Yesaya 5:7

5:7 Indeed ¹  Israel ²  is the vineyard of the Lord who commands armies,

the people ³  of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight.

He waited for justice, but look what he got – disobedience! ⁴ 

He waited for fairness, but look what he got – cries for help! ⁵ 

Yesaya 1:17

1:17 Learn to do what is right!

Promote justice!

Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! ⁶ 

Take up the cause of the orphan!

Defend the rights of the widow! ⁷ 

Yesaya 10:2

10:2 to keep the poor from getting fair treatment,

and to deprive ⁸  the oppressed among my people of justice,

so they can steal what widows own,

and loot what belongs to orphans. ⁹ 

Yesaya 29:21

29:21 those who bear false testimony against a person, ¹⁰ 

who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gate ¹¹ 

and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges. ¹² 

Yesaya 59:4

59:4 No one is concerned about justice; ¹³ 

no one sets forth his case truthfully.

They depend on false words ¹⁴  and tell lies;

they conceive of oppression ¹⁵ 

and give birth to sin.

Yesaya 59:13-15

59:13 We have rebelled and tried to deceive the Lord;

we turned back from following our God.

We stir up ¹⁶  oppression and rebellion;

we tell lies we concocted in our minds. ¹⁷ 

59:14 Justice is driven back;

godliness ¹⁸  stands far off.

Indeed, ¹⁹  honesty stumbles in the city square

and morality is not even able to enter.

59:15 Honesty has disappeared;

the one who tries to avoid evil is robbed.

The Lord watches and is displeased, ²⁰ 

for there is no justice.

[5:7]  ¹ tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[5:7]  ² tn Heb “the house of Israel” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[5:7]  ³ tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.

[5:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “but, look, disobedience.” The precise meaning of מִשְׂפָּח (mishpakh), which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. Some have suggested a meaning “bloodshed.” The term is obviously chosen for its wordplay value; it sounds very much like מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, “justice”). The sound play draws attention to the point being made; the people have not met the Lord’s expectations.

[5:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “but, look, a cry for help.” The verb (“he waited”) does double duty in the parallelism. צְעָקָה (tsa’qah) refers to the cries for help made by the oppressed. It sounds very much like צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “fairness”). The sound play draws attention to the point being made; the people have not met the Lord’s expectations.

[1:17]  ⁶ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The translation assumes an emendation of חָמוֹץ (khamots, “oppressor [?]”) to חָמוּץ (khamuts, “oppressed”), a passive participle from II חָמַץ (khamats, “oppress”; HALOT 329 s.v. II חמץ) and takes the verb II אָשַׁר (’ashar) in the sense of “make happy” (the delocutive Piel, meaning “call/pronounce happy,” is metonymic here, referring to actually effecting happiness). The parallelism favors this interpretation, for the next two lines speak of positive actions on behalf of the destitute. The other option is to retain the MT pointing and translate, “set right the oppressor,” but the nuance “set right” is not clearly attested elsewhere for the verb I אשׁר. This verb does appear as a participle in Isa 3:12 and 9:16 with the meaning “to lead or guide.” If it can mean to “lead” or “rebuke/redirect” in this verse, the prophet could be contrasting this appeal for societal reformation (v. 17c) with a command to reorder their personal lives (v. 17a-b). J. A. Motyer (The Prophecy of Isaiah, 47) suggests that these three statements (v. 17a-c) provide “the contrast between the two ends of imperfect society, the oppressor and the needy, the one inflicting and the other suffering the hurt. Isaiah looks for a transformed society wherever it needs transforming.”

[1:17]  ⁷ tn This word refers to a woman who has lost her husband, by death or divorce. The orphan and widow are often mentioned in the OT as epitomizing the helpless and impoverished who have been left without the necessities of life due to the loss of a family provider.

[10:2]  ⁸ tn Or “rob” (ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV); KJV “take away the right from the poor.”

[10:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “so that widows are their plunder, and they can loot orphans.”

[10:2]  sn On the socio-economic background of vv. 1-2, see the note at 1:23.

[29:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the ones who make a man a sinner with a word.” The Hiphil of חָטָא (khata’) here has a delocutive sense: “declare a man sinful/guilty.”

[29:21]  ¹¹ sn Legal disputes were resolved at the city gate, where the town elders met. See Amos 5:10.

[29:21]  ¹² tn Heb “and deprive by emptiness the innocent.”

[59:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “no one pleads with justice.”

[59:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “nothing”; NAB “emptiness.”

[59:4]  ¹⁵ tn Or “trouble” (NIV), or “harm.”

[59:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “speaking.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[59:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.”

[59:14]  ¹⁸ tn Or “righteousness” (ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); KJV, NAB “justice.”

[59:14]  ¹⁹ tn Or “for” (KJV, NRSV).

[59:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and it is displeasing in his eyes.”