Yesaya 3:16

Washing Away Impurity

3:16 The Lord says,

“The women ¹  of Zion are proud.

They walk with their heads high ² 

and flirt with their eyes.

They skip along ³ 

and the jewelry on their ankles jingles. ⁴ 

Yesaya 5:29-30

5:29 Their roar is like a lion’s;

they roar like young lions.

They growl and seize their prey;

they drag it away and no one can come to the rescue.

5:30 At that time ⁵  they will growl over their prey, ⁶ 

it will sound like sea waves crashing against rocks. ⁷ 

One will look out over the land and see the darkness of disaster,

clouds will turn the light into darkness. ⁸ 

Yesaya 6:8

6:8 I heard the voice of the sovereign master say, “Whom will I send? Who will go on our behalf?” ⁹  I answered, “Here I am, send me!”

Yesaya 13:22

13:22 Wild dogs will yip in her ruined fortresses,

jackals will yelp in the once-splendid palaces. ¹⁰ 

Her time is almost up, ¹¹ 

her days will not be prolonged. ¹² 

Yesaya 15:4

15:4 The people of ¹³  Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,

their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.

For this reason Moab’s soldiers shout in distress;

their courage wavers. ¹⁴ 

Yesaya 24:16

24:16 From the ends of the earth we ¹⁵  hear songs –

the Just One is majestic. ¹⁶ 

But I ¹⁷  say, “I’m wasting away! I’m wasting away! I’m doomed!

Deceivers deceive, deceivers thoroughly deceive!” ¹⁸ 

Yesaya 29:18

29:18 At that time ¹⁹  the deaf will be able to hear words read from a scroll,

and the eyes of the blind will be able to see through deep darkness. ²⁰ 

Yesaya 37:7

37:7 Look, I will take control of his mind; ²¹  he will receive a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down ²²  with a sword in his own land.”’”

Yesaya 37:10

37:10 “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”

Yesaya 38:14

38:14 Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp,

I coo ²³  like a dove;

my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky. ²⁴ 

O sovereign master, ²⁵  I am oppressed;

help me! ²⁶ 

Yesaya 40:6

40:6 A voice says, “Cry out!”

Another asks, ²⁷  “What should I cry out?”

The first voice responds: ²⁸  “All people are like grass, ²⁹ 

and all their promises ³⁰  are like the flowers in the field.

Yesaya 42:13

42:13 The Lord emerges like a hero,

like a warrior he inspires himself for battle; ³¹ 

he shouts, yes, he yells,

he shows his enemies his power. ³² 

Yesaya 58:4

58:4 Look, your fasting is accompanied by ³³  arguments, brawls,

and fistfights. ³⁴ 

Do not fast as you do today,

trying to make your voice heard in heaven.

[3:16]  ¹ tn Heb “daughters” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV).

[3:16]  ² tn Heb “with an outstretched neck.” They proudly hold their heads high so that others can see the jewelry around their necks.

[3:16]  ³ tn Heb “walking and skipping, they walk.”

[3:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “and with their feet they jingle.”

[5:30]  ⁵ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[5:30]  ⁶ tn Heb “over it”; the referent (the prey) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:30]  ⁷ tn Heb “like the growling of the sea.”

[5:30]  ⁸ tn Heb “and one will gaze toward the land, and look, darkness of distress, and light will grow dark by its [the land’s?] clouds.”

[5:30]  sn The motif of light turning to darkness is ironic when compared to v. 20. There the sinners turn light (= moral/ethical good) to darkness (= moral/ethical evil). Now ironically the Lord will turn light (= the sinners’ sphere of existence and life) into darkness (= the judgment and death).

[6:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “for us.” The plural pronoun refers to the Lord, the seraphs, and the rest of the heavenly assembly.

[13:22]  ¹⁰ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “wild dogs will yip among his widows, and jackals in the palaces of pleasure.” The verb “yip” is supplied in the second line; it does double duty in the parallel structure. “His widows” makes little sense in this context; many emend the form (אַלְמנוֹתָיו, ’almnotayv) to the graphically similar אַרְמְנוֹתֶיהָ (’armÿnoteha, “her fortresses”), a reading that is assumed in the present translation. The use of “widows” may represent an intentional wordplay on “fortresses,” indicating that the fortresses are like dejected widows (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:308, n. 1).

[13:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