Yesaya 19:11

19:11 The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools; ¹ 

Pharaoh’s wise advisers give stupid advice.

How dare you say to Pharaoh,

“I am one of the sages,

one well-versed in the writings of the ancient kings?” ² 

Yesaya 23:18

23:18 Her profits and earnings will be set apart for the Lord. They will not be stored up or accumulated, for her profits will be given to those who live in the Lord’s presence and will be used to purchase large quantities of food and beautiful clothes. ³ 

Yesaya 29:11

29:11 To you this entire prophetic revelation ⁴  is like words in a sealed scroll. When they hand it to one who can read ⁵  and say, “Read this,” he responds, “I can’t, because it is sealed.”

Yesaya 29:23

29:23 For when they see their children,

whom I will produce among them, ⁶ 

they will honor ⁷  my name.

They will honor the Holy One of Jacob; ⁸ 

they will respect ⁹  the God of Israel.

Yesaya 36:11

36:11 Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, ¹⁰  for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect ¹¹  in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

Yesaya 36:16

36:16 Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. ¹²  Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,

Yesaya 37:4

37:4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. ¹³  When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. ¹⁴  So pray for this remnant that remains.’” ¹⁵ 

Yesaya 37:24

37:24 Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, ¹⁶ 

‘With my many chariots I climbed up

the high mountains,

the slopes of Lebanon.

I cut down its tall cedars

and its best evergreens.

I invaded its most remote regions, ¹⁷ 

its thickest woods.

Yesaya 43:9-10

43:9 All nations gather together,

the peoples assemble.

Who among them announced this?

Who predicted earlier events for us? ¹⁸ 

Let them produce their witnesses to testify they were right;

let them listen and affirm, ‘It is true.’

43:10 You are my witnesses,” says the Lord,

“my servant whom I have chosen,

so that you may consider ¹⁹  and believe in me,

and understand that I am he.

No god was formed before me,

and none will outlive me. ²⁰ 

Yesaya 44:7

44:7 Who is like me? Let him make his claim! ²¹ 

Let him announce it and explain it to me –

since I established an ancient people – ²² 

let them announce future events! ²³ 

Yesaya 48:16

48:16 Approach me! Listen to this!

From the very first I have not spoken in secret;

when it happens, ²⁴  I am there.”

So now, the sovereign Lord has sent me, accompanied by his spirit. ²⁵ 

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 ²⁶  of Israel? ²⁷ 

I will make you a light to the nations, ²⁸ 

so you can bring ²⁹  my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”

Yesaya 50:10

50:10 Who among you fears the Lord?

Who obeys ³⁰  his servant?

Whoever walks in deep darkness, ³¹ 

without light,

should trust in the name of the Lord

and rely on his God.

Yesaya 57:13

57:13 When you cry out for help, let your idols ³²  help you!

The wind blows them all away, ³³ 

a breeze carries them away. ³⁴ 

But the one who looks to me for help ³⁵  will inherit the land

and will have access to ³⁶  my holy mountain.”

Yesaya 58:2

58:2 They seek me day after day;

they want to know my requirements, ³⁷ 

like a nation that does what is right

and does not reject the law of their God.

They ask me for just decrees;

they want to be near God.

Yesaya 60:9

60:9 Indeed, the coastlands ³⁸  look eagerly for me,

the large ships ³⁹  are in the lead,

bringing your sons from far away,

along with their silver and gold,

to honor the Lord your God, ⁴⁰ 

the Holy One of Israel, ⁴¹  for he has bestowed honor on you.

Yesaya 61:3

61:3 to strengthen those who mourn in Zion,

by giving them a turban, instead of ashes,

oil symbolizing joy, ⁴²  instead of mourning,

a garment symbolizing praise, ⁴³  instead of discouragement. ⁴⁴ 

They will be called oaks of righteousness, ⁴⁵ 

trees planted by the Lord to reveal his splendor. ⁴⁶ 

Yesaya 64:5

64:5 You assist ⁴⁷  those who delight in doing what is right, ⁴⁸ 

who observe your commandments. ⁴⁹ 

Look, you were angry because we violated them continually.

How then can we be saved? ⁵⁰ 

Yesaya 65:8

65:8 This is what the Lord says:

“When ⁵¹  juice is discovered in a cluster of grapes,

someone says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for it contains juice.’ ⁵² 

So I will do for the sake of my servants –

I will not destroy everyone. ⁵³ 

Yesaya 66:5

66:5 Hear the word of the Lord,

you who respect what he has to say! ⁵⁴ 

Your countrymen, ⁵⁵  who hate you

and exclude you, supposedly for the sake of my name,

say, “May the Lord be glorified,

then we will witness your joy.” ⁵⁶ 

But they will be put to shame.

[19:11]  ¹ tn Or “certainly the officials of Zoan are fools.” אַךְ (’akh) can carry the sense, “only, nothing but,” or “certainly, surely.”

[19:11]  ² tn Heb “A son of wise men am I, a son of ancient kings.” The term בֶּן (ben, “son of”) could refer to literal descent, but many understand the word, at least in the first line, in its idiomatic sense of “member [of a guild].” See HALOT 138 s.v. בֶּן and J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:371. If this is the case, then one can take the word in a figurative sense in the second line as well, the “son of ancient kings” being one devoted to their memory as preserved in their literature.

[23:18]  ³ tn Heb “for eating to fullness and for beautiful covering[s].”

[23:18]  sn The point of this verse, which in its blatant nationalism comes precariously close to comparing the Lord to one who controls or manages a prostitute, is that Tyre will become a subject of Israel and her God. Tyre’s commercial profits will be used to enrich the Lord’s people.

[29:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “vision” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[29:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “one who knows a/the scroll.”

