Yesaya 5:14

5:14 So Death ¹  will open up its throat,

and open wide its mouth; ² 

Zion’s dignitaries and masses will descend into it,

including those who revel and celebrate within her. ³ 

Yesaya 7:14

7:14 For this reason the sovereign master himself will give you a confirming sign. ⁴  Look, this ⁵  young woman ⁶  is about to conceive ⁷  and will give birth to a son. You, young woman, will name him ⁸  Immanuel. ⁹ 

Yesaya 29:14

29:14 Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people –

an absolutely extraordinary deed. ¹⁰ 

Wise men will have nothing to say,

the sages will have no explanations.” ¹¹ 

Yesaya 30:12

30:12 For this reason this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

“You have rejected this message; ¹² 

you trust instead in your ability to oppress and trick, ¹³ 

and rely on that kind of behavior. ¹⁴ 

Yesaya 55:5

55:5 Look, you will summon nations ¹⁵  you did not previously know;

nations ¹⁶  that did not previously know you will run to you,

because of the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, ¹⁷ 

for he bestows honor on you.

Yesaya 59:9

Israel Confesses its Sin

59:9 For this reason deliverance ¹⁸  is far from us ¹⁹ 

and salvation does not reach us.

We wait for light, ²⁰  but see only darkness; ²¹ 

we wait for ²²  a bright light, ²³  but live ²⁴  in deep darkness. ²⁵ 

Yesaya 59:16

The Lord Intervenes

59:16 He sees there is no advocate; ²⁶ 

he is shocked ²⁷  that no one intervenes.

So he takes matters into his own hands; ²⁸ 

his desire for justice drives him on. ²⁹ 

[5:14]  ¹ tn Heb “Sheol” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV); the underworld, the land of the dead, according to the OT world view. Cf. NAB “the nether world”; TEV, CEV “the world of the dead”; NLT “the grave.”

[5:14]  ² tn Heb “so Sheol will make wide its throat, and open its mouth without limit.”

[5:14]  sn Death is portrayed in both the OT (Prov 1:12; Hab 2:5) and Canaanite myth as voraciously swallowing up its prey. In the myths Death is portrayed as having “a lip to the earth, a lip to the heavens … and a tongue to the stars.” (G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 69, text 5 ii 2-3.) Death describes his own appetite as follows: “But my appetite is the appetite of lions in the waste…If it is in very truth my desire to consume ‘clay’ [a reference to his human victims], then in truth by the handfuls I must eat it, whether my seven portions [indicating fullness and completeness] are already in the bowl or whether Nahar [the god of the river responsible for ferrying victims from the land of the living to the land of the dead] has to mix the cup.” (Driver, 68-69, text 5 i 14-22).

[5:14]  ³ tn Heb “and her splendor and her masses will go down, and her tumult and the one who exults in her.” The antecedent of the four feminine singular pronominal suffixes used in v. 14b is unclear. The likely referent is personified Zion/Jerusalem (see 3:25-26; 4:4-5).

[7:14]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term אוֹת (’ot, “sign”) can refer to a miraculous event (see v. 11), but it does not carry this sense inherently. Elsewhere in Isaiah the word usually refers to a natural occurrence or an object/person vested with special significance (see 8:18; 19:20; 20:3; 37:30; 55:13; 66:19). Only in 38:7-8, 22 does it refer to a miraculous deed that involves suspending or overriding natural laws. The sign outlined in vv. 14-17 involves God’s providential control over events and their timing, but not necessarily miraculous intervention.

[7:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “the young woman.” The Hebrew article has been rendered as a demonstrative pronoun (“this”) in the translation to bring out its force. It is very likely that Isaiah pointed to a woman who was present at the scene of the prophet’s interview with Ahaz. Isaiah’s address to the “house of David” and his use of second plural forms suggests other people were present, and his use of the second feminine singular verb form (“you will name”) later in the verse is best explained if addressed to a woman who is present.

