Yesaya 3:5

3:5 The people will treat each other harshly;

men will oppose each other;

neighbors will fight. ¹ 

Youths will proudly defy the elderly

and riffraff will challenge those who were once respected. ² 

Yesaya 3:7

3:7 At that time ³  the brother will shout, ⁴ 

‘I am no doctor, ⁵ 

I have no food or coat in my house;

don’t make me a leader of the people!’”

Yesaya 6:9-10

6:9 He said, “Go and tell these people:

‘Listen continually, but don’t understand!

Look continually, but don’t perceive!’

6:10 Make the hearts of these people calloused;

make their ears deaf and their eyes blind!

Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears,

their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.” ⁶ 

Yesaya 8:12

8:12 “Do not say, ‘Conspiracy,’ every time these people say the word. ⁷ 

Don’t be afraid of what scares them; don’t be terrified.

Yesaya 8:14

8:14 He will become a sanctuary, ⁸ 

but a stone that makes a person trip,

and a rock that makes one stumble –

to the two houses of Israel. ⁹ 

He will become ¹⁰  a trap and a snare

to the residents of Jerusalem. ¹¹ 

Yesaya 9:2

9:2 (9:1) The people walking in darkness

see a bright light; ¹² 

light shines

on those who live in a land of deep darkness. ¹³ 

Yesaya 9:13

9:13 The people did not return to the one who struck them,

they did not seek reconciliation ¹⁴  with the Lord who commands armies.

Yesaya 9:20

9:20 They devoured ¹⁵  on the right, but were still hungry,

they ate on the left, but were not satisfied.

People even ate ¹⁶  the flesh of their own arm! ¹⁷ 

Yesaya 13:4

13:4 ¹⁸ There is a loud noise on the mountains –

it sounds like a large army! ¹⁹ 

There is great commotion among the kingdoms ²⁰  –

nations are being assembled!

The Lord who commands armies is mustering

forces for battle.

Yesaya 23:13

23:13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans,

these people who have lost their identity! ²¹ 

The Assyrians have made it a home for wild animals.

They erected their siege towers, ²² 

demolished ²³  its fortresses,

and turned it into a heap of ruins. ²⁴ 

Yesaya 29:22

29:22 So this is what the Lord, the one who delivered Abraham, says to the family of Jacob: ²⁵ 

“Jacob will no longer be ashamed;

their faces will no longer show their embarrassment. ²⁶ 

Yesaya 30:19

30:19 For people will live in Zion;

in Jerusalem ²⁷  you will weep no more. ²⁸ 

When he hears your cry of despair, he will indeed show you mercy;

when he hears it, he will respond to you. ²⁹ 

Yesaya 34:1

The Lord Will Judge Edom

34:1 Come near, you nations, and listen!

Pay attention, you people!

The earth and everything it contains must listen,

the world and everything that lives in it. ³⁰ 

Yesaya 42:6

42:6 “I, the Lord, officially commission you; ³¹ 

I take hold of your hand.

I protect you ³²  and make you a covenant mediator for people, ³³ 

and a light ³⁴  to the nations, ³⁵ 

Yesaya 46:3

46:3 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob, ³⁶ 

all you who are left from the family of Israel, ³⁷ 

you who have been carried from birth, ³⁸ 

you who have been supported from the time you left the womb. ³⁹ 

Yesaya 48:1

The Lord Appeals to the Exiles

48:1 Listen to this, O family of Jacob, ⁴⁰ 

you who are called by the name ‘Israel,’

and are descended from Judah, ⁴¹ 

who take oaths in the name of the Lord,

and invoke ⁴²  the God of Israel –

but not in an honest and just manner. ⁴³ 

Yesaya 51:7

51:7 Listen to me, you who know what is right,

you people who are aware of my law! ⁴⁴ 

Don’t be afraid of the insults of men;

don’t be discouraged because of their abuse!

Yesaya 60:22

60:22 The least of you will multiply into ⁴⁵  a thousand;

the smallest of you will become a large nation.

When the right time comes, I the Lord will quickly do this!” ⁴⁶ 

[3:5]  ¹ tn Heb “man against man, and a man against his neighbor.”

[3:5]  ² tn Heb “and those lightly esteemed those who are respected.” The verb רָהַב (rahav) does double duty in the parallelism.

[3:7]  ³ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[3:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “he will lift up [his voice].”

[3:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “wrapper [of wounds]”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “healer.”

