Yesaya 27:4

27:4 I am not angry.

I wish I could confront some thorns and briers!

Then I would march against them ¹  for battle;

I would set them ²  all on fire,

Yesaya 45:11

45:11 This is what the Lord says,

the Holy One of Israel, ³  the one who formed him,

concerning things to come: ⁴ 

“How dare you question me ⁵  about my children!

How dare you tell me what to do with ⁶  the work of my own hands!

Yesaya 65:20

65:20 Never again will one of her infants live just a few days ⁷ 

or an old man die before his time. ⁸ 

Indeed, no one will die before the age of a hundred, ⁹ 

anyone who fails to reach ¹⁰  the age of a hundred will be considered cursed.

[27:4]  ¹ tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense. For other examples of a cohortative expressing resolve after a hypothetical statement introduced by נָתַן with מִי (miwith natan), see Judg 9:29; Jer 9:1-2; Ps 55:6.

[27:4]  ² tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense.

[45:11]  ³ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[45:11]  ⁴ tc The Hebrew text reads “the one who formed him, the coming things.” Among various suggestions, some have proposed an emendation of יֹצְרוֹ (yotsÿro, “the one who formed him”) to יֹצֵר (yotser, “the one who forms”; the suffixed form in the Hebrew text may be influenced by vv. 9-10, where the same form appears twice) and takes “coming things” as the object of the participle (either objective genitive or accusative): “the one who brings the future into being.”

[45:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “Ask me” The rhetorical command sarcastically expresses the Lord’s disgust with those who question his ways.

[45:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “Do you command me about…?” The rhetorical question sarcastically expresses the Lord’s disgust with those who question his ways.

[65:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “and there will not be from there again a nursing infant of days,” i.e., one that lives just a few days.

[65:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “or an old [man] who does not fill out his days.”

[65:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “for the child as a son of one hundred years will die.” The point seems to be that those who die at the age of a hundred will be considered children, for the average life span will be much longer than that. The category “child” will be redefined in light of the expanded life spans that will characterize this new era.

[65:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the one who misses.” חָטָא (khata’) is used here in its basic sense of “miss the mark.” See HALOT 305 s.v. חטא. Another option is to translate, “and the sinner who reaches the age of a hundred will be cursed.”