Yesaya 1:8

1:8 Daughter Zion ¹  is left isolated,

like a hut in a vineyard,

or a shelter in a cucumber field;

she is a besieged city. ² 

Yesaya 1:10

1:10 Listen to the Lord’s word,

you leaders of Sodom! ³ 

Pay attention to our God’s rebuke, ⁴ 

people of Gomorrah!

Yesaya 2:10

2:10 Go up into the rocky cliffs,

hide in the ground.

Get away from the dreadful judgment of the Lord, ⁵ 

from his royal splendor!

Yesaya 5:18

5:18 Those who pull evil along using cords of emptiness are as good as dead, ⁶ 

who pull sin as with cart ropes. ⁷ 

Yesaya 10:25

10:25 For very soon my fury ⁸  will subside, and my anger will be directed toward their destruction.”

Yesaya 14:3

14:3 When the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and anxiety, ⁹  and from the hard labor which you were made to perform,

Yesaya 16:1

16:1 Send rams as tribute to the ruler of the land, ¹⁰ 

from Sela in the desert ¹¹ 

to the hill of Daughter Zion.

Yesaya 22:3

22:3 ¹² All your leaders ran away together –

they fled to a distant place;

all your refugees ¹³  were captured together –

they were captured without a single arrow being shot. ¹⁴ 

Yesaya 26:20

26:20 Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms!

Close your doors behind you!

Hide for a little while,

until his angry judgment is over! ¹⁵ 

Yesaya 29:1

Ariel is Besieged

29:1 Ariel is as good as dead ¹⁶  –

Ariel, the town David besieged! ¹⁷ 

Keep observing your annual rituals,

celebrate your festivals on schedule. ¹⁸ 

Yesaya 30:2

30:2 They travel down to Egypt

without seeking my will, ¹⁹ 

seeking Pharaoh’s protection,

and looking for safety in Egypt’s protective shade. ²⁰ 

Yesaya 30:5

30:5 all will be put to shame ²¹ 

because of a nation that cannot help them,

who cannot give them aid or help,

but only shame and disgrace.”

Yesaya 48:19

48:19 Your descendants would have been as numerous as sand, ²² 

and your children ²³  like its granules.

Their name would not have been cut off

and eliminated from my presence. ²⁴ 

Yesaya 52:9

52:9 In unison give a joyful shout,

O ruins of Jerusalem!

For the Lord consoles his people;

he protects ²⁵  Jerusalem.

Yesaya 58:1

The Lord Desires Genuine Devotion

58:1 “Shout loudly! Don’t be quiet!

Yell as loud as a trumpet!

Confront my people with their rebellious deeds; ²⁶ 

confront Jacob’s family with their sin! ²⁷ 

Yesaya 59:6

59:6 Their webs cannot be used for clothing;

they cannot cover themselves with what they make.

Their deeds are sinful;

they commit violent crimes. ²⁸ 

Yesaya 59:20

59:20 “A protector ²⁹  comes to Zion,

to those in Jacob who repent of their rebellious deeds,” ³⁰  says the Lord.

Yesaya 60:2

60:2 For, look, darkness covers the earth

and deep darkness covers ³¹  the nations,

but the Lord shines on you;

his splendor ³²  appears over you.

[1:8]  ¹ tn Heb “daughter of Zion” (so KJV, NASB, NIV). The genitive is appositional, identifying precisely which daughter is in view. By picturing Zion as a daughter, the prophet emphasizes her helplessness and vulnerability before the enemy.

[1:8]  ² tn Heb “like a city besieged.” Unlike the preceding two comparisons, which are purely metaphorical, this third one identifies the reality of Israel’s condition. In this case the comparative preposition, as in v. 7b, has the force, “in every way like,” indicating that all the earmarks of a siege are visible because that is indeed what is taking place. The verb form in MT is Qal passive participle of נָצַר (natsar, “guard”), but since this verb is not often used of a siege (see BDB 666 s.v. I נָצַר), some prefer to repoint the form as a Niphal participle from II צוּר (tsur, “besiege”). However, the latter is not attested elsewhere in the Niphal (see BDB 848 s.v. II צוּר).

[1:10]  ³ sn Building on the simile of v. 9, the prophet sarcastically addresses the leaders and people of Jerusalem as if they were leaders and residents of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah. The sarcasm is appropriate, for if the judgment is comparable to Sodom’s, that must mean that the sin which prompted the judgment is comparable as well.

[1:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “to the instruction of our God.” In this context, which is highly accusatory and threatening, תּוֹרָה (torah, “law, instruction”) does not refer to mere teaching, but to corrective teaching and rebuke.

[2:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the dread of the Lord,” that is, from the dread that he produces in the objects of his judgment.” The words “get away” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[5:18]  ⁶ sn See the note at v. 8.

