Yesaya 1:20

1:20 But if you refuse and rebel,

you will be devoured ¹  by the sword.”

Know for certain that the Lord has spoken. ² 

Yesaya 1:28

1:28 All rebellious sinners will be shattered, ³ 

those who abandon the Lord will perish.

Yesaya 3:18

3:18 ⁴ At that time ⁵  the sovereign master will remove their beautiful ankle jewelry, ⁶  neck ornaments, crescent shaped ornaments,

Yesaya 6:7

6:7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Look, this coal has touched your lips. Your evil is removed; your sin is forgiven.” ⁷ 

Yesaya 7:24

7:24 With bow and arrow ⁸  men will hunt ⁹  there, for the whole land will be covered ¹⁰  with thorns and briers.

Yesaya 8:11

The Lord Encourages Isaiah

8:11 Indeed this is what the Lord told me. He took hold of me firmly and warned me not to act like these people: ¹¹ 

Yesaya 8:20

8:20 Then you must recall the Lord’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. ¹²  Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened. ¹³ 

Yesaya 11:1

An Ideal King Establishes a Kingdom of Peace

11:1 A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s ¹⁴  root stock,

a bud will sprout ¹⁵  from his roots.

Yesaya 15:8

15:8 Indeed, the cries of distress echo throughout Moabite territory;

their wailing can be heard in Eglaim and Beer Elim. ¹⁶ 

Yesaya 19:6

19:6 The canals ¹⁷  will stink; ¹⁸ 

the streams of Egypt will trickle and then dry up;

the bulrushes and reeds will decay,

Yesaya 21:16-17

21:16 For this is what the sovereign master ¹⁹  has told me: “Within exactly one year ²⁰  all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end. 21:17 Just a handful of archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be left.” ²¹  Indeed, ²²  the Lord God of Israel has spoken.

Yesaya 22:6

22:6 The Elamites picked up the quiver,

and came with chariots and horsemen; ²³ 

the men of Kir ²⁴  prepared ²⁵  the shield. ²⁶ 

Yesaya 24:14

24:14 They ²⁷  lift their voices and shout joyfully;

they praise ²⁸  the majesty of the Lord in the west.

Yesaya 24:21

The Lord Will Become King

24:21 At that time ²⁹  the Lord will punish ³⁰ 

the heavenly forces in the heavens ³¹ 

and the earthly kings on the earth.

Yesaya 26:15

26:15 You have made the nation larger, ³²  O Lord,

you have made the nation larger and revealed your splendor, ³³ 

you have extended all the borders of the land.

Yesaya 28:11

28:11 For with mocking lips and a foreign tongue

he will speak to these people. ³⁴ 

Yesaya 28:20

28:20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on,

and the blanket is too narrow to wrap around oneself. ³⁵ 

Yesaya 29:2-3

29:2 I will threaten Ariel,

and she will mourn intensely

and become like an altar hearth ³⁶  before me.

29:3 I will lay siege to you on all sides; ³⁷ 

I will besiege you with troops; ³⁸ 

I will raise siege works against you.

Yesaya 32:5

32:5 A fool will no longer be called honorable;

a deceiver will no longer be called principled.

Yesaya 33:2

33:2 Lord, be merciful to us! We wait for you.

Give us strength each morning! ³⁹ 

Deliver us when distress comes. ⁴⁰ 

Yesaya 33:5

33:5 The Lord is exalted, ⁴¹ 

indeed, ⁴²  he lives in heaven; ⁴³ 

he fills Zion with justice and fairness.

Yesaya 33:7

33:7 Look, ambassadors ⁴⁴  cry out in the streets;

messengers sent to make peace ⁴⁵  weep bitterly.

Yesaya 33:9

33:9 The land ⁴⁶  dries up ⁴⁷  and withers away;

the forest of Lebanon shrivels up ⁴⁸  and decays.

Sharon ⁴⁹  is like the desert; ⁵⁰ 

Bashan and Carmel ⁵¹  are parched. ⁵² 

Yesaya 34:5

34:5 He says, ⁵³  “Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers. ⁵⁴ 

Look, it now descends on Edom, ⁵⁵ 

on the people I will annihilate in judgment.”

Yesaya 37:31

37:31 Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit. ⁵⁶ 

Yesaya 40:5

40:5 The splendor ⁵⁷  of the Lord will be revealed,

and all people ⁵⁸  will see it at the same time.

