Yesaya 1:6

1:6 From the soles of your feet to your head,

there is no spot that is unharmed. ¹ 

There are only bruises, cuts,

and open wounds.

They have not been cleansed ²  or bandaged,

nor have they been treated ³  with olive oil. ⁴ 

Yesaya 7:22

7:22 From the abundance of milk they produce, ⁵  he will have sour milk for his meals. Indeed, everyone left in the heart of the land will eat sour milk and honey.

Yesaya 10:6

10:6 I sent him ⁶  against a godless ⁷  nation,

I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, ⁸ 

to take plunder and to carry away loot,

to trample them down ⁹  like dirt in the streets.

Yesaya 10:27

10:27 At that time ¹⁰ 

the Lord will remove their burden from your shoulders, ¹¹ 

and their yoke from your neck;

the yoke will be taken off because your neck will be too large. ¹² 

Yesaya 16:5

16:5 Then a trustworthy king will be established;

he will rule in a reliable manner,

this one from David’s family. ¹³ 

He will be sure to make just decisions

and will be experienced in executing justice. ¹⁴ 

Yesaya 20:6

20:6 At that time ¹⁵  those who live on this coast ¹⁶  will say, ‘Look what has happened to our source of hope to whom we fled for help, expecting to be rescued from the king of Assyria! How can we escape now?’”

Yesaya 21:9

21:9 Look what’s coming!

A charioteer,

a team of horses.” ¹⁷ 

When questioned, he replies, ¹⁸ 

“Babylon has fallen, fallen!

All the idols of her gods lie shattered on the ground!”

Yesaya 22:16

22:16 ‘What right do you have to be here? What relatives do you have buried here? ¹⁹ 

Why ²⁰  do you chisel out a tomb for yourself here?

He chisels out his burial site in an elevated place,

he carves out his tomb on a cliff.

Yesaya 24:16

24:16 From the ends of the earth we ²¹  hear songs –

the Just One is majestic. ²² 

But I ²³  say, “I’m wasting away! I’m wasting away! I’m doomed!

Deceivers deceive, deceivers thoroughly deceive!” ²⁴ 

Yesaya 37:9

37:9 The king ²⁵  heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia ²⁶  was marching out to fight him. ²⁷  He again sent ²⁸  messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them:

Yesaya 37:17

37:17 Pay attention, Lord, and hear! Open your eyes, Lord, and observe! Listen to this entire message Sennacherib sent and how he taunts the living God! ²⁹ 

Yesaya 48:17

48:17 This is what the Lord, your protector, ³⁰  says,

the Holy One of Israel: ³¹ 

“I am the Lord your God,

who teaches you how to succeed,

who leads you in the way you should go.

Yesaya 52:15

52:15 his form was so marred he no longer looked human ³²  –

so now ³³  he will startle ³⁴  many nations.

Kings will be shocked by his exaltation, ³⁵ 

for they will witness something unannounced to them,

and they will understand something they had not heard about.

[1:6]  ¹ tn Heb “there is not in it health”; NAB “there is no sound spot.”

[1:6]  ² tn Heb “pressed out.”

[1:6]  ³ tn Heb “softened” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “soothed.”

[1:6]  ⁴ sn This verse describes wounds like those one would receive in battle. These wounds are comprehensive and without remedy.

[7:22]  ⁵ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated, see note on 2:2.

[10:6]  ⁶ sn Throughout this section singular forms are used to refer to Assyria; perhaps the king of Assyria is in view (see v. 12).

[10:6]  ⁷ tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “impious”; NCV “separated from God.”

[10:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “and against the people of my anger I ordered him.”

[10:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “to make it [i.e., the people] a trampled place.”

[10:27]  ¹⁰ tn Or “in that day” (KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[10:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he [i.e., the Lord] will remove his [i.e, Assyria’s] burden from upon your shoulder.”

