Yesaya 26:1

Judah Will Celebrate

26:1 At that time ¹  this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city!

The Lord’s ²  deliverance, like walls and a rampart, makes it secure. ³ 

Yesaya 28:18

28:18 Your treaty with death will be dissolved; ⁴ 

your agreement ⁵  with Sheol will not last. ⁶ 

When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by, ⁷ 

you will be overrun by it. ⁸ 

Yesaya 33:23

33:23 Though at this time your ropes are slack, ⁹ 

the mast is not secured, ¹⁰ 

and the sail ¹¹  is not unfurled,

at that time you will divide up a great quantity of loot; ¹² 

even the lame will drag off plunder. ¹³ 

Yesaya 55:3

55:3 Pay attention and come to me!

Listen, so you can live! ¹⁴ 

Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to ¹⁵  you,

just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. ¹⁶ 

Yesaya 59:4

59:4 No one is concerned about justice; ¹⁷ 

no one sets forth his case truthfully.

They depend on false words ¹⁸  and tell lies;

they conceive of oppression ¹⁹ 

and give birth to sin.

[26:1]  ¹ tn Heb “In that day” (so KJV).

[26:1]  ² tn Heb “his”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:1]  ³ tn Heb “deliverance he makes walls and a rampart.”

[28:18]  ⁴ tn On the meaning of כָּפַר (kafar) in this context, see HALOT 494 s.v. I כפר and J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:515, n. 9.

[28:18]  ⁵ tn Normally the noun חָזוּת (khazut) means “vision.” See the note at v. 15.

[28:18]  ⁶ tn Or “will not stand” (NIV, NRSV).

[28:18]  ⁷ tn See the note at v. 15.

[28:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “you will become a trampling place for it.”

[33:23]  ⁹ tn The words “though at this time” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The first half of the verse is addressed to Judah and contrasts the nation’s present weakness with its future prosperity. Judah is compared to a ship that is incapable of sailing.

[33:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they do not fasten the base of their mast.” On כֵּן (ken, “base”) see BDB 487 s.v. III כֵּן and HALOT 483 s.v. III כֵּן.

[33:23]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps, “flag.”

[33:23]  ¹² tn Heb “then there will be divided up loot of plunder [in] abundance.”

[33:23]  ¹³ sn Judah’s victory over its enemies will be so thorough there will be more than enough plunder for everyone, even slow-moving lame men who would normally get left out in the rush to gather the loot.

[55:3]  ¹⁴ tn The jussive with vav (ו) conjunctive following the imperative indicates purpose/result.

[55:3]  sn To live here refers to covenantal blessing, primarily material prosperity and national security (see vv. 4-5, 13, and Deut 30:6, 15, 19-20).

[55:3]  ¹⁵ tn Or “an eternal covenant with.”

[55:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the reliable expressions of loyalty of David.” The syntactical relationship of חַסְדֵי (khasde, “expressions of loyalty”) to the preceding line is unclear. If the term is appositional to בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”), then the Lord here transfers the promises of the Davidic covenant to the entire nation. Another option is to take חַסְדֵי (khasde) as an adverbial accusative and to translate “according to the reliable covenantal promises.” In this case the new covenantal arrangement proposed here is viewed as an extension or perhaps fulfillment of the Davidic promises. A third option, the one reflected in the above translation, is to take the last line as comparative. In this case the new covenant being proposed is analogous to the Davidic covenant. Verses 4-5, which compare David’s international prominence to what Israel will experience, favors this view. In all three of these interpretations, “David” is an objective genitive; he is the recipient of covenantal promises. A fourth option would be to take David as a subjective genitive and understand the line as giving the basis for the preceding promise: “Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, because of David’s faithful acts of covenantal loyalty.”

[59:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “no one pleads with justice.”

[59:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “nothing”; NAB “emptiness.”

[59:4]  ¹⁹ tn Or “trouble” (NIV), or “harm.”