For ⁵⁹  the Lord has decreed it.” ⁶⁰ 

Yesaya 46:2

46:2 Together they bend low and kneel down;

they are unable to rescue the images; ⁶¹ 

they themselves ⁶²  head off into captivity. ⁶³ 

Yesaya 53:4

53:4 But he lifted up our illnesses,

he carried our pain; ⁶⁴ 

even though we thought he was being punished,

attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done. ⁶⁵ 

Yesaya 55:9

55:9 for just as the sky ⁶⁶  is higher than the earth,

so my deeds ⁶⁷  are superior to ⁶⁸  your deeds

and my plans ⁶⁹  superior to your plans.

Yesaya 57:4

57:4 At whom are you laughing?

At whom are you opening your mouth

and sticking out your tongue?

You are the children of rebels,

the offspring of liars, ⁷⁰ 

Yesaya 59:14

59:14 Justice is driven back;

godliness ⁷¹  stands far off.

Indeed, ⁷²  honesty stumbles in the city square

and morality is not even able to enter.

Yesaya 61:2

61:2 to announce the year when the Lord will show his favor,

the day when our God will seek vengeance, ⁷³ 

to console all who mourn,

Yesaya 65:3

65:3 These people continually and blatantly offend me ⁷⁴ 

as they sacrifice in their sacred orchards ⁷⁵ 

and burn incense on brick altars. ⁷⁶ 

[1:20]  ¹ sn The wordplay in the Hebrew draws attention to the options. The people can obey, in which case they will “eat” v. 19 (תֹּאכֵלוּ [to’khelu], Qal active participle of אָכַל) God’s blessing, or they can disobey, in which case they will be devoured (Heb “eaten,” תְּאֻכְּלוּ, [tÿ’ukkÿlu], Qal passive/Pual of אָכַל) by God’s judgment.

[1:20]  ² tn Heb “for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” The introductory כִּי (ki) may be asseverative (as reflected in the translation) or causal/explanatory, explaining why the option chosen by the people will become reality (it is guaranteed by the divine word).

[1:28]  ³ tn Heb “and [there will be] a shattering of rebels and sinners together.”

[3:18]  ⁴ sn The translation assumes that the direct quotation ends with v. 17. The introductory formula “in that day” and the shift from a poetic to prosaic style indicate that a new speech unit begins in v. 18.

[3:18]  ⁵ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[3:18]  ⁶ tn Or “the beauty of [their] ankle jewelry.”

[6:7]  ⁷ tn Or “ritually cleansed,” or “atoned for” (NIV).

[7:24]  ⁸ tn Heb “with arrows and a bow.” The more common English idiom is “bow[s] and arrow[s].”

[7:24]  ⁹ tn Heb “go” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “go hunting.”

[7:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “will be” (so NASB, NRSV).

[8:11]  ¹¹ tc Heb “with strength of hand and he warned me from walking in the way of these people, saying.” Some want to change the pointing of the suffix and thereby emend the Qal imperfect יִסְּרֵנִי (yissÿreni, “he was warning me”) to the more common Piel perfect יִסְּרַנִי (yissÿrani, “he warned me”). Others follow the lead of the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a and read יְסִירֵנִי (yÿsireni, “he was turning me aside,” a Hiphil imperfect from סוּר, sur).

[8:20]  ¹² tn Heb “to [the] instruction and to [the] testimony.” The words “then you must recall” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 19-20a are one long sentence, reading literally, “When they say to you…, to the instruction and to the testimony.” On the identity of the “instruction” and “testimony” see the notes at v. 16.

[8:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “If they do not speak according to this word, [it is] because it has no light of dawn.” The literal translation suggests that “this word” refers to the instruction/testimony. However, it is likely that אִם־לֹא (’im-lo’) is asseverative here, as in 5:9. In this case “this word” refers to the quotation recorded in v. 19. For a discussion of the problem see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 230, n. 9. The singular pronoun in the second half of the verse is collective, referring back to the nation (see v. 19b).

[11:1]  ¹⁴ sn The text mentions David’s father Jesse, instead of the great king himself. Perhaps this is done for rhetorical reasons to suggest that a new David, not just another disappointing Davidic descendant, will arise. Other prophets call the coming ideal Davidic king “David” or picture him as the second coming of David, as it were. See Jer 30:9; Ezek 34:23-24; 37:24-25; Hos 3:5; and Mic 5:2 (as well as the note there).

