Yesaya 2:2

2:2 In the future ¹ 

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure ² 

as the most important of mountains,

and will be the most prominent of hills. ³ 

All the nations will stream to it,

Yesaya 21:8

21:8 Then the guard ⁴  cries out:

“On the watchtower, O sovereign master, ⁵ 

I stand all day long;

at my post

I am stationed every night.

Yesaya 24:22

24:22 They will be imprisoned in a pit, ⁶ 

locked up in a prison,

and after staying there for a long time, ⁷  they will be punished. ⁸ 

Yesaya 37:21

37:21 Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Because you prayed to me concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria, ⁹ 

Yesaya 41:4

41:4 Who acts and carries out decrees? ¹⁰ 

Who ¹¹  summons the successive generations from the beginning?

I, the Lord, am present at the very beginning,

and at the very end – I am the one. ¹² 

Yesaya 44:6

The Absurdity of Idolatry

44:6 This is what the Lord, Israel’s king, says,

their protector, ¹³  the Lord who commands armies:

“I am the first and I am the last,

there is no God but me.

Yesaya 48:3

48:3 “I announced events beforehand, ¹⁴ 

I issued the decrees and made the predictions; ¹⁵ 

suddenly I acted and they came to pass.

Yesaya 52:4

52:4 For this is what the sovereign Lord says:

“In the beginning my people went to live temporarily in Egypt;

Assyria oppressed them for no good reason.

[2:2]  ¹ tn Heb “in the end of the days.” This phrase may refer generally to the future, or more technically to the final period of history. See BDB 31 s.v. ַאחֲרִית. The verse begins with a verb that functions as a “discourse particle” and is not translated. In numerous places throughout the OT, the “to be” verb with a prefixed conjunction (וְהָיָה [vÿhayah] and וַיְהִי [vayÿhi]) occurs in this fashion to introduce a circumstantial clause and does not require translation.

[2:2]  ² tn Or “be established” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[2:2]  ³ tn Heb “as the chief of the mountains, and will be lifted up above the hills.” The image of Mount Zion being elevated above other mountains and hills pictures the prominence it will attain in the future.

[21:8]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text has, “the lion,” but this makes little sense here. אַרְיֵה (’aryeh, “lion”) is probably a corruption of an original הָרֹאֶה (haro’eh, “the one who sees”), i.e., the guard mentioned previously in v. 6.

[21:8]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay). Some translations take this to refer to the Lord (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV), while others take it to refer to the guard’s human master (“my lord”; cf. NIV, NLT).

[24:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “they will be gathered [in] a gathering [as] a prisoner in a cistern.” It is tempting to eliminate אֲסֵפָה (’asefah, “a gathering”) as dittographic or as a gloss, but sound repetition is one of the main characteristics of the style of this section of the chapter.

[24:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “and after a multitude of days.”

[24:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “visited” (so KJV, ASV). This verse can mean to visit for good or for evil. The translation assumes the latter, based on v. 21a. However, BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד B.Niph.2 suggests the meaning “visit graciously” here, in which case one might translate “they will be released.”

[37:21]  ⁹ tn The parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:20 reads, “That which you prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.” The verb “I have heard” does not appear in Isa 37:21, where אֲשֶׁר (’asher) probably has a causal sense: “because.”

[41:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Who acts and accomplishes?”; NASB “Who has performed and accomplished it.”

[41:4]  ¹¹ tn The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[41:4]  ¹² tn Heb “I, the Lord, [am with] the first, and with the last ones I [am] he.”

[44:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “his kinsman redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[48:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the former things beforehand I declared.”

[48:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and from my mouth they came forth and I caused them to be heard.”