[7:14]  ⁶ tn Traditionally, “virgin.” Because this verse from Isaiah is quoted in Matt 1:23 in connection with Jesus’ birth, the Isaiah passage has been regarded since the earliest Christian times as a prophecy of Christ’s virgin birth. Much debate has taken place over the best way to translate this Hebrew term, although ultimately one’s view of the doctrine of the virgin birth of Christ is unaffected. Though the Hebrew word used here (עַלְמָה, ’almah) can sometimes refer to a woman who is a virgin (Gen 24:43), it does not carry this meaning inherently. The word is simply the feminine form of the corresponding masculine noun עֶלֶם (’elem, “young man”; cf. 1 Sam 17:56; 20:22). The Aramaic and Ugaritic cognate terms are both used of women who are not virgins. The word seems to pertain to age, not sexual experience, and would normally be translated “young woman.” The LXX translator(s) who later translated the Book of Isaiah into Greek sometime between the second and first century b.c., however, rendered the Hebrew term by the more specific Greek word παρθένος (parqenos), which does mean “virgin” in a technical sense. This is the Greek term that also appears in the citation of Isa 7:14 in Matt 1:23. Therefore, regardless of the meaning of the term in the OT context, in the NT Matthew’s usage of the Greek term παρθένος clearly indicates that from his perspective a virgin birth has taken place.

[7:14]  ⁷ tn Elsewhere the adjective הָרָה (harah), when used predicatively, refers to a past pregnancy (from the narrator’s perspective, 1 Sam 4:19), to a present condition (Gen 16:11; 38:24; 2 Sam 11:5), and to a conception that is about to occur in the near future (Judg 13:5, 7). (There is some uncertainty about the interpretation of Judg 13:5, 7, however. See the notes to those verses.) In Isa 7:14 one could translate, “the young woman is pregnant.” In this case the woman is probably a member of the royal family. Another option, the one followed in the present translation, takes the adjective in an imminent future sense, “the young woman is about to conceive.” In this case the woman could be a member of the royal family, or, more likely, the prophetess with whom Isaiah has sexual relations shortly after this (see 8:3).

[7:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “and you will call his name.” The words “young lady” are supplied in the translation to clarify the identity of the addressee. The verb is normally taken as an archaic third feminine singular form here, and translated, “she will call.” However the form (קָרָאת, qara’t) is more naturally understood as second feminine singular, in which case the words would be addressed to the young woman mentioned just before this. In the three other occurrences of the third feminine singular perfect of I קָרָא (qara’, “to call”), the form used is קָרְאָה (qar’ah; see Gen 29:35; 30:6; 1 Chr 4:9). A third feminine singular perfect קָרָאת does appear in Deut 31:29 and Jer 44:23, but the verb here is the homonym II קָרָא (“to meet, encounter”). The form קָרָאת (from I קָרָא, “to call”) appears in three other passages (Gen 16:11; Isa 60:18; Jer 3:4 [Qere]) and in each case is second feminine singular.

[7:14]  ⁹ sn The name Immanuel means “God [is] with us.”

[29:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Therefore I will again do something amazing with these people, an amazing deed, an amazing thing.” This probably refers to the amazing transformation predicted in vv. 17-24, which will follow the purifying judgment implied in vv. 15-16.

[29:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the wisdom of their wise ones will perish, the discernment of their discerning ones will keep hidden.”

[30:12]  ¹² tn The sentence actually begins with the word “because.” In the Hebrew text vv. 12-13 are one long sentence.

[30:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “and you trust in oppression and cunning.”

[30:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and you lean on it”; NAB “and depend on it.”

[55:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a nation,” but the singular is collective here, as the plural verbs in the next line indicate (note that both “know” and “run” are third plural forms).

[55:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a nation,” but the singular is collective here, as the plural verbs that follow indicate.

[55:5]  ¹⁷ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[59:9]  ¹⁸ tn מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat), which refers to “justice” in the earlier verses, here refers to “justice from God,” or “vindication.” Because the people are unjust, God refuses to vindicate them before their enemies. See v. 11.

[59:9]  ¹⁹ sn The prophet speaks on behalf of the sinful nation and confesses its sins.

[59:9]  ²⁰ sn Light here symbolizes prosperity and blessing.

[59:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “but, look, darkness”; NIV “but all is darkness.”

[59:9]  ²² tn The words “we wait for” are supplied in the translation; the verb is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[59:9]  ²³ tn The plural noun form may indicate degree here.

[59:9]  ²⁴ tn Or “walk about”; NCV “all we have is darkness.”

[59:9]  ²⁵ tn The plural noun form may indicate degree here.

[59:16]  ²⁶ tn Heb “man” (so KJV, ASV); TEV “no one to help.”

[59:16]  ²⁷ tn Or “appalled” (NAB, NIV, NRSV), or “disgusted.”

[59:16]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and his arm delivers for him.”

[59:16]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and his justice [or “righteousness”] supports him.”