[11:1]  ¹⁵ tc The Hebrew text has יִפְרֶה (yifreh, “will bear fruit,” from פָּרָה, parah), but the ancient versions, as well as the parallelism suggest that יִפְרַח (yifrakh, “will sprout”, from פָּרַח, parakh) is the better reading here. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:276, n. 2.

[15:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to Eglaim [is] her wailing, and [to] Beer Elim [is] her wailing.”

[19:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “rivers” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, CEV “streams”; TEV “channels.”

[19:6]  ¹⁸ tn The verb form appears as a Hiphil in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a; the form in MT may be a so-called “mixed form,” reflecting the Hebrew Hiphil stem and the functionally corresponding Aramaic Aphel stem. See HALOT 276 s.v. I זנח.

[21:16]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[21:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “in still a year, like the years of a hired worker.” See the note at 16:14.

[21:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “and the remnant of the number of the bow, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few.”

[21:17]  ²² tn Or “for” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[22:6]  ²³ tn Heb “[with] the chariots of men, horsemen.”

[22:6]  ²⁴ sn A distant region in the direction of Mesopotamia; see Amos 1:5; 9:7.

[22:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Kir uncovers” (so NAB, NIV).

[22:6]  ²⁶ sn The Elamites and men of Kir may here symbolize a fierce army from a distant land. If this oracle anticipates a Babylonian conquest of the city (see 39:5-7), then the Elamites and men of Kir are perhaps viewed here as mercenaries in the Babylonian army. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:410.

[24:14]  ²⁷ sn The remnant of the nations (see v. 13) may be the unspecified subject. If so, then those who have survived the judgment begin to praise God.

[24:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “they yell out concerning.”

[24:21]  ²⁹ tn Or “in that day” (so KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[24:21]  ³⁰ tn Heb “visit [in judgment].”

[24:21]  ³¹ tn Heb “the host of the height in the height.” The “host of the height/heaven” refers to the heavenly luminaries (stars and planets, see, among others, Deut 4:19; 17:3; 2 Kgs 17:16; 21:3, 5; 23:4-5; 2 Chr 33:3, 5) that populate the divine/heavenly assembly in mythological and prescientific Israelite thought (see Job 38:7; Isa 14:13).

[26:15]  ³² tn Heb “you have added to the nation.” The last line of the verse suggests that geographical expansion is in view. “The nation” is Judah.

[26:15]  ³³ tn Or “brought honor to yourself.”

[28:11]  ³⁴ sn This verse alludes to the coming Assyrian invasion, when the people will hear a foreign language that sounds like gibberish to them. The Lord is the subject of the verb “will speak,” as v. 12 makes clear. He once spoke in meaningful terms, but in the coming judgment he will speak to them, as it were, through the mouth of foreign oppressors. The apparent gibberish they hear will be an outward reminder that God has decreed their defeat.

[28:20]  ³⁵ sn The bed and blanket probably symbolize their false sense of security. A bed that is too short and a blanket that is too narrow may promise rest and protection from the cold, but in the end they are useless and disappointing. In the same way, their supposed treaty with death will prove useless and disappointing.

[29:2]  ³⁶ tn The term אֲרִיאֵל (’ari’el, “Ariel”) is the word translated “altar hearth” here. The point of the simile is not entirely clear. Perhaps the image likens Jerusalem’s coming crisis to a sacrificial fire.

[29:3]  ³⁷ tc The Hebrew text has כַדּוּר (khadur, “like a circle”), i.e., “like an encircling wall.” Some emend this phrase to כְּדָוִד (kÿdavid, “like David”), which is supported by the LXX (see v. 1). However, the rendering in the LXX could have arisen from a confusion of the dalet (ד) and resh (ר).

[29:3]  ³⁸ tn The meaning of מֻצָּב (mutsav) is not certain. Because of the parallelism (note “siege works”), some translate “towers.” The noun is derived from נָצַב (natsav, “take one’s stand”) and may refer to the troops stationed outside the city to prevent entrance or departure.

[33:2]  ³⁹ tn Heb “Be their arm each morning.” “Arm” is a symbol for strength. The mem suffixed to the noun has been traditionally understood as a third person suffix, but this is contrary to the context, where the people speak of themselves in the first person. The mem (מ) is probably enclitic with ellipsis of the pronoun, which can be supplied from the context. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:589, n. 1.

[33:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “[Be] also our deliverance in the time of distress.”

