Yesaya 6:13

6:13 Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, ¹  like one of the large sacred trees ²  or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. ³  That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family.” ⁴ 

Yesaya 14:25

14:25 I will break Assyria ⁵  in my land,

I will trample them ⁶  underfoot on my hills.

Their yoke will be removed from my people,

the burden will be lifted from their shoulders. ⁷ 

Yesaya 25:4

25:4 For you are a protector for the poor,

a protector for the needy in their distress,

a shelter from the rainstorm,

a shade from the heat.

Though the breath of tyrants ⁸  is like a winter rainstorm, ⁹ 

Yesaya 28:15

28:15 For you say,

“We have made a treaty with death,

with Sheol ¹⁰  we have made an agreement. ¹¹ 

When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by ¹² 

it will not reach us.

For we have made a lie our refuge,

we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.” ¹³ 

Yesaya 63:9

63:9 Through all that they suffered, he suffered too. ¹⁴ 

The messenger sent from his very presence ¹⁵  delivered them.

In his love and mercy he protected ¹⁶  them;

he lifted them up and carried them throughout ancient times. ¹⁷ 

Yesaya 66:4

66:4 So I will choose severe punishment ¹⁸  for them;

I will bring on them what they dread,

because I called, and no one responded,

I spoke and they did not listen.

They did evil before me; ¹⁹ 

they chose to do what displeases me.”

Yesaya 66:14

66:14 When you see this, you will be happy, ²⁰ 

and you will be revived. ²¹ 

The Lord will reveal his power to his servants

and his anger to his enemies. ²² 

[6:13]  ¹ tn Or “be burned” (NRSV); NIV “laid waste.”

[6:13]  ² tn Heb “like a massive tree or like a big tree” (perhaps, “like a terebinth or like an oak”).

[6:13]  ³ tn The Hebrew text has “which in the felling, a sacred pillar in them.” Some take מַצֶּבֶת (matsevet) as “stump,” and translate, “which, when chopped down, have a stump remaining in them.” But elsewhere מַצֶּבֶת refers to a memorial pillar (2 Sam 18:18) and the word resembles מַצֶּבָה (matsevah, “sacred pillar”). בָּם (bam, “in them”) may be a corruption of בָּמָה (bamah, “high place”; the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has במה). אֳשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) becomes a problem in this case, but one might emend the form to וּכְּאֲשֵׁרָה (ukÿ’asherah, “or like an Asherah pole”) and translate, “like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole.” Though the text is difficult, the references to sacred trees and a sacred pillar suggest that the destruction of a high place is in view, an apt metaphor for the judgment of idolatrous Judah.

[6:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “a holy offspring [is] its sacred pillar.” If מַצֶּבֶת (matsevet) is taken as “stump,” one can see in this statement a brief glimpse of hope. The tree (the nation) is chopped down, but the stump (a righteous remnant) remains from which God can restore the nation. However, if מַצֶּבֶת is taken as “sacred pillar” (מַצֶּבָה, matsevah; see the previous note), it is much more difficult to take the final statement in a positive sense. In this case “holy offspring” alludes to God’s ideal for his covenant people, the offspring of the patriarchs. Ironically that “holy” nation is more like a “sacred pillar” and it will be thrown down like a sacred pillar from a high place and its land destroyed like the sacred trees located at such shrines. Understood in this way, the ironic statement is entirely negative in tone, just like the rest of the preceding announcement of judgment. It also reminds the people of their failure; they did not oppose pagan religion, instead they embraced it. Now they will be destroyed in the same way they should have destroyed paganism.

[14:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “to break Assyria.”

[14:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “him.” This is a collective singular referring to the nation, or a reference to the king of Assyria who by metonymy stands for the entire nation.

[14:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “and his [i.e., Assyria’s] yoke will be removed from them [the people?], and his [Assyria’s] burden from his [the nation’s?] shoulder will be removed.” There are no antecedents in this oracle for the suffixes in the phrases “from them” and “from his shoulder.” Since the Lord’s land and hills are referred to in the preceding line and the statement seems to echo 10:27, it is likely that God’s people are the referents of the suffixes; the translation uses “my people” to indicate this.

[25:4]  ⁸ tn Or perhaps, “the violent”; NIV, NRSV “the ruthless.”

[25:4]  ⁹ tc The Hebrew text has, “like a rainstorm of a wall,” which might be interpreted to mean, “like a rainstorm battering against a wall.” The translation assumes an emendation of קִיר (qir, “wall”) to קֹר (qor, “cold, winter”; cf. Gen 8:22). See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:457, n. 6, for discussion.

[28:15]  ¹⁰ sn Sheol is the underworld, land of the dead, according to the OT world view.

[28:15]  ¹¹ tn Elsewhere the noun חֹזֶה (khozeh) refers to a prophet who sees visions. In v. 18 the related term חָזוּת (khazut, “vision”) is used. The parallelism in both verses (note “treaty”) seems to demand a meaning “agreement” for both nouns. Perhaps חֹזֶה and חזוּת are used in a metonymic sense in vv. 15 and 18. Another option is to propose a homonymic root. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:514, and HALOT 301 s.v. II חֹזֶה.

[28:15]  ¹² tn Heb “the overwhelming scourge, when it passes by” (NRSV similar).

[28:15]  ¹³ sn “Lie” and “deceitful word” would not be the terms used by the people. They would likely use the words “promise” and “reliable word,” but the prophet substitutes “lie” and “deceitful word” to emphasize that this treaty with death will really prove to be disappointing.

[63:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in all their distress, there was distress to him” (reading לוֹ [lo] with the margin/Qere).

[63:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the messenger [or “angel”] of his face”; NIV “the angel of his presence.”

[63:9]  sn This may refer to the “angel of God” mentioned in Exod 14:19, who in turn may be identical to the divine “presence” (literally, “face”) referred to in Exod 33:14-15 and Deut 4:37. Here in Isa 63 this messenger may be equated with God’s “holy Spirit” (see vv. 10-11) and “the Spirit of the Lord” (v. 14). See also Ps 139:7, where God’s “Spirit” seems to be equated with his “presence” (literally, “face”) in the synonymous parallelistic structure.

[63:9]  ¹⁶ tn Or “redeemed” (KJV, NAB, NIV), or “delivered.”

[63:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “all the days of antiquity”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “days of old.”

[66:4]  ¹⁸ tn The precise meaning of the noun is uncertain. It occurs only here and in 3:4 (but see the note there). It appears to be derived from the verbal root עָלַל (’alal), which can carry the nuance “deal severely.”

[66:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “that which is evil in my eyes.”

[66:14]  ²⁰ tn “and you will see and your heart will be happy.”

[66:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “and your bones like grass will sprout.”

[66:14]  ²² tn Heb “and the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, and anger to his enemies.”