[29:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “for when he sees his children, the work of my hands in his midst.”

[29:23]  ⁷ tn Or “treat as holy” (also in the following line); NASB, NRSV “will sanctify.”

[29:23]  ⁸ sn Holy One of Jacob is similar to the phrase “Holy One of Israel” common throughout Isaiah; see the sn at Isa 1:4.

[29:23]  ⁹ tn Or “fear,” in the sense of “stand in awe of.”

[36:11]  ¹⁰ sn Aramaic was the diplomatic language of the Assyrian empire.

[36:11]  ¹¹ tn Or “in Hebrew” (NIV, NCV, NLT); NAB, NASB “in Judean.”

[36:16]  ¹² tn Heb “make with me a blessing and come out to me.”

[37:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “all the words of the chief adviser whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to taunt the living God.”

[37:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and rebuke the words which the Lord your God hears.”

[37:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and lift up a prayer on behalf of the remnant that is found.”

[37:24]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[37:24]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the height of its extremity”; ASV “its farthest height.”

[43:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and the former things was causing us to hear?”

[43:10]  ¹⁹ tn Or “know” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[43:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and after me, there will not be”; NASB “there will be none after Me.”

[44:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “let him call” or “let him proclaim” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “Let him stand up and speak.”

[44:7]  ²² tc The Hebrew text reads, “from (the time) I established an ancient people, and the coming things.” Various emendations have been proposed. One of the options assumes the reading מַשְׁמִיעִים מֵעוֹלָם אוֹתִיּוֹת (mashmi’im me’olam ’otiyyot); This literally reads “the ones causing to hear from antiquity coming things,” but more idiomatically would read “as for those who predict from antiquity what will happen” (cf. NAB, NEB, REB). The emendation directs the attention of the reader to those who claim to be able to predict the future, challenging them to actually do what they claim they can do. The MT presents Yahweh as an example to whom these alleged “predictors of the future” can compare themselves. Since the ancient versions are unanimous in their support of the MT, the emendations should be set aside.

[44:7]  ²³ tn Heb and those things which are coming let them declare for themselves.”

[48:16]  ²⁴ tn Heb “from the time of its occurring.”

[48:16]  ²⁵ sn The speaker here is not identified specifically, but he is probably Cyrus, the Lord’s “ally” mentioned in vv. 14-15.

[49:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”

[49:6]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ tn See the note at 42:6.

[49:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”

[50:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “[who] listens to the voice of his servant?” The interrogative is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[50:10]  ³¹ tn The plural indicates degree. Darkness may refer to exile and/or moral evil.

[57:13]  ³² tn The Hebrew text has קִבּוּצַיִךְ (qibbutsayikh, “your gatherings”), an otherwise unattested noun from the verbal root קָבַץ (qavats, “gather”). Perhaps this alludes to their religious assemblies and by metonymy to their rituals. Since idolatry is a prominent theme in the context, some understand this as a reference to a collection of idols. The second half of the verse also favors this view.

[57:13]  ³³ tn Heb “all of them a wind lifts up.”

[57:13]  ³⁴ tn Heb “a breath takes [them] away.”

[57:13]  ³⁵ tn Or “seeks refuge in me.” “Seeking refuge” is a metonymy for “being loyal to.”

[57:13]  ³⁶ tn Heb “possess, own.” The point seems to be that he will have free access to God’s presence, as if God’s temple mount were his personal possession.

[58:2]  ³⁷ tn Heb “ways” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV); NLT “my laws.”

[60:9]  ³⁸ tn Or “islands” (NIV); CEV “distant islands”; TEV “distant lands.”

[60:9]  ³⁹ tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” See the note at 2:16.

[60:9]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “to the name of the Lord your God.”

[60:9]  ⁴¹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[61:3]  ⁴² tn Heb “oil of joy” (KJV, ASV); NASB, NIV, NRSV “the oil of gladness.”

[61:3]  ⁴³ tn Heb “garment of praise.”

[61:3]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “a faint spirit” (so NRSV); KJV, ASV “the spirit of heaviness”; NASB “a spirit of fainting.”

[61:3]  ⁴⁵ tn Rather than referring to the character of the people, צֶדֶק (tsedeq) may carry the nuance “vindication” here, suggesting that God’s restored people are a testimony to his justice. See v. 2, which alludes to the fact that God will take vengeance against the enemies of his people. Cf. NAB “oaks of justice.”

[61:3]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “a planting of the Lord to reveal splendor.”

[64:5]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “meet [with kindness].”

[64:5]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “the one who rejoices and does righteousness.”

[64:5]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “in your ways they remember you.”

[64:5]  ⁵⁰ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “look, you were angry and we sinned against them continually [or perhaps, “in ancient times”] and we were delivered.” The statement makes little sense as it stands. The first vav [ו] consecutive (“and we sinned”) must introduce an explanatory clause here (see Num 1:48 and Isa 39:1 for other examples of this relatively rare use of the vav [ו] consecutive). The final verb (if rendered positively) makes no sense in this context – God’s anger at their sin resulted in judgment, not deliverance. One of the alternatives involves an emendation to וַנִּרְשָׁע (vannirsha’, “and we were evil”; LXX, NRSV, TEV). The Vulgate and the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a support the MT reading. One can either accept an emendation or cast the statement as a question (as above).

[65:8]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “just as.” In the Hebrew text the statement is one long sentence, “Just as…, so I will do….”

[65:8]  ⁵² tn Heb “for a blessing is in it.”

[65:8]  ⁵³ tn Heb “by not destroying everyone.”

[66:5]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “who tremble at his word.”

[66:5]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “brothers” (so NASB, NIV); NRSV “Your own people”; NLT “Your close relatives.”

[66:5]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “so that we might witness your joy.” The point of this statement is unclear.