Yesaya 14:29

14:29 Don’t be so happy, all you Philistines,

just because the club that beat you has been broken! ¹ 

For a viper will grow out of the serpent’s root,

and its fruit will be a darting adder. ² 

Yesaya 29:16

29:16 Your thinking is perverse! ³ 

Should the potter be regarded as clay? ⁴ 

Should the thing made say ⁵  about its maker, “He didn’t make me”?

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

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 ⁶  of Israel? ⁷ 

I will make you a light to the nations, ⁸ 

so you can bring ⁹  my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”

Yesaya 65:5

65:5 They say, ‘Keep to yourself!

Don’t get near me, for I am holier than you!’

These people are like smoke in my nostrils,

like a fire that keeps burning all day long.

Yesaya 65:12

65:12 I predestine you to die by the sword, ¹⁰ 

all of you will kneel down at the slaughtering block, ¹¹ 

because I called to you, and you did not respond,

I spoke and you did not listen.

You did evil before me; ¹² 

you chose to do what displeases me.”

[14:29]  ¹ sn The identity of this “club” (also referred to as a “serpent” in the next line) is uncertain. It may refer to an Assyrian king, or to Ahaz. For discussion see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:331-32. The viper/adder referred to in the second half of the verse is his successor.

[14:29]  ² tn Heb “flying burning one.” The designation “burning one” may allude to the serpent’s appearance or the effect of its poisonous bite. (See the note at 6:2.) The qualifier “flying” probably refers to the serpent’s quick, darting movements, though one might propose a homonym here, meaning “biting.” (See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:332, n. 18.) Some might think in terms of a mythological flying, fire breathing dragon (cf. NAB “a flying saraph”; CEV “a flying fiery dragon”), but this proposal does not make good sense in 30:6, where the phrase “flying burning one” appears again in a list of desert animals.

[29:16]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “that the thing made should say.”

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

[49:6]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn See the note at 42:6.

[49:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”

[65:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I assign you to the sword.” Some emend the Qal verb form מָנִיתִי (maniti, “I assign”) to the Piel מִנִּיתִי (minniti, “ I ordain”). The verb sounds like the name of the god Meni (מְנִי, mÿni, “Destiny, Fate”). The sound play draws attention to the irony of the statement. The sinners among God’s people worship the god Meni, apparently in an effort to ensure a bright destiny for themselves. But the Lord is the one who really determines their destiny and he has decreed their demise.

[65:12]  ¹¹ tn Or “at the slaughter”; NIV “for the slaughter”; NLT “before the executioner.”

[65:12]  ¹² tn Heb “that which is evil in my eyes.”