Yesaya 6:11

6:11 I replied, “How long, sovereign master?” He said,

“Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated,

and houses are uninhabited,

and the land is ruined and devastated,

Yesaya 10:14

10:14 My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest,

as one gathers up abandoned eggs,

I gathered up the whole earth.

There was no wing flapping,

or open mouth chirping.” ¹ 

Yesaya 30:28

30:28 His battle cry overwhelms like a flooding river ² 

that reaches one’s neck.

He shakes the nations in a sieve that isolates the chaff; ³ 

he puts a bit into the mouth of the nations and leads them to destruction. ⁴ 

Yesaya 40:9

40:9 Go up on a high mountain, O herald Zion!

Shout out loudly, O herald Jerusalem! ⁵ 

Shout, don’t be afraid!

Say to the towns of Judah,

“Here is your God!”

Yesaya 41:2

41:2 Who stirs up this one from the east? ⁶ 

Who ⁷  officially commissions him for service? ⁸ 

He hands nations over to him, ⁹ 

and enables him to subdue ¹⁰  kings.

He makes them like dust with his sword,

like windblown straw with his bow. ¹¹ 

Yesaya 49:6

49:6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,

to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,

and restore the remnant ¹²  of Israel? ¹³ 

I will make you a light to the nations, ¹⁴ 

so you can bring ¹⁵  my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”

Yesaya 49:26

49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;

they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. ¹⁶ 

Then all humankind ¹⁷  will recognize that

I am the Lord, your deliverer,

your protector, ¹⁸  the powerful ruler of Jacob.” ¹⁹ 

Yesaya 56:7

56:7 I will bring them to my holy mountain;

I will make them happy in the temple where people pray to me. ²⁰ 

Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar,

for my temple will be known as a temple where all nations may pray.” ²¹ 

Yesaya 63:17

63:17 Why, Lord, do you make us stray ²²  from your ways, ²³ 

and make our minds stubborn so that we do not obey you? ²⁴ 

Return for the sake of your servants,

the tribes of your inheritance!

Yesaya 64:2

64:2 (64:1) As when fire ignites dry wood,

or fire makes water boil,

let your adversaries know who you are, ²⁵ 

and may the nations shake at your presence!

Yesaya 66:12

66:12 For this is what the Lord says:

“Look, I am ready to extend to her prosperity that will flow like a river,

the riches of nations will flow into her like a stream that floods its banks. ²⁶ 

You will nurse from her breast ²⁷  and be carried at her side;

you will play on her knees.

[10:14]  ¹ sn The Assyrians’ conquests were relatively unopposed, like robbing a bird’s nest of its eggs when the mother bird is absent.

[30:28]  ² tn Heb “his breath is like a flooding river.” This might picture the Lord breathing heavily as he runs down his enemy, but in light of the preceding verse, which mentions his lips and tongue, “breath” probably stands metonymically for the word or battle cry that he expels from his mouth as he shouts. In Isa 34:16 and Ps 33:6 the Lord’s “breath” is associated with his command.

[30:28]  ³ tn Heb “shaking nations in a sieve of worthlessness.” It is not certain exactly how שָׁוְא (shavÿ’, “emptiness, worthlessness”) modifies “sieve.” A sieve is used to separate grain from chaff and isolate what is worthless so that it might be discarded. Perhaps the nations are likened to such chaff; God’s judgment will sift them out for destruction.

[30:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “and a bit that leads astray [is] in the jaws of the peoples.” Here the nations are likened to horse that can be controlled by a bit placed in its mouth. In this case the Lord uses his sovereign control over the “horse” to lead it to its demise.

[40:9]  ⁵ tn The second feminine singular imperatives are addressed to personified Zion/Jerusalem, who is here told to ascend a high hill and proclaim the good news of the Lord’s return to the other towns of Judah. Isa 41:27 and 52:7 speak of a herald sent to Zion, but the masculine singular form מְבַשֵּׂר (mÿvaser) is used in these verses, in contrast to the feminine singular form מְבַשֶּׂרֶת (mÿvaseret) employed in 40:9, where Zion is addressed as a herald.

