Yesaya 10:13-14

10:13 For he says:

“By my strong hand I have accomplished this,

by my strategy that I devised.

I invaded the territory of nations, ¹ 

and looted their storehouses.

Like a mighty conqueror, ²  I brought down rulers. ³ 

10:14 My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest,

as one gathers up abandoned eggs,

I gathered up the whole earth.

There was no wing flapping,

or open mouth chirping.” ⁴ 

Yesaya 14:25

14:25 I will break Assyria ⁵  in my land,

I will trample them ⁶  underfoot on my hills.

Their yoke will be removed from my people,

the burden will be lifted from their shoulders. ⁷ 

Yesaya 50:11

50:11 Look, all of you who start a fire

and who equip yourselves with ⁸  flaming arrows, ⁹ 

walk ¹⁰  in the light ¹¹  of the fire you started

and among the flaming arrows you ignited! ¹² 

This is what you will receive from me: ¹³ 

you will lie down in a place of pain. ¹⁴ 

Yesaya 51:3

51:3 Certainly the Lord will console Zion;

he will console all her ruins.

He will make her wilderness like Eden,

her desert like the Garden of the Lord.

Happiness and joy will be restored to ¹⁵  her,

thanksgiving and the sound of music.

Yesaya 66:24

66:24 “They will go out and observe the corpses of those who rebelled against me, for the maggots that eat them will not die, ¹⁶  and the fire that consumes them will not die out. ¹⁷  All people will find the sight abhorrent.” ¹⁸ 

[10:13]  ¹ tn Heb “removed the borders of nations”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV “boundaries.”

[10:13]  ² tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has כְּאַבִּיר (kÿ’abir, “like a strong one”); the marginal reading (Qere) is כַּבִיר (kavir, “mighty one”).

[10:13]  ³ tn Heb “and I brought down, like a strong one, ones sitting [or “living”].” The participle יוֹשְׁבִים (yoshÿvim, “ones sitting”) could refer to the inhabitants of the nations, but the translation assumes that it refers to those who sit on thrones, i.e., rulers. See BDB 442 s.v. יָשַׁב and HALOT 444 s.v. ישׁב.

[10:14]  ⁴ sn The Assyrians’ conquests were relatively unopposed, like robbing a bird’s nest of its eggs when the mother bird is absent.

[14:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “to break Assyria.”

[14:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “him.” This is a collective singular referring to the nation, or a reference to the king of Assyria who by metonymy stands for the entire nation.

[14:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “and his [i.e., Assyria’s] yoke will be removed from them [the people?], and his [Assyria’s] burden from his [the nation’s?] shoulder will be removed.” There are no antecedents in this oracle for the suffixes in the phrases “from them” and “from his shoulder.” Since the Lord’s land and hills are referred to in the preceding line and the statement seems to echo 10:27, it is likely that God’s people are the referents of the suffixes; the translation uses “my people” to indicate this.

[50:11]  ⁸ tc Several more recent commentators have proposed an emendation of מְאַזְּרֵי (mÿ’azzÿre, “who put on”) to מְאִירִי (mÿ’iri, “who light”). However, both Qumran scrolls of Isaiah and the Vulgate support the MT reading (cf. NIV, ESV).

[50:11]  ⁹ tn On the meaning of זִיקוֹת (ziqot, “flaming arrows”), see HALOT 268 s.v. זִיקוֹת.

[50:11]  ¹⁰ tn The imperative is probably rhetorical and has a predictive force.

[50:11]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps, “flame” (so ASV).

[50:11]  ¹² sn Perhaps the servant here speaks to his enemies and warns them that they will self-destruct.

[50:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “from my hand” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[50:11]  ¹⁴ sn The imagery may be that of a person who becomes ill and is forced to lie down in pain on a sickbed. Some see this as an allusion to a fiery place of damnation because of the imagery employed earlier in the verse.

[51:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “found in” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[66:24]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for their worm will not die.”

[66:24]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and their fire will not be extinguished.”

[66:24]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and they will be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

[66:24]  sn This verse depicts a huge mass burial site where the seemingly endless pile of maggot-infested corpses are being burned.