[6:10]  ⁶ sn Do we take this commission at face value? Does the Lord really want to prevent his people from understanding, repenting, and being healed? Verse 9, which ostensibly records the content of Isaiah’s message, is clearly ironic. As far as we know, Isaiah did not literally proclaim these exact words. The Hebrew imperatival forms are employed rhetorically and anticipate the response Isaiah will receive. When all is said and done, Isaiah might as well preface and conclude every message with these ironic words, which, though imperatival in form, might be paraphrased as follows: “You continually hear, but don’t understand; you continually see, but don’t perceive.” Isaiah might as well command them to be spiritually insensitive, because, as the preceding and following chapters make clear, the people are bent on that anyway. (This ironic command is comparable to saying to a particularly recalcitrant individual, “Go ahead, be stubborn!”) Verse 10b is also clearly sarcastic. On the surface it seems to indicate Isaiah’s hardening ministry will prevent genuine repentance. But, as the surrounding chapters clearly reveal, the people were hardly ready or willing to repent. Therefore, Isaiah’s preaching was not needed to prevent repentance! Verse 10b reflects the people’s attitude and might be paraphrased accordingly: “Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their mind, repent, and be restored, and they certainly wouldn’t want that, would they?” Of course, this sarcastic statement may also reveal that the Lord himself is now bent on judgment, not reconciliation. Just as Pharaoh’s rejection of Yahweh’s ultimatum ignited judgment and foreclosed, at least temporarily, any opportunity for repentance, so the Lord may have come to the point where he has decreed to bring judgment before opening the door for repentance once more. The sarcastic statement in verse 10b would be an emphatic way of making this clear. (Perhaps we could expand our paraphrase: “Otherwise they might…repent, and be restored, and they certainly wouldn’t want that, would they? Besides, it’s too late for that!”) Within this sarcastic framework, verse 10a must also be seen as ironic. As in verse 9 the imperatival forms should be taken as rhetorical and as anticipating the people’s response. One might paraphrase: “Your preaching will desensitize the minds of these people, make their hearing dull, and blind their eyes.” From the outset the Lord might as well command Isaiah to harden the people, because his preaching will end up having that effect. Despite the use of irony, we should still view this as a genuine, albeit indirect, act of divine hardening. After all, God did not have to send Isaiah. By sending him, he drives the sinful people further from him, for Isaiah’s preaching, which focuses on the Lord’s covenantal demands and impending judgment upon covenantal rebellion, forces the people to confront their sin and then continues to desensitize them as they respond negatively to the message. As in the case of Pharaoh, Yahweh’s hardening is not arbitrarily imposed on a righteous or even morally neutral object. Rather his hardening is an element of his righteous judgment on recalcitrant sinners. Ironically, Israel’s rejection of prophetic preaching in turn expedites disciplinary punishment, and brings the battered people to a point where they might be ready for reconciliation. The prophesied judgment (cf. 6:11-13) was fulfilled by 701 b.c. when the Assyrians devastated the land (a situation presupposed by Isa 1:2-20; see especially vv. 4-9). At that time the divine hardening had run its course and Isaiah is able to issue an ultimatum (1:19-20), one which Hezekiah apparently took to heart, resulting in the sparing of Jerusalem (see Isa 36-39 and cf. Jer 26:18-19 with Mic 3:12).This interpretation, which holds in balance both Israel’s moral responsibility and the Lord’s sovereign work among his people, is consistent with other pertinent texts both within and outside the Book of Isaiah. Isa 3:9 declares that the people of Judah “have brought disaster upon themselves,” but Isa 29:9-10 indicates that the Lord was involved to some degree in desensitizing the people. Zech 7:11-12 looks back to the pre-exilic era (cf. v. 7) and observes that the earlier generations stubbornly hardened their hearts, but Ps 81:11-12, recalling this same period, states that the Lord “gave them over to their stubborn hearts.”

[8:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “Do not say, ‘Conspiracy,’ with respect to all which these people say, ‘Conspiracy.’” The verb translated “do not say” is second masculine plural, indicating that this exhortation is directed to Isaiah and other followers of the Lord (see v. 16).

[8:12]  sn The background of this command is uncertain. Perhaps the “conspiracy” in view is the alliance between Israel and Syria. Some of the people may even have thought that individuals in Judah were plotting with Israel and Syria to overthrow the king.

[8:14]  ⁸ tn Because the metaphor of protection (“sanctuary”) does not fit the negative mood that follows in vv. 14b-15, some contend that מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash, “sanctuary”) is probably a corruption of an original מוֹקֵשׁ (moqesh, “snare”), a word that appears in the next line (cf. NAB and H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:355-56). If the MT reading is retained (as in the above translation), the fact that Yahweh is a sanctuary wraps up the point of v. 13 and stands in contrast to God’s treatment of those who rebel against him (the rest of v. 14).

[8:14]  ⁹ sn The two “houses” of Israel (= the patriarch Jacob) are the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

[8:14]  ¹⁰ tn These words are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. וְהָיָה (vÿhayah, “and he will be”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse.

[8:14]  ¹¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[9:2]  ¹² sn The darkness symbolizes judgment and its effects (see 8:22); the light represents deliverance and its effects, brought about by the emergence of a conquering Davidic king (see vv. 3-6).

[9:2]  ¹³ tn Traditionally צַלְמָוֶת (tsalmavet) has been interpreted as a compound noun, meaning “shadow of death” (so KJV, ASV, NIV), but usage indicates that the word, though it sometimes refers to death, means “darkness.” The term should probably be repointed as an abstract noun צַלְמוּת (tsalmut). See the note at Ps 23:4.