[41:2]  ⁶ sn The expression this one from the east refers to the Persian conqueror Cyrus, as later texts indicate (see 44:28-45:6; 46:11; 48:14-16).

[41:2]  ⁷ tn The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis.

[41:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “[in] righteousness called him to his foot.”

[41:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “he [the Lord] places before him [Cyrus] nations.”

[41:2]  ¹⁰ tn The verb יַרְדְּ (yardÿ) is an otherwise unattested Hiphil form from רָדָה (radah, “rule”). But the Hiphil makes no sense with “kings” as object; one must understand an ellipsis and supply “him” (Cyrus) as the object. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has יוֹרִד (yorid), which appears to be a Hiphil form from יָרַד (yarad, “go down”). Others suggest reading יָרֹד (yarod), a Qal form from רָדַד (radad, “beat down”).

[41:2]  ¹¹ sn The point is that they are powerless before Cyrus’ military power and scatter before him.

[49:6]  ¹² tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”

[49:6]  ¹³ sn The question is purely rhetorical; it does not imply that the servant was dissatisfied with his commission or that he minimized the restoration of Israel.

[49:6]  ¹⁴ tn See the note at 42:6.

[49:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”

[49:26]  ¹⁶ sn Verse 26a depicts siege warfare and bloody defeat. The besieged enemy will be so starved they will their own flesh. The bloodstained bodies lying on the blood-soaked battle site will look as if they collapsed in drunkenness.

[49:26]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).

[49:26]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[49:26]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.” See 1:24.

[56:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “in the house of my prayer.”

[56:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “for my house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”

[63:17]  ²² tn Some suggest a tolerative use of the Hiphil here, “[why do] you allow us to stray?” (cf. NLT). Though the Hiphil of תָעָה (ta’ah) appears to be tolerative in Jer 50:6, elsewhere it is preferable or necessary to take it as causative. See Isa 3:12; 9:15; and 30:28, as well as Gen 20:13; 2 Kgs 21:9; Job 12:24-25; Prov 12:26; Jer 23:13, 32; Hos 4:12; Amos 2:4; Mic 3:5.

[63:17]  ²³ tn This probably refers to God’s commands.

[63:17]  ²⁴ tn Heb “[Why do] you harden our heart[s] so as not to fear you.” The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[63:17]  sn How direct this hardening is, one cannot be sure. The speaker may envision direct involvement on the Lord’s part. The Lord has brought the exile as judgment for the nation’s sin and now he continues to keep them at arm’s length by blinding them spiritually. The second half of 64:7 might support this, though the precise reading of the final verb is uncertain. On the other hand, the idiom of lament is sometimes ironic and hyperbolically deterministic. For example, Naomi lamented that Shaddai was directly opposing her and bringing her calamity (Ruth 1:20-21), while the author of Ps 88 directly attributes his horrible suffering and loneliness to God (see especially vv. 6-8, 16-18). Both individuals make little, if any, room for intermediate causes or the principle of sin and death which ravages the human race. In the same way, the speaker in Isa 63:17 (who evidences great spiritual sensitivity and is anything but “hardened”) may be referring to the hardships of exile, which discouraged and even embittered the people, causing many of them to retreat from their Yahwistic faith. In this case, the “hardening” in view is more indirect and can be lifted by the Lord’s intervention. Whether the hardening here is indirect or direct, it is important to recognize that the speaker sees it as one of the effects of rebellion against the Lord (note especially 64:5-6).

[64:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “to make known your name to your adversaries.” Perhaps the infinitive construct with preposition -לְ (lamed) should be construed with “come down” in v. 1a, or subordinated to the following line: “To make known your name to your adversaries, let the nations shake from before you.”

[66:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Look, I am ready to extend to her like a river prosperity [or “peace”], and like an overflowing stream, the riches of nations.”

[66:12]  ²⁷ tn The words “from her breast” are supplied in the translation for clarification (see v. 11).