Yesaya 2:6

The Lord’s Day of Judgment

2:6 Indeed, O Lord, ¹  you have abandoned your people,

the descendants of Jacob.

For diviners from the east are everywhere; ² 

they consult omen readers like the Philistines do. ³ 

Plenty of foreigners are around. ⁴ 

Yesaya 5:2

5:2 He built a hedge around it, ⁵  removed its stones,

and planted a vine.

He built a tower in the middle of it,

and constructed a winepress.

He waited for it to produce edible grapes,

but it produced sour ones instead. ⁶ 

Yesaya 9:7

9:7 His dominion will be vast ⁷ 

and he will bring immeasurable prosperity. ⁸ 

He will rule on David’s throne

and over David’s kingdom, ⁹ 

establishing it ¹⁰  and strengthening it

by promoting justice and fairness, ¹¹ 

from this time forward and forevermore.

The Lord’s intense devotion to his people ¹²  will accomplish this.

Yesaya 24:18

24:18 The one who runs away from the sound of the terror

will fall into the pit; ¹³ 

the one who climbs out of the pit,

will be trapped by the snare.

For the floodgates of the heavens ¹⁴  are opened up ¹⁵ 

and the foundations of the earth shake.

Yesaya 29:11

29:11 To you this entire prophetic revelation ¹⁶  is like words in a sealed scroll. When they hand it to one who can read ¹⁷  and say, “Read this,” he responds, “I can’t, because it is sealed.”

Yesaya 29:16

29:16 Your thinking is perverse! ¹⁸ 

Should the potter be regarded as clay? ¹⁹ 

Should the thing made say ²⁰  about its maker, “He didn’t make me”?

Or should the pottery say about the potter, “He doesn’t understand”?

Yesaya 59:4

59:4 No one is concerned about justice; ²¹ 

no one sets forth his case truthfully.

They depend on false words ²²  and tell lies;

they conceive of oppression ²³ 

and give birth to sin.

Yesaya 59:16

The Lord Intervenes

59:16 He sees there is no advocate; ²⁴ 

he is shocked ²⁵  that no one intervenes.

So he takes matters into his own hands; ²⁶ 

his desire for justice drives him on. ²⁷ 

Yesaya 66:2

66:2 My hand made them; ²⁸ 

that is how they came to be,” ²⁹  says the Lord.

I show special favor ³⁰  to the humble and contrite,

who respect what I have to say. ³¹ 

[2:6]  ¹ tn The words “O Lord” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Isaiah addresses the Lord in prayer.

[2:6]  ² tc Heb “they are full from the east.” Various scholars retain the BHS reading and suggest that the prophet makes a general statement concerning Israel’s reliance on foreign customs (J. Watts, Isaiah [WBC], 1:32; J. de Waard, Isaiah, 12-13). Nevertheless, it appears that a word is missing. Based on the parallelism (note “omen readers” in 5:6c), many suggest that קֹסְמִים (qosÿmim, “diviners”) or מִקְסָם (miqsam, “divination”) has been accidentally omitted. Homoioteleuton could account for the omission of an original קֹסְמִים (note how this word and the following מִקֶּדֶם [miqqedem, “from the east”] both end in mem); an original מִקְסָם could have fallen out by homoioarcton (note how this word and the following מִקֶּדֶם both begin with mem).

[2:6]  ³ tn Heb “and omen readers like the Philistines.” Through this line and the preceding, the prophet contends that Israel has heavily borrowed the pagan practices of the east and west (in violation of Lev 19:26; Deut 18:9-14).

[2:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “and with the children of foreigners they [?].” The precise meaning of the final word is uncertain. Some take this verb (I שָׂפַק, safaq) to mean “slap,” supply the object “hands,” and translate, “they slap [hands] with foreigners”; HALOT 1349 s.v. I שׂפק. This could be a reference to foreign alliances. This translation has two disadvantages: It requires the conjectural insertion of “hands” and the use of this verb with its object prefixed with a בְּ (bet) preposition with this meaning does not occur elsewhere. The other uses of this verb refer to clapping at someone, an indication of hostility. The translation above assumes the verb is derived from II שׂפק (“to suffice,” attested in the Qal in 1 Kgs 20:10; HALOT 1349 s.v. II שׂפק). In this case the point is that a sufficient number of foreigners (in this case, too many!) live in the land. The disadvantage of this option is that the preposition prefixed to “the children of foreigners” does not occur with this verb elsewhere. The chosen translation is preferred since it continues the idea of abundant foreign influence and does not require a conjectural insertion or emendation.

[5:2]  ⁵ tn Or, “dug it up” (so NIV); KJV “fenced it.’ See HALOT 810 s.v. עזק.

[5:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “wild grapes,” i.e., sour ones (also in v. 4).

[5:2]  sn At this point the love song turns sour as the Lord himself breaks in and completes the story (see vv. 3-6). In the final line of v. 2 the love song presented to the Lord becomes a judgment speech by the Lord.

[9:7]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text has לְםַרְבֵּה (lÿmarbeh), which is a corrupt reading. לם is dittographic; note the preceding word, שָׁלוֹם (shalom). The corrected text reads literally, “great is the dominion.”

[9:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “and to peace there will be no end” (KJV and ASV both similar). On the political and socio-economic sense of שָׁלוֹם (shalom) in this context, see the note at v. 6 on “Prince of Peace.”

[9:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “over the throne of David, and over his kingdom.” The referent of the pronoun “his” (i.e., David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:7]  ¹⁰ tn The feminine singular pronominal suffix on this form and the following one (translated “it” both times) refers back to the grammatically feminine noun “kingdom.”

[9:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “with/by justice and fairness”; ASV “with justice and with righteousness.”

[9:7]  ¹² tn Heb “the zeal of the Lord.” In this context the Lord’s “zeal” refers to his intense devotion to and love for his people which prompts him to vindicate them and to fulfill his promises to David and the nation.

[24:18]  ¹³ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[24:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from the height”; KJV “from on high.”

[24:18]  ¹⁵ sn The language reflects the account of the Noahic Flood (see Gen 7:11).

[29:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “vision” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[29:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “one who knows a/the scroll.”

[29:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “your overturning.” The predicate is suppressed in this exclamation. The idea is, “O your perversity! How great it is!” See GKC 470 §147.c. The people “overturn” all logic by thinking their authority supersedes God’s.

[29:16]  ¹⁹ tn The expected answer to this rhetorical question is “of course not.” On the interrogative use of אִם (’im), see BDB 50 s.v.

[29:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “that the thing made should say.”

[59:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “no one pleads with justice.”

[59:4]  ²² tn Heb “nothing”; NAB “emptiness.”

[59:4]  ²³ tn Or “trouble” (NIV), or “harm.”

[59:16]  ²⁴ tn Heb “man” (so KJV, ASV); TEV “no one to help.”

[59:16]  ²⁵ tn Or “appalled” (NAB, NIV, NRSV), or “disgusted.”

[59:16]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and his arm delivers for him.”

[59:16]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and his justice [or “righteousness”] supports him.”

[66:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “all these.” The phrase refers to the heavens and earth, mentioned in the previous verse.

[66:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and all these were.” Some prefer to emend וַיִּהְיוּ (vayyihyu, “and they were”) to וְלִי הָיוּ (vÿli hayu, “and to me they were”), i.e., “and they belong to me.”

[66:2]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and to this one I look” (KJV and NASB both similar).

[66:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “to the humble and the lowly in spirit and the one who trembles at my words.”