[33:5]  ⁴¹ tn Or “elevated”; NCV, NLT “is very great.”

[33:5]  ⁴² tn Or “for” (KJV, NASB, NIV).

[33:5]  ⁴³ tn Heb “on high” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “in the heavens.”

[33:7]  ⁴⁴ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word is unknown. Proposals include “heroes” (cf. KJV, ASV “valiant ones”; NASB, NIV “brave men”); “priests,” “residents [of Jerusalem].” The present translation assumes that the term is synonymous with “messengers of peace,” with which it corresponds in the parallel structure of the verse.

[33:7]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “messengers of peace,” apparently those responsible for negotiating the agreements that have been broken (see v. 8).

[33:9]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “earth” (KJV); NAB “the country.”

[33:9]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “mourns” (BDB 5 s.v. I אָבַל). HALOT 6-7 lists homonyms I אבל (“mourn”) and II אבל (“dry up”). They propose the second here on the basis of parallelism. See 24:4.

[33:9]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “Lebanon is ashamed.” The Hiphil is exhibitive, expressing the idea, “exhibits shame.” In this context the statement alludes to the withering of vegetation.

[33:9]  ⁴⁹ sn Sharon was a fertile plain along the Mediterranean coast. See 35:2.

[33:9]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “the Arabah” (NIV). See 35:1.

[33:9]  ⁵¹ sn Both of these areas were known for their trees and vegetation. See 2:13; 35:2.

[33:9]  ⁵² tn Heb “shake off [their leaves]” (so ASV, NRSV); NAB “are stripped bare.”

[34:5]  ⁵³ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Lord speaks at this point.

[34:5]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “indeed [or “for”] my sword is drenched in the heavens.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has תראה (“[my sword] appeared [in the heavens]”), but this is apparently an attempt to make sense out of a difficult metaphor. Cf. NIV “My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens.”

[34:5]  sn In v. 4 the “host of the heaven” refers to the heavenly luminaries (stars and planets, see, among others, Deut 4:19; 17:3; 2 Kgs 17:16; 21:3, 5; 23:4-5; 2 Chr 33:3, 5) that populate the divine/heavenly assembly in mythological and prescientific Israelite thought (see Job 38:7; Isa 14:13). As in 24:21, they are viewed here as opposing God and being defeated in battle.

[34:5]  ⁵⁵ sn Edom is mentioned here as epitomizing the hostile nations that oppose God.

[37:31]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “The remnant of the house of Judah that is left will add roots below and produce fruit above.”

[40:5]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “glory.” The Lord’s “glory” is his theophanic radiance and royal splendor (see Isa 6:3; 24:23; 35:2; 60:1; 66:18-19).

[40:5]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, ASV, NASB); NAB, NIV “mankind”; TEV “the whole human race.”

[40:5]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “indeed.”

[40:5]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[46:2]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “[the] burden,” i.e., their images, the heavy burden carried by the animals.

[46:2]  ⁶² tn נַפְשָׁם (nafsham, “their souls/lives”) is equivalent here to a third masculine plural suffix, but the third feminine singular verb הָלָכָה (halakhah, “they go”) agrees with the feminine noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul, life”).

[46:2]  ⁶³ sn The downfall of Babylon is depicted here. The idols are carried off by the victorious enemy; the gods are likened to defeated captives who cower before the enemy and are taken into exile.

[53:4]  ⁶⁴ sn Illness and pain stand by metonymy (or perhaps as metaphors) for sin and its effects, as vv. 11-12 make clear.

[53:4]  ⁶⁵ tn The words “for something he had done” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The group now realizes he suffered because of his identification with them, not simply because he was a special target of divine anger.

[55:9]  ⁶⁶ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[55:9]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “ways” (so many English versions).

[55:9]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “are higher than.”

[55:9]  ⁶⁹ tn Or “thoughts” (so many English versions).

[57:4]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “Are you not children of rebellion, offspring of a lie?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “Of course you are!”

[59:14]  ⁷¹ tn Or “righteousness” (ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); KJV, NAB “justice.”

[59:14]  ⁷² tn Or “for” (KJV, NRSV).

[61:2]  ⁷³ tn Heb “to announce the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance.

[65:3]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “the people who provoke me to anger to my face continually.”

[65:3]  ⁷⁵ tn Or “gardens” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[65:3]  ⁷⁶ tn Or perhaps, “on tiles.”