attention and understand

that the Lord’s power ²⁷  has accomplished this,

and that the Holy One of Israel has brought it into being.” ²⁸ 

[1:4]  ¹ sn Having summoned the witnesses and announced the Lord’s accusation against Israel, Isaiah mourns the nation’s impending doom. The third person references to the Lord in the second half of the verse suggest that the quotation from the Lord (cf. vv. 2-3) has concluded.

[1:4]  ² tn Heb “Woe [to the] sinful nation.” The Hebrew term הוֹי, (hoy, “woe, ah”) was used in funeral laments (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5) and carries the connotation of death. In highly dramatic fashion the prophet acts out Israel’s funeral in advance, emphasizing that their demise is inevitable if they do not repent soon.

[1:4]  ³ tn Or “sons” (NASB). The prophet contrasts four terms of privilege – nation, people, offspring, children – with four terms that depict Israel’s sinful condition in Isaiah’s day – sinful, evil, wrong, wicked (see J. A. Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, 43).

[1:4]  ⁴ sn Holy One of Israel is one of Isaiah’s favorite divine titles for God. It pictures the Lord as the sovereign king who rules over his covenant people and exercises moral authority over them.

[1:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “they are estranged backward.” The LXX omits this statement, which presents syntactical problems and seems to be outside the synonymous parallelistic structure of the verse.

[5:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “let his work hurry, let it hasten.” The pronoun “his” refers to God, as the parallel line makes clear. The reference to his “work” alludes back to v. 12, which refers to his ‘work” of judgment. With these words the people challenged the prophet’s warning of approaching judgment. They were in essence saying that they saw no evidence that God was about to work in such a way.

[5:19]  ⁷ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[5:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “draw near” (so NASB); NRSV “hasten to fulfillment.”

[5:24]  ⁹ tn Heb “a tongue of fire” (so NASB), referring to a tongue-shaped flame.

[5:24]  ¹⁰ sn They are compared to a flowering plant that withers quickly in a hot, arid climate.

[5:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the word.”

[5:24]  ¹² sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[10:17]  ¹³ tn In this context the “Light of Israel” is a divine title (note the parallel title “his holy one”). The title points to God’s royal splendor, which overshadows and, when transformed into fire, destroys the “majestic glory” of the king of Assyria (v. 16b).

[10:17]  ¹⁴ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[10:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his.” In vv. 17-19 the Assyrian king and his empire is compared to a great forest and orchard that are destroyed by fire (symbolic of the Lord).

[10:20]  ¹⁶ tn Or “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.

[10:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “house” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[10:20]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “on one who strikes him down.” This individual is the king (“foreign leader”) of the oppressing nation (which NLT specifies as “the Assyrians”).

[10:20]  ¹⁹ tn Or “sincerely”; KJV, ASV, NAB, NRSV “in truth.”

[10:20]  ²⁰ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[41:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “O worm Jacob” (NAB, NIV). The worm metaphor suggests that Jacob is insignificant and despised.

[41:14]  ²² tn On the basis of the parallelism (note “worm”) and an alleged Akkadian cognate, some read “louse” or “weevil.” Cf. NAB “O maggot Israel”; NRSV “you insect Israel.”

[41:14]  ²³ tn Heb “your kinsman redeemer.” A גָּאַל (ga’al, “kinsman redeemer”) was a protector of the extended family’s interests.

[41:14]  ²⁴ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[41:20]  ²⁵ tn The words “I will do this” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Hebrew text has here simply, “in order that.”

[41:20]  ²⁶ tn Heb “they”; NAB, NRSV “that all may see”; CEV, NLT “Everyone will see.”

[41:20]  ²⁷ tn Heb “hand” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[41:20]  ²⁸ tn Or “created it” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “has made it happen.”