[5:18]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “Woe to those who pull evil with the ropes of emptiness, and, as [with] ropes of a cart, sin.” Though several textual details are unclear, the basic idea is apparent. The sinners are so attached to their sinful ways (compared here to a heavy load) that they strain to drag them along behind them. If שָׁוְא (shavÿ’, “emptiness”) is retained, it makes a further comment on their lifestyle, denouncing it as one that is devoid of what is right and destined to lead to nothing but destruction. Because “emptiness” does not form a very tight parallel with “cart” in the next line, some emend שָׁוְא to שֶׂה (she, “sheep”) and עֲגָלָה (’agalah, “cart”) to עֵגֶל (’egel, “calf”): “Those who pull evil along with a sheep halter are as good as dead who pull sin with a calf rope” (following the lead of the LXX and improving the internal parallelism of the verse). In this case, the verse pictures the sinners pulling sin along behind them as one pulls an animal with a halter. For a discussion of this view, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:163, n. 1. Nevertheless, this emendation is unnecessary. The above translation emphasizes the folly of the Israelites who hold on to their sin (and its punishment) even while they hope for divine intervention.

[10:25]  ⁸ tc The Hebrew text has simply “fury,” but the pronominal element can be assumed on the basis of what immediately follows (see “my anger” in the clause). It is possible that the suffixed yod (י) has been accidentally dropped by virtual haplography. Note that a vav (ו) is prefixed to the form that immediately follows; yod and vav are very similar in later script phases.

[14:3]  ⁹ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[16:1]  ¹⁰ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “Send [a plural imperatival form is used] a ram [to] the ruler of the land.” The term כַּר (kar, “ram”) should be emended to the plural כָּרִים (karim). The singular form in the text is probably the result of haplography; note that the next word begins with a mem (מ).

[16:1]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text has “toward [across?] the desert.”

[22:3]  ¹² tn Verse 3 reads literally, “All your leaders ran away, apart from a bow they were captured, all your found ones were captured together, to a distant place they fled.” J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:403, n. 3) suggests that the lines of the verse are arranged chiastically; lines 1 and 4 go together, while lines 2 and 3 are parallel. To translate the lines in the order they appear in the Hebrew text is misleading to the English reader, who is likely unfamiliar with, or at least insensitive to, chiastic parallelism. Consequently, the translation above arranges the lines as follows: line 1 (Hebrew) = line 1 (in translation); line 2 (Hebrew) = line 4 (in translation); line 3 (Hebrew) = line 3 (in translation); line 4 (Hebrew) = line 2 (in translation).

[22:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “all your found ones.” To achieve tighter parallelism (see “your leaders”) some prefer to emend the form to אַמִּיצַיִךְ (’ammitsayikh, “your strong ones”) or to נֶאֱמָצַיִךְ (ne’ematsayikh, “your strengthened ones”).

[22:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “apart from [i.e., without] a bow they were captured”; cf. NAB, NRSV “without the use of a bow.”

[26:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “until anger passes by.”

[29:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Woe [to] Ariel.” The meaning of the name “Ariel” is uncertain. The name may mean “altar hearth” (see v. 2) or, if compound, “lion of God.” The name is used here as a title for Mount Zion/Jerusalem (see v. 8).

[29:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the town where David camped.” The verb חָנָה (khanah, “camp”) probably has the nuance “lay siege to” here. See v. 3. Another option is to take the verb in the sense of “lived, settled.”

[29:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Add year to year, let your festivals occur in cycles.” This is probably a sarcastic exhortation to the people to keep up their religious rituals, which will not prevent the coming judgment. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:527.

[30:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “those who go to descend to Egypt, but [of] my mouth they do not inquire.”

[30:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “to seek protection in the protection of Pharaoh, and to seek refuge in the shade of Egypt.”

[30:5]  ²¹ tn The present translation follows the marginal (Qere) reading of the Hebrew text; the consonantal text (Kethib) has “made to stink, decay.”

[48:19]  ²² tn Heb “like sand”; NCV “as many as the grains of sand.”

[48:19]  ²³ tn Heb “and the issue from your inner parts.”

[48:19]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and his name would not be cut off and would not be destroyed from before me.”

[52:9]  ²⁵ tn Or “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.

[58:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “declare to my people their rebellion.”

[58:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and to the house of Jacob their sin.” The verb “declare” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[59:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “their deeds are deeds of sin, and the work of violence [is] in their hands.”

[59:20]  ²⁹ tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[59:20]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and to those who turn from rebellion in Jacob.”

[60:2]  ³¹ tn The verb “covers” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[60:2]  ³² tn Or “glory” (so most English versions); TEV “the brightness of his presence.”