Yesaya 1:3

1:3 An ox recognizes its owner,

a donkey recognizes where its owner puts its food; ¹ 

but Israel does not recognize me, ² 

my people do not understand.”

Yesaya 1:12

1:12 When you enter my presence,

do you actually think I want this –

animals trampling on my courtyards? ³ 

Yesaya 5:5

5:5 Now I will inform you

what I am about to do to my vineyard:

I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture, ⁴ 

I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there. ⁵ 

Yesaya 5:13

5:13 Therefore my ⁶  people will be deported ⁷ 

because of their lack of understanding.

Their ⁸  leaders will have nothing to eat, ⁹ 

their ¹⁰  masses will have nothing to drink. ¹¹ 

Yesaya 6:10

6:10 Make the hearts of these people calloused;

make their ears deaf and their eyes blind!

Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears,

their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.” ¹² 

Yesaya 9:13

9:13 The people did not return to the one who struck them,

they did not seek reconciliation ¹³  with the Lord who commands armies.

Yesaya 12:1

12:1 At that time ¹⁴  you will say:

“I praise you, O Lord,

for even though you were angry with me,

your anger subsided, and you consoled me.

Yesaya 16:9

16:9 So I weep along with Jazer ¹⁵ 

over the vines of Sibmah.

I will saturate you ¹⁶  with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh,

for the conquering invaders shout triumphantly

over your fruit and crops. ¹⁷ 

Yesaya 25:11

25:11 Moab ¹⁸  will spread out its hands in the middle of it, ¹⁹ 

just as a swimmer spreads his hands to swim;

the Lord ²⁰  will bring down Moab’s ²¹  pride as it spreads its hands. ²² 

Yesaya 28:28

28:28 Grain is crushed,

though one certainly does not thresh it forever.

The wheel of one’s wagon rolls over it,

but his horses do not crush it.

Yesaya 30:12-13

30:12 For this reason this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

“You have rejected this message; ²³ 

you trust instead in your ability to oppress and trick, ²⁴ 

and rely on that kind of behavior. ²⁵ 

30:13 So this sin will become your downfall.

You will be like a high wall

that bulges and cracks and is ready to collapse;

it crumbles suddenly, in a flash. ²⁶ 

Yesaya 30:22

30:22 You will desecrate your silver-plated idols ²⁷ 

and your gold-plated images. ²⁸ 

You will throw them away as if they were a menstrual rag,

saying to them, “Get out!”

Yesaya 36:18

36:18 Hezekiah is misleading you when he says, “The Lord will rescue us.” Has any of the gods of the nations rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria? ²⁹ 

Yesaya 37:3

37:3 “This is what Hezekiah says: ³⁰  ‘This is a day of distress, insults, ³¹  and humiliation, ³²  as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through. ³³ 

Yesaya 37:10

37:10 “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”

Yesaya 42:8

The Lord Intervenes

42:8 I am the Lord! That is my name!

I will not share my glory with anyone else,

or the praise due me with idols.

Yesaya 50:8

50:8 The one who vindicates me is close by.

Who dares to argue with me? Let us confront each other! ³⁴ 

Who is my accuser? ³⁵  Let him challenge me! ³⁶ 

Yesaya 53:3

53:3 He was despised and rejected by people, ³⁷ 

one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness;

people hid their faces from him; ³⁸ 

he was despised, and we considered him insignificant. ³⁹ 

Yesaya 55:10

55:10 ⁴⁰ The rain and snow fall from the sky

and do not return,

but instead water the earth

and make it produce and yield crops,

and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat.

Yesaya 57:10

57:10 Because of the long distance you must travel, you get tired, ⁴¹ 

but you do not say, ‘I give up.’ ⁴² 

You get renewed energy, ⁴³ 

so you don’t collapse. ⁴⁴ 

Yesaya 57:18

57:18 I have seen their behavior, ⁴⁵ 

but I will heal them and give them rest,

and I will once again console those who mourn. ⁴⁶ 

Yesaya 59:13

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

we turned back from following our God.

We stir up ⁴⁷  oppression and rebellion;

we tell lies we concocted in our minds. ⁴⁸ 

[1:3]  ¹ tn Heb “and the donkey the feeding trough of its owner.” The verb in the first line does double duty in the parallelism.

[1:3]  ² tn Although both verbs have no object, the parallelism suggests that Israel fails to recognize the Lord as the one who provides for their needs. In both clauses, the placement of “Israel” and “my people” at the head of the clause focuses the reader’s attention on the rebellious nation (C. van der Merwe, J. Naudé, J. Kroeze, A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar, 346-47).

[1:12]  ³ tn Heb “When you come to appear before me, who requires this from your hand, trampling of my courtyards?” The rhetorical question sarcastically makes the point that God does not require this parade of livestock. The verb “trample” probably refers to the eager worshipers and their sacrificial animals walking around in the temple area.

