Yesaya 5:19

5:19 They say, “Let him hurry, let him act quickly, ¹ 

so we can see;

let the plan of the Holy One of Israel ²  take shape ³  and come to pass,

then we will know it!”

Yesaya 6:1

Isaiah’s Commission

6:1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death, ⁴  I saw the sovereign master ⁵  seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple.

Yesaya 9:11

9:11 Then the Lord provoked ⁶  their adversaries to attack them, ⁷ 

he stirred up ⁸  their enemies –

Yesaya 19:16

19:16 At that time ⁹  the Egyptians ¹⁰  will be like women. ¹¹  They will tremble and fear because the Lord who commands armies brandishes his fist against them. ¹² 

Yesaya 30:27

30:27 Look, the name ¹³  of the Lord comes from a distant place

in raging anger and awesome splendor. ¹⁴ 

He speaks angrily

and his word is like destructive fire. ¹⁵ 

Yesaya 53:3

53:3 He was despised and rejected by people, ¹⁶ 

one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness;

people hid their faces from him; ¹⁷ 

he was despised, and we considered him insignificant. ¹⁸ 

[5:19]  ¹ tn Heb “let his work hurry, let it hasten.” The pronoun “his” refers to God, as the parallel line makes clear. The reference to his “work” alludes back to v. 12, which refers to his ‘work” of judgment. With these words the people challenged the prophet’s warning of approaching judgment. They were in essence saying that they saw no evidence that God was about to work in such a way.

[5:19]  ² sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[5:19]  ³ tn Heb “draw near” (so NASB); NRSV “hasten to fulfillment.”

[6:1]  ⁴ sn That is, approximately 740 b.c.

[6:1]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 8, 11 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:11]  ⁶ tn The translation assumes that the prefixed verb with vav (ו) consecutive continues the narrative of past judgment.

[9:11]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “adversaries of Rezin against him [i.e., them].” The next verse describes how the Syrians (over whom Rezin ruled, see 7:1, 8) and the Philistines encroached on Israel’s territory. Since the Syrians and Israelites were allies by 735 b.c. (see 7:1), the hostilities described probably occurred earlier, while Israel was still pro-Assyrian. In this case one might understand the phrase צָרֵי רְצִין (tsare rÿtsin, “adversaries of Rezin”) as meaning “adversaries sent from Rezin.” However, another option, the one chosen in the translation above, is to emend the phrase to צָרָיו (tsarayv, “his [i.e., their] adversaries”). This creates tighter parallelism with the next line (note “his [i.e., their] enemies”). The phrase in the Hebrew text may be explained as virtually dittographic.

[9:11]  ⁸ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a preterite, used, as is often the case in poetry, without vav consecutive. Note that prefixed forms with vav consecutive both precede (וַיְשַׂגֵּב, vaysaggev, “and he provoked”) and follow in v. 12 (וַיֹּאכְלוּ, vayyo’khÿlu, “and they devoured”) this verb.

[19:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV), likewise at the beginning of vv. 18 and 19.

[19:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Egypt,” which stands by metonymy for the country’s inhabitants.

[19:16]  ¹¹ sn As the rest of the verse indicates, the point of the simile is that the Egyptians will be relatively weak physically and will wilt in fear before the Lord’s onslaught.

[19:16]  ¹² tn Heb “and he will tremble and be afraid because of the brandishing of the hand of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts], which he brandishes against him.” Since according to the imagery here the Lord’s “hand” is raised as a weapon against the Egyptians, the term “fist” has been used in the translation.

[30:27]  ¹³ sn The “name” of the Lord sometimes stands by metonymy for the Lord himself, see Exod 23:21; Lev 24:11; Pss 54:1 (54:3 HT); 124:8. In Isa 30:27 the point is that he reveals that aspect of his character which his name suggests – he comes as Yahweh (“he is present”), the ever present helper of his people who annihilates their enemies and delivers them. The name “Yahweh” originated in a context where God assured a fearful Moses that he would be with him as he confronted Pharaoh and delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt. See Exod 3.

[30:27]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “his anger burns, and heaviness of elevation.” The meaning of the phrase “heaviness of elevation” is unclear, for מַשָּׂאָה (masa’ah, “elevation”) occurs only here. Some understand the term as referring to a cloud (elevated above the earth’s surface), in which case one might translate, “and in heavy clouds” (cf. NAB “with lowering clouds”). Others relate the noun to מָשָׂא (masa’, “burden”) and interpret it as a reference to judgment. In this case one might translate, “and with severe judgment.” The present translation assumes that the noun refers to his glory and that “heaviness” emphasizes its degree.

[30:27]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his lips are full of anger, and his tongue is like consuming fire.” The Lord’s lips and tongue are used metonymically for his word (or perhaps his battle cry; see v. 31).

[53:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “lacking of men.” If the genitive is taken as specifying (“lacking with respect to men”), then the idea is that he lacked company because he was rejected by people. Another option is to take the genitive as indicating genus or larger class (i.e., “one lacking among men”). In this case one could translate, “he was a transient” (cf. the use of חָדֵל [khadel] in Ps 39:5 HT [39:4 ET]).

[53:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “like a hiding of the face from him,” i.e., “like one before whom the face is hidden” (see BDB 712 s.v. מַסְתֵּר).

[53:3]  ¹⁸ sn The servant is likened to a seriously ill person who is shunned by others because of his horrible disease.