[10:27]  ¹² tc The meaning of this line is uncertain. The Hebrew text reads literally, “and the yoke will be destroyed (or perhaps, “pulled down”) because of fatness.” Perhaps this is a bizarre picture of an ox growing so fat that it breaks the yoke around its neck or can no longer fit into its yoke. Fatness would symbolize the Lord’s restored blessings; the removal of the yoke would symbolize the cessation of Assyrian oppression. Because of the difficulty of the metaphor, many prefer to emend the text at this point. Some emend וְחֻבַּל (vÿkhubbal, “and it will be destroyed,” a perfect with prefixed vav), to יִחְבֹּל (yikhbol, “[it] will be destroyed,” an imperfect), and take the verb with what precedes, “and their yoke will be destroyed from your neck.” Proponents of this view (cf. NAB, NRSV) then emend עֹל (’ol, “yoke”) to עָלָה (’alah, “he came up”) and understand this verb as introducing the following description of the Assyrian invasion (vv. 28-32). מִפְּנֵי־שָׁמֶן (mippÿney-shamen, “because of fatness”) is then emended to read “from before Rimmon” (NAB, NRSV), “from before Samaria,” or “from before Jeshimon.” Although this line may present difficulties, it appears best to regard the line as a graphic depiction of God’s abundant blessings on his servant nation.

[16:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “and a throne will be established in faithfulness, and he will sit on it in reliability, in the tent of David.”

[16:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “one who judges and seeks justice, and one experienced in fairness.” Many understand מְהִר (mÿhir) to mean “quick, prompt” (see BDB 555 s.v. מָהִיר), but HALOT 552 s.v. מָהִיר offers the meaning “skillful, experienced,” and translates the phrase in v. 5 “zealous for what is right.”

[20:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).

[20:6]  ¹⁶ sn This probably refers to the coastal region of Philistia (cf. TEV).

[21:9]  ¹⁷ tn Or “[with] teams of horses,” or perhaps, “with a pair of horsemen.”

[21:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and he answered and said” (so KJV, ASV).

[22:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “What to you here? And who to you here?” The point of the second question is not entirely clear. The interpretation reflected in the translation is based on the following context, which suggests that Shebna has no right to think of himself so highly and arrange such an extravagant burial place for himself.

[22:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “that you chisel out.”

[24:16]  ²¹ sn The identity of the subject is unclear. Apparently in vv. 15-16a an unidentified group responds to the praise they hear in the west by exhorting others to participate.

[24:16]  ²² tn Heb “Beauty belongs to the just one.” These words may summarize the main theme of the songs mentioned in the preceding line.

[24:16]  ²³ sn The prophet seems to contradict what he hears the group saying. Their words are premature because more destruction is coming.

[24:16]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and [with] deception deceivers deceive.”

[24:16]  tn Verse 16b is a classic example of Hebrew wordplay. In the first line (“I’m wasting away…”) four consecutive words end with hireq yod ( ִי); in the second line all forms are derived from the root בָּגַד (bagad). The repetition of sound draws attention to the prophet’s lament.

[37:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[37:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Cush” (so NASB); NIV, NCV “the Cushite king of Egypt.”

[37:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, ‘He has come out to fight with you.’”

[37:9]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew text has, “and he heard and he sent,” but the parallel in 2 Kgs 19:9 has וַיָּשָׁב וַיִּשְׁלַח (vayyashav vayyishlakh, “and he returned and he sent”), i.e., “he again sent.”

[37:17]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Hear all the words of Sennacherib which he sent to taunt the living God.”

[48:17]  ³⁰ tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[48:17]  ³¹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[52:15]  ³² tn Heb “and his form from the sons of men.” The preposition מִן (min) here carries the sense “away from,” i.e., “so as not to be.”

[52:15]  ³³ tn This statement completes the sentence begun in v. 14a. The introductory כֵּן (ken) answers to the introductory כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher) of v. 14a. Verses 14b-15a are parenthetical, explaining why many were horrified.

[52:15]  ³⁴ tn Traditionally the verb יַזֶּה (yazzeh, a Hiphil stem) has been understood as a causative of נָזָה (nazah, “spurt, spatter”) and translated “sprinkle.” In this case the passage pictures the servant as a priest who “sprinkles” (or spiritually cleanses) the nations. Though the verb נָזָה does occur in the Hiphil with the meaning “sprinkle,” the usual interpretation is problematic. In all other instances where the object or person sprinkled is indicated, the verb is combined with a preposition. This is not the case in Isaiah 52:15, unless one takes the following עָלָיו (’alayv, “on him”) with the preceding line. But then one would have to emend the verb to a plural, make the nations the subject of the verb “sprinkle,” and take the servant as the object. Consequently some interpreters doubt the cultic idea of “sprinkling” is present here. Some emend the text; others propose a homonymic root meaning “spring, leap,” which in the Hiphil could mean “cause to leap, startle” and would fit the parallelism of the verse nicely.

[52:15]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Because of him kings will shut their mouths,” i.e., be speechless.