Yesaya 7:17

7:17 The Lord will bring on you, your people, and your father’s family a time ¹  unlike any since Ephraim departed from Judah – the king of Assyria!” ² 

Yesaya 17:13

17:13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, ³ 

when he shouts at ⁴  them, they will flee to a distant land,

driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills,

or like dead thistles ⁵  before a strong gale.

Yesaya 21:2

21:2 I have received a distressing message: ⁶ 

“The deceiver deceives,

the destroyer destroys.

Attack, you Elamites!

Lay siege, you Medes!

I will put an end to all the groaning!” ⁷ 

Yesaya 27:1

27:1 At that time ⁸  the Lord will punish

with his destructive, ⁹  great, and powerful sword

Leviathan the fast-moving ¹⁰  serpent,

Leviathan the squirming serpent;

he will kill the sea monster. ¹¹ 

Yesaya 30:30

30:30 The Lord will give a mighty shout ¹² 

and intervene in power, ¹³ 

with furious anger and flaming, destructive fire, ¹⁴ 

with a driving rainstorm and hailstones.

Yesaya 42:25

42:25 So he poured out his fierce anger on them,

along with the devastation ¹⁵  of war.

Its flames encircled them, but they did not realize it; ¹⁶ 

it burned against them, but they did notice. ¹⁷ 

[7:17]  ¹ tn Heb “days” (so KJV, NAB); NASB, NRSV “such days.”

[7:17]  ² sn Initially the prophecy appears to be a message of salvation. Immanuel seems to have a positive ring to it, sour milk and honey elsewhere symbolize prosperity and blessing (see Deut 32:13-14; Job 20:17), verse 16 announces the defeat of Judah’s enemies, and verse 17a could be taken as predicting a return to the glorious days of David and Solomon. However, the message turns sour in verses 17b-25. God will be with his people in judgment, as well as salvation. The curds and honey will be signs of deprivation, not prosperity, the relief announced in verse 16 will be short-lived, and the new era will be characterized by unprecedented humiliation, not a return to glory. Because of Ahaz’s refusal to trust the Lord, potential blessing would be transformed into a curse, just as Isaiah turns an apparent prophecy of salvation into a message of judgment. Because the words “the king of Assyria” are rather awkwardly tacked on to the end of the sentence, some regard them as a later addition. However, the very awkwardness facilitates the prophet’s rhetorical strategy here, as he suddenly turns what sounds like a positive message into a judgment speech. Actually, “the king of Assyria,” stands in apposition to the earlier object “days,” and specifies who the main character of these coming “days” will be.

[17:13]  ³ tn Heb “the peoples are in an uproar like the uproar of mighty waters.”

[17:13]  ⁴ tn Or “rebukes.” The verb and related noun are used in theophanies of God’s battle cry which terrifies his enemies. See, for example, Pss 18:15; 76:7; 106:9; Isa 50:2; Nah 1:4, and A. Caquot, TDOT 3:49-53.

[17:13]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps “tumbleweed” (NAB, NIV, CEV); KJV “like a rolling thing.”

[21:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “a severe revelation has been related to me.”

[21:2]  ⁷ sn This is often interpreted to mean “all the groaning” that Babylon has caused others.

[27:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).

[27:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “hard, severe”; cf. NAB, NRSV “cruel”; KJV “sore”; NLT “terrible.”

[27:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “fleeing” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV). Some translate “slippery” or “slithering.”

[27:1]  ¹¹ tn The description of Leviathan should be compared with the following excerpts from Ugaritic mythological texts: (1) “Was not the dragon (Ugaritic tnn, cognate with Hebrew תַנִּין [tannin, translated “sea monster” here]) vanquished and captured? I did destroy the wriggling (Ugaritic ’qltn, cognate to Hebrew עֲקַלָּתוֹן [’aqallaton, translated “squirming” here]) serpent, the tyrant with seven heads (cf. Ps 74:14).” (See CTA 3 iii 38-39.) (2) “for all that you smote Leviathan the slippery (Ugaritic brh, cognate to Hebrew בָּרִחַ [bariakh, translated “fast-moving” here]) serpent, [and] made an end of the wriggling serpent, the tyrant with seven heads” (See CTA 5 i 1-3.)

[27:1]  sn In the Ugaritic mythological texts Leviathan is a sea creature that symbolizes the destructive water of the sea and in turn the forces of chaos that threaten the established order. Isaiah here applies imagery from Canaanite mythology to Yahweh’s eschatological victory over his enemies. Elsewhere in the OT, the battle with the sea motif is applied to Yahweh’s victories over the forces of chaos at creation and in history (cf. Pss 74:13-14; 77:16-20; 89:9-10; Isa 51:9-10). Yahweh’s subjugation of the chaos waters is related to His kingship (cf. Pss 29:3, 10; 93:3-4). Apocalyptic literature employs the imagery as well. The beasts of Dan 7 emerge from the sea, while Rev 13 speaks of a seven-headed beast coming from the sea.

[30:30]  ¹² tn Heb “the Lord will cause the splendor of his voice to be heard.”

[30:30]  ¹³ tn Heb “and reveal the lowering of his arm.”

[30:30]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and a flame of consuming fire.”

[42:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “strength” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “fury”; NASB “fierceness”; NIV “violence.”

[42:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and it blazed against him all around, but he did not know.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb “blazed” is the divine חֵמָה (khemah, “anger”) mentioned in the previous line.

[42:25]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and it burned against him, but he did not set [it] upon [the] heart.”