[5:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “and it will become [a place for] grazing.” בָּעַר (ba’ar, “grazing”) is a homonym of the more often used verb “to burn.”

[5:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “and it will become a trampled place” (NASB “trampled ground”).

[5:13]  ⁶ sn It is not certain if the prophet or the Lord is speaking at this point.

[5:13]  ⁷ tn The suffixed (perfect) form of the verb is used; in this way the coming event is described for rhetorical effect as occurring or as already completed.

[5:13]  ⁸ tn The third masculine singular suffix refers back to “my people.”

[5:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “Their glory will be men of hunger.” כָּבוֹד (kavod, “glory”) is in opposition to הָמוֹן (hamon, “masses”) and refers here to the rich and prominent members of the nation. Some prefer to repoint מְתֵי (mÿtey, “men of”) as מִתֵי (mitey, “dead ones of”).

[5:13]  ¹⁰ tn The third masculine singular suffix refers back to “my people.”

[5:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and their masses will be parched [by] thirst.”

[6:10]  ¹² sn Do we take this commission at face value? Does the Lord really want to prevent his people from understanding, repenting, and being healed? Verse 9, which ostensibly records the content of Isaiah’s message, is clearly ironic. As far as we know, Isaiah did not literally proclaim these exact words. The Hebrew imperatival forms are employed rhetorically and anticipate the response Isaiah will receive. When all is said and done, Isaiah might as well preface and conclude every message with these ironic words, which, though imperatival in form, might be paraphrased as follows: “You continually hear, but don’t understand; you continually see, but don’t perceive.” Isaiah might as well command them to be spiritually insensitive, because, as the preceding and following chapters make clear, the people are bent on that anyway. (This ironic command is comparable to saying to a particularly recalcitrant individual, “Go ahead, be stubborn!”) Verse 10b is also clearly sarcastic. On the surface it seems to indicate Isaiah’s hardening ministry will prevent genuine repentance. But, as the surrounding chapters clearly reveal, the people were hardly ready or willing to repent. Therefore, Isaiah’s preaching was not needed to prevent repentance! Verse 10b reflects the people’s attitude and might be paraphrased accordingly: “Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their mind, repent, and be restored, and they certainly wouldn’t want that, would they?” Of course, this sarcastic statement may also reveal that the Lord himself is now bent on judgment, not reconciliation. Just as Pharaoh’s rejection of Yahweh’s ultimatum ignited judgment and foreclosed, at least temporarily, any opportunity for repentance, so the Lord may have come to the point where he has decreed to bring judgment before opening the door for repentance once more. The sarcastic statement in verse 10b would be an emphatic way of making this clear. (Perhaps we could expand our paraphrase: “Otherwise they might…repent, and be restored, and they certainly wouldn’t want that, would they? Besides, it’s too late for that!”) Within this sarcastic framework, verse 10a must also be seen as ironic. As in verse 9 the imperatival forms should be taken as rhetorical and as anticipating the people’s response. One might paraphrase: “Your preaching will desensitize the minds of these people, make their hearing dull, and blind their eyes.” From the outset the Lord might as well command Isaiah to harden the people, because his preaching will end up having that effect. Despite the use of irony, we should still view this as a genuine, albeit indirect, act of divine hardening. After all, God did not have to send Isaiah. By sending him, he drives the sinful people further from him, for Isaiah’s preaching, which focuses on the Lord’s covenantal demands and impending judgment upon covenantal rebellion, forces the people to confront their sin and then continues to desensitize them as they respond negatively to the message. As in the case of Pharaoh, Yahweh’s hardening is not arbitrarily imposed on a righteous or even morally neutral object. Rather his hardening is an element of his righteous judgment on recalcitrant sinners. Ironically, Israel’s rejection of prophetic preaching in turn expedites disciplinary punishment, and brings the battered people to a point where they might be ready for reconciliation. The prophesied judgment (cf. 6:11-13) was fulfilled by 701 b.c. when the Assyrians devastated the land (a situation presupposed by Isa 1:2-20; see especially vv. 4-9). At that time the divine hardening had run its course and Isaiah is able to issue an ultimatum (1:19-20), one which Hezekiah apparently took to heart, resulting in the sparing of Jerusalem (see Isa 36-39 and cf. Jer 26:18-19 with Mic 3:12).This interpretation, which holds in balance both Israel’s moral responsibility and the Lord’s sovereign work among his people, is consistent with other pertinent texts both within and outside the Book of Isaiah. Isa 3:9 declares that the people of Judah “have brought disaster upon themselves,” but Isa 29:9-10 indicates that the Lord was involved to some degree in desensitizing the people. Zech 7:11-12 looks back to the pre-exilic era (cf. v. 7) and observes that the earlier generations stubbornly hardened their hearts, but Ps 81:11-12, recalling this same period, states that the Lord “gave them over to their stubborn hearts.”

[9:13]  ¹³ tn This verse describes the people’s response to the judgment described in vv. 11-12. The perfects are understood as indicating simple past.

[12:1]  ¹⁴ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[16:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “So I weep with the weeping of Jazer.” Once more the speaker (the Lord? – see v. 10b) plays the role of a mourner (see 15:5).

[16:9]  ¹⁶ tc The form אֲרַיָּוֶךְ (’arayyavekh) should be emended to אֲרַוָּיֶךְ (’aravvayekh; the vav [ו] and yod [י] have been accidentally transposed) from רָוָה (ravah, “be saturated”).

[16:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for over your fruit and over your harvest shouting has fallen.” The translation assumes that the shouting is that of the conqueror (Jer 51:14). Another possibility is that the shouting is that of the harvesters (see v. 10b, as well as Jer 25:30), in which case one might translate, “for the joyful shouting over the fruit and crops has fallen silent.”

[25:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:11]  ¹⁹ tn The antecedent of the third masculine singular pronominal suffix is probably the masculine noun מַתְבֵּן (matben, “heap of straw”) in v. 10 rather than the feminine noun מַדְמֵנָה (madmenah, “manure pile”), also in v. 10.

[25:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Moab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:11]  ²² tn The Hebrew text has, “he will bring down his pride along with the [?] of his hands.” The meaning of אָרְבּוֹת (’arbot), which occurs only here in the OT, is unknown. Some (see BDB 70 s.v. אָרְבָּה) translate “artifice, cleverness,” relating the form to the verbal root אָרָב (’arav, “to lie in wait, ambush”), but this requires some convoluted semantic reasoning. HALOT 83 s.v. *אָרְבָּה suggests the meaning “[nimble] movements.” The translation above, which attempts to relate the form to the preceding context, is purely speculative.

[30:12]  ²³ tn The sentence actually begins with the word “because.” In the Hebrew text vv. 12-13 are one long sentence.

[30:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and you trust in oppression and cunning.”

[30:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and you lean on it”; NAB “and depend on it.”

[30:13]  ²⁶ tn The verse reads literally, “So this sin will become for you like a breach ready to fall, bulging on a high wall, the breaking of which comes suddenly, in a flash.” Their sin produces guilt and will result in judgment. Like a wall that collapses their fall will be swift and sudden.

[30:22]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the platings of your silver idols.”

[30:22]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the covering of your gold image.”

[36:18]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Have the gods of the nations rescued, each his land, from the hand of the king of Assyria?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course not!”

[37:3]  ³⁰ tn In the Hebrew text this verse begins with “they said to him” (cf. NRSV).

[37:3]  ³¹ tn Or “rebuke” (KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV), or “correction.”

[37:3]  ³² tn Or “contempt”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “disgrace.”

[37:3]  ³³ tn Heb “when sons come to the cervical opening and there is no strength to give birth.”

[50:8]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Let us stand together!”

[50:8]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Who is the master of my judgment?”

[50:8]  ³⁶ tn Heb “let him approach me”; NAB, NIV “Let him confront me.”

[53:3]  ³⁷ tn Heb “lacking of men.” If the genitive is taken as specifying (“lacking with respect to men”), then the idea is that he lacked company because he was rejected by people. Another option is to take the genitive as indicating genus or larger class (i.e., “one lacking among men”). In this case one could translate, “he was a transient” (cf. the use of חָדֵל [khadel] in Ps 39:5 HT [39:4 ET]).

[53:3]  ³⁸ tn Heb “like a hiding of the face from him,” i.e., “like one before whom the face is hidden” (see BDB 712 s.v. מַסְתֵּר).

[53:3]  ³⁹ sn The servant is likened to a seriously ill person who is shunned by others because of his horrible disease.

[55:10]  ⁴⁰ tn This verse begins in the Hebrew text with כִּי כַּאֲשֶׁר (ki ka’asher, “for, just as”), which is completed by כֵּן (ken, “so, in the same way”) at the beginning of v. 11. For stylistic reasons, this lengthy sentence is divided up into separate sentences in the translation.

[57:10]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “by the greatness [i.e., “length,” see BDB 914 s.v. רֹב 2] of your way you get tired.”

[57:10]  ⁴² tn Heb “it is hopeless” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NRSV “It is useless.”

[57:10]  ⁴³ tn Heb “the life of your hand you find.” The term חַיָּה (khayyah, “life”) is here used in the sense of “renewal” (see BDB 312 s.v.) while יָד (yad) is used of “strength.”

[57:10]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “you do not grow weak.”

[57:18]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “his ways” (so KJV, NASB, NIV); TEV “how they acted.”

[57:18]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and I will restore consolation to him, to his mourners.”

[59:13]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “speaking.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[59:13]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.”