[9:13]  ¹⁴ tn This verse describes the people’s response to the judgment described in vv. 11-12. The perfects are understood as indicating simple past.

[9:20]  ¹⁵ tn Or “cut.” The verb גָּזַר (gazar) means “to cut.” If it is understood here, then one might paraphrase, “They slice off meat on the right.” However, HALOT 187 s.v. I גזר, proposes here a rare homonym meaning “to devour.”

[9:20]  ¹⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite without vav consecutive or an imperfect used in a customary sense, describing continual or repeated behavior in past time.

[9:20]  ¹⁷ tn Some suggest that זְרֹעוֹ (zÿro’o, “his arm”) be repointed זַרְעוֹ (zar’o, “his offspring”). In either case, the metaphor is that of a desperately hungry man who resorts to an almost unthinkable act to satisfy his appetite. He eats everything he can find to his right, but still being unsatisfied, then turns to his left and eats everything he can find there. Still being desperate for food, he then resorts to eating his own flesh (or offspring, as this phrase is metaphorically understood by some English versions, e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT). The reality behind the metaphor is the political turmoil of the period, as the next verse explains. There was civil strife within the northern kingdom; even the descendants of Joseph were at each other’s throats. Then the northern kingdom turned on their southern brother, Judah.

[13:4]  ¹⁸ sn In vv. 4-10 the prophet appears to be speaking, since the Lord is referred to in the third person. However, since the Lord refers to himself in the third person later in this chapter (see v. 13), it is possible that he speaks throughout the chapter.

[13:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a sound, a roar [is] on the mountains, like many people.”

[13:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “a sound, tumult of kingdoms.”

[23:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “this people [that] is not.”

[23:13]  ²² tn For the meaning of this word, see HALOT 118 s.v. *בַּחוּן.

[23:13]  ²³ tn Or “laid bare.” For the meaning of this word, see HALOT 889 s.v. ערר.

[23:13]  ²⁴ sn This verse probably refers to the Assyrian destruction of Babylon.

[29:22]  ²⁵ tn Heb “So this is what the Lord says to the house of Jacob, the one who ransomed Abraham.” The relative pronoun must refer back to “the Lord,” not to the immediately preceding “Jacob.” It is uncertain to what event in Abraham’s experience this refers. Perhaps the name “Abraham” stands here by metonymy for his descendants through Jacob. If so, the Exodus is in view.

[29:22]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and his face will no longer be pale.”

[30:19]  ²⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[30:19]  ²⁸ tn Heb “For people in Zion will live, in Jerusalem, you will weep no more.” The phrase “in Jerusalem” could be taken with what precedes. Some prefer to emend יֵשֵׁב (yeshev, “will live,” a Qal imperfect) to יֹשֵׁב (yoshev, a Qal active participle) and translate “For [you] people in Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more.”

[30:19]  ²⁹ tn Heb “he will indeed show you mercy at the sound of your crying out; when he hears, he will answer you.”

[34:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the world and its offspring”; NASB “the world and all that springs from it.”

[42:6]  ³¹ tn Heb “call you in righteousness.” The pronoun “you” is masculine singular, referring to the servant. See the note at 41:2.

[42:6]  ³² tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצַר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצַר (yatsar, “form”).

[42:6]  ³³ tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (bÿrit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. The precise identity of עָם (’am, “people”) is uncertain. In v. 5 עָם refers to mankind, and the following reference to “nations” also favors this. But in 49:8, where the phrase בְּרִית עָם occurs again, Israel seems to be in view.

[42:6]  ³⁴ sn Light here symbolizes deliverance from bondage and oppression; note the parallelism in 49:6b and in 51:4-6.

[42:6]  ³⁵ tn Or “the Gentiles” (so KJV, ASV, NIV); the same Hebrew word can be translated “nations” or “Gentiles” depending on the context.

[46:3]  ³⁶ tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV “descendants of Jacob.”

[46:3]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and all the remnant of the house of Israel.”

[46:3]  ³⁸ tn Heb “from the womb” (so NRSV); KJV “from the belly”; NAB “from your infancy.”

[46:3]  ³⁹ tn Heb “who have been lifted up from the womb.”

[48:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV, CEV “people of Israel.”

[48:1]  ⁴¹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally “and from the waters of Judah came out.” מִמֵּי (mimme) could be a corruption of מִמְּעֵי (mimmÿ’e, “from the inner parts of”; cf. NASB, NIV, NLT, NRSV) as suggested in the above translation. Some translations (ESV, NKJV) retain the MT reading because the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, which corrects a similar form to “from inner parts of” in 39:7, does not do it here.

[48:1]  ⁴² tn Heb “cause to remember”; KJV, ASV “make mention of.”

[48:1]  ⁴³ tn Heb “not in truth and not in righteousness.”

[51:7]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “people (who have) my law in their heart.”

[60:22]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “will become” (so NASB, NIV).

[60:22]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “I, the Lord, in its time, I will quickly do it.”