Yesaya 9:8

God’s Judgment Intensifies

9:8 ¹ The sovereign master ²  decreed judgment ³  on Jacob,

and it fell on Israel. ⁴ 

Yesaya 9:11

9:11 Then the Lord provoked ⁵  their adversaries to attack them, ⁶ 

he stirred up ⁷  their enemies –

Yesaya 35:6

35:6 Then the lame will leap like a deer,

the mute tongue will shout for joy;

for water will flow ⁸  in the desert,

streams in the wilderness. ⁹ 

Yesaya 59:4

59:4 No one is concerned about justice; ¹⁰ 

no one sets forth his case truthfully.

They depend on false words ¹¹  and tell lies;

they conceive of oppression ¹² 

and give birth to sin.

[9:8]  ¹ sn The following speech (9:8-10:4) assumes that God has already sent judgment (see v. 9), but it also announces that further judgment is around the corner (10:1-4). The speech seems to describe a series of past judgments on the northern kingdom which is ready to intensify further in the devastation announced in 10:1-4. It may have been written prior to the Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom in 734-733 b.c., or sometime between that invasion and the downfall of Samaria in 722 b.c. The structure of the speech displays four panels, each of which ends with the refrain, “Through all this, his anger did not subside; his hand remained outstretched” (9:12b; 17b; 21b; 10:4b): Panel I: (A) Description of past judgment (9:8); (B) Description of the people’s attitude toward past judgment (9:9-10); (C) Description of past judgment (9:11-12a); (D) Refrain (9:12b); Panel II: (A) Description of the people’s attitude toward past judgment (9:13); (B) Description of past judgment (9:14-17a); (C) Refrain (9:17b); Panel III: (A) Description of past judgment (9:18-21a); (B) Refrain (9:21b); Panel IV: (A) Woe oracle announcing future judgment (10:1-4a); (B) Refrain (10:4b).

[9:8]  ² tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in v. 17 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:8]  ³ tn Heb “sent a word” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NASB “sends a message.”

[9:8]  ⁴ tn The present translation assumes that this verse refers to judgment that had already fallen. Both verbs (perfects) are taken as indicating simple past; the vav (ו) on the second verb is understood as a simple vav conjunctive. Another option is to understand the verse as describing a future judgment (see 10:1-4). In this case the first verb is a perfect of certitude; the vav on the second verb is a vav consecutive.

[9:11]  ⁵ tn The translation assumes that the prefixed verb with vav (ו) consecutive continues the narrative of past judgment.

[9:11]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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.

[35:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “burst forth” (so NAB); KJV “break out.”

[35:6]  ⁹ tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT “desert.”

[59:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “no one pleads with justice.”

[59:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “nothing”; NAB “emptiness.”

[59:4]  ¹² tn Or “trouble” (NIV), or “harm.”