Yesaya 43:24

43:24 You did not buy me aromatic reeds; ¹ 

you did not present to me ²  the fat of your sacrifices.

Yet you burdened me with your sins;

you made me weary with your evil deeds. ³ 

Yesaya 57:5

57:5 you who practice ritual sex ⁴  under the oaks and every green tree,

who slaughter children near the streams under the rocky overhangs. ⁵ 

Yesaya 58:10

58:10 You must ⁶  actively help the hungry

and feed the oppressed. ⁷ 

Then your light will dispel the darkness, ⁸ 

and your darkness will be transformed into noonday. ⁹ 

[43:24]  ¹ tn That is, “calamus” (so NIV); NCV, TEV, NLT “incense”; CEV “spices.”

[43:24]  ² tn Heb “you did not saturate me”; NASB “Neither have you filled Me.”

[43:24]  ³ sn In vv. 22-24 the Lord appears to be condemning his people for failure to bring the proper sacrifices. However, this is problematic. If this refers to the nation’s behavior while in exile, such cultic service was impossible and could hardly be expected by the Lord. If this refers to the nation’s conduct before the exile, it contradicts other passages that depict Israel as bringing excessive sacrifices (see, e.g., Isa 1:11-14; Jer 6:20; Amos 4:4-5, 5:21-23). Rather than being a condemnation of Israel’s failure to bring sacrifices, these verses are better taken as a highly rhetorical comment on the worthlessness of Israel’s religious ritual. They may have brought sacrifices, but not to the Lord, for he did not accept them or even want them. See C. R. North, Second Isaiah, 127, and R. Whybray, Isaiah 40-66 (NCBC), 91.

[57:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “inflame yourselves”; NRSV “burn with lust.” This verse alludes to the practice of ritual sex that accompanied pagan fertility rites.

[57:5]  ⁵ sn This apparently alludes to the practice of child sacrifice (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

[58:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “if you.” See the note on “you must” in v. 9b.

[58:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “If you furnish for the hungry [with] your being, and the appetite of the oppressed you satisfy.”

[58:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “will rise in the darkness.”

[58:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “and your darkness [will be] like noonday.”