Yesaya 1:19

1:19 If you have a willing attitude and obey, ¹ 

then you will again eat the good crops of the land.

Yesaya 3:15

3:15 Why do you crush my people

and grind the faces of the poor?” ² 

The sovereign Lord who commands armies ³  has spoken.

Yesaya 5:3

5:3 So now, residents of Jerusalem, ⁴ 

people ⁵  of Judah,

you decide between me and my vineyard!

Yesaya 7:13

7:13 So Isaiah replied, ⁶  “Pay attention, ⁷  family ⁸  of David. ⁹  Do you consider it too insignificant to try the patience of men? Is that why you are also trying the patience of my God?

Yesaya 8:2

8:2 Then I will summon ¹⁰  as my reliable witnesses Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.”

Yesaya 8:10

8:10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted!

Issue your orders, but they will not be executed! ¹¹ 

For God is with us! ¹² 

Yesaya 8:16

8:16 Tie up the scroll as legal evidence, ¹³ 

seal the official record of God’s instructions and give it to my followers. ¹⁴ 

Yesaya 10:32

10:32 This very day, standing in Nob,

they shake their fist at Daughter Zion’s mountain ¹⁵  –

at the hill of Jerusalem.

Yesaya 11:2

11:2 The Lord’s spirit will rest on him ¹⁶  –

a spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, ¹⁷ 

a spirit that provides the ability to execute plans, ¹⁸ 

a spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the Lord. ¹⁹ 

Yesaya 13:17

13:17 Look, I am stirring up the Medes to attack them; ²⁰ 

they are not concerned about silver,

nor are they interested in gold. ²¹ 

Yesaya 21:6

21:6 For this is what the sovereign master ²²  has told me:

“Go, post a guard!

He must report what he sees.

Yesaya 23:11

23:11 The Lord stretched out his hand over the sea, ²³ 

he shook kingdoms;

he ²⁴  gave the order

to destroy Canaan’s fortresses. ²⁵ 

Yesaya 29:2

29:2 I will threaten Ariel,

and she will mourn intensely

and become like an altar hearth ²⁶  before me.

Yesaya 31:6

31:6 You Israelites! Return to the one against whom you have so blatantly rebelled! ²⁷ 

Yesaya 32:12

32:12 Mourn over the field, ²⁸ 

over the delightful fields

and the fruitful vine!

Yesaya 33:13

33:13 You who are far away, listen to what I have done!

You who are close by, recognize my strength!”

Yesaya 36:5

36:5 Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. ²⁹  In whom are you trusting, that you would dare to rebel against me?

Yesaya 37:34

37:34 He will go back the way he came –

he will not enter this city,’ says the Lord.

Yesaya 43:25

43:25 I, I am the one who blots out your rebellious deeds for my sake;

your sins I do not remember.

Yesaya 47:5

47:5 “Sit silently! Go to a hiding place, ³⁰ 

O daughter of the Babylonians!

Indeed, ³¹  you will no longer be called ‘Queen of kingdoms.’

Yesaya 52:9

52:9 In unison give a joyful shout,

O ruins of Jerusalem!

For the Lord consoles his people;

he protects ³²  Jerusalem.

Yesaya 57:7

57:7 On every high, elevated hill you prepare your bed;

you go up there to offer sacrifices.

[1:19]  ¹ tn Heb “listen”; KJV “obedient”; NASB “If you consent and obey.”

[3:15]  ² sn The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s outrage at what the leaders have done to the poor. He finds it almost unbelievable that they would have the audacity to treat his people in this manner.

[3:15]  ³ tn Heb “the master, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].” On the title “the Lord who commands armies,” see the note at 1:9.

[3:15]  sn The use of this title, which also appears in v. 1, forms an inclusio around vv. 1-15. The speech begins and ends with a reference to “the master, the Lord who commands armies.”

[5:3]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.

[7:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he said.” The subject is unexpressed, but the reference to “my God” at the end of the verse indicates the prophet is speaking.

[7:13]  ⁷ tn The verb is second plural in form, because the prophet addresses the whole family of David. He continues to use the plural in v. 14 (with one exception, see the notes on that verse), but then switches back to the second singular (addressing Ahaz specifically) in vv. 16-17.

[7:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “house.” See the note at v. 2.

[7:13]  ⁹ sn The address to the “house of David” is designed to remind Ahaz and his royal court of the protection promised to them through the Davidic covenant. The king’s refusal to claim God’s promise magnifies his lack of faith.

[8:2]  ¹⁰ tn The form in the text is a cohortative with prefixed vav (ו), suggesting that the Lord is announcing what he will do. Some prefer to change the verb to an imperative, “and summon as witnesses,” a reading that finds support from the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a. Another option is to point the prefixed conjunction as a vav consecutive and translate, “So I summoned as witnesses.” In this case Isaiah is recalling his response to the Lord’s commission. In any case, the reference to witnesses suggests that the name and the child who bears it will function as signs.

[8:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “speak a word, but it will not stand.”

[8:10]  ¹² sn In these vv. 9-10 the tone shifts abruptly from judgment to hope. Hostile nations like Assyria may attack God’s people, but eventually they will be destroyed, for God is with his people, sometimes to punish, but ultimately to vindicate. In addition to being a reminder of God’s presence in the immediate crisis faced by Ahaz and Judah, Immanuel (whose name is echoed in this concluding statement) was a guarantee of the nation’s future greatness in fulfillment of God’s covenantal promises. Eventually God would deliver his people from the hostile nations (vv. 9-10) through another child, an ideal Davidic ruler who would embody God’s presence in a special way (see 9:6-7). Jesus the Messiah is the fulfillment of the Davidic ideal prophesied by Isaiah, the one whom Immanuel foreshadowed. Through the miracle of the incarnation he is literally “God with us.” Matthew realized this and applied Isaiah’s ancient prophecy of Immanuel’s birth to Jesus (Matt 1:22-23). The first Immanuel was a reminder to the people of God’s presence and a guarantee of a greater child to come who would manifest God’s presence in an even greater way. The second Immanuel is “God with us” in a heightened and infinitely superior sense. He “fulfills” Isaiah’s Immanuel prophecy by bringing the typology intended by God to realization and by filling out or completing the pattern designed by God. Of course, in the ultimate fulfillment of the type, the incarnate Immanuel’s mother must be a virgin, so Matthew uses a Greek term (παρθένος, parqenos), which carries that technical meaning (in contrast to the Hebrew word עַלְמָה [’almah], which has the more general meaning “young woman”). Matthew draws similar analogies between NT and OT events in 2:15, 18. The linking of these passages by analogy is termed “fulfillment.” In 2:15 God calls Jesus, his perfect Son, out of Egypt, just as he did his son Israel in the days of Moses, an historical event referred to in Hos 11:1. In so doing he makes it clear that Jesus is the ideal Israel prophesied by Isaiah (see Isa 49:3), sent to restore wayward Israel (see Isa 49:5, cf. Matt 1:21). In 2:18 Herod’s slaughter of the infants is another illustration of the oppressive treatment of God’s people by foreign tyrants. Herod’s actions are analogous to those of the Assyrians, who deported the Israelites, causing the personified land to lament as inconsolably as a mother robbed of her little ones (Jer 31:15).

[8:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “tie up [the] testimony.” The “testimony” probably refers to the prophetic messages God has given him. When the prophecies are fulfilled, he will be able to produce this official, written record to confirm the authenticity of his ministry and to prove to the people that God is sovereign over events.

[8:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “seal [the] instruction among my followers.” The “instruction” probably refers to the prophet’s exhortations and warnings. When the people are judged for the sins, the prophet can produce these earlier messages and essentially say, “I told you so.” In this way he can authenticate his ministry and impress upon the people the reality of God’s authority over them.

[10:32]  ¹⁵ tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has “a mountain of a house (בֵּית, bet), Zion,” but the marginal reading (Qere) correctly reads “the mountain of the daughter (בַּת, bat) of Zion.” On the phrase “Daughter Zion,” see the note on the same phrase in 1:8.

[11:2]  ¹⁶ sn Like David (1 Sam 16:13), this king will be energized by the Lord’s spirit.

[11:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a spirit of wisdom and understanding.” The synonyms are joined here to emphasize the degree of wisdom he will possess. His wisdom will enable him to make just legal decisions (v. 3). A very similar phrase occurs in Eph 1:17.

[11:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a spirit of counsel [or “strategy”] and strength.” The construction is a hendiadys; the point is that he will have the strength/ability to execute the plans/strategies he devises. This ability will enable him to suppress oppressors and implement just policies (v. 4).

[11:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.” “Knowledge” is used here in its covenantal sense and refers to a recognition of God’s authority and a willingness to submit to it. See Jer 22:16. “Fear” here refers to a healthy respect for God’s authority which produces obedience. Taken together the two terms emphasize the single quality of loyalty to the Lord. This loyalty guarantees that he will make just legal decisions and implement just policies (vv. 4-5).

[13:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “against them”; NLT “against Babylon.”

[13:17]  ²¹ sn They cannot be bought off, for they have a lust for bloodshed.

[21:6]  ²² tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 8, 16 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[23:11]  ²³ tn Heb “his hand he stretched out over the sea.”

[23:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the Lord.” For stylistic reasons the pronoun (“he”) has been used in the translation here.

[23:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “concerning Canaan, to destroy her fortresses.” NIV, NLT translate “Canaan” as “Phoenicia” here.

[29:2]  ²⁶ tn The term אֲרִיאֵל (’ari’el, “Ariel”) is the word translated “altar hearth” here. The point of the simile is not entirely clear. Perhaps the image likens Jerusalem’s coming crisis to a sacrificial fire.

[31:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Return to the one [against] whom the sons of Israel made deep rebellion.” The syntax is awkward here. A preposition is omitted by ellipsis after the verb (see GKC 446 §138.f, n. 2), and there is a shift from direct address (note the second plural imperative “return”) to the third person (note “they made deep”). For other examples of abrupt shifts in person in poetic style, see GKC 462 §144.p.

[32:12]  ²⁸ tc The Hebrew text has “over mourning breasts.” The reference to “breasts” would make sense in light of v. 11, which refers to the practice of women baring their breasts as a sign of sorrow (see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:585). However, one expects the preposition עַל (’al) to introduce the source or reason for mourning (see vv. 12b-13a) and the participle סֹפְדִים (sofedim, “mourning”) seems odd modifying “breasts.” The translation above assumes a twofold emendation: (1) שָׁדַיִם (shadayim, “breasts”) is emended to [ם]שָׂדַי (saday[m], “field,” a term that also appears in Isa 56:9). The final mem (ם) would be enclitic in this case, not a plural indicator. (The Hebrew noun שָׂדֶה (sadeh, “field”) forms its plural with an וֹת- [-ot] ending). (2) The plural participle סֹפְדִים is emended to סְפֹדָה (sÿfodah), a lengthened imperatival form, meaning “mourn.” For an overview of various suggestions that have been made for this difficult line, see Oswalt, 586, n. 12).

[36:5]  ²⁹ tn Heb “you say only a word of lips, counsel and might for battle.” Sennacherib’s message appears to be in broken Hebrew at this point. The phrase “word of lips” refers to mere or empty talk in Prov 14:23.

[47:5]  ³⁰ tn Heb “darkness,” which may indicate a place of hiding where a fugitive would seek shelter and protection.

[47:5]  ³¹ tn Or “For” (NASB, NRSV).

[52:9]  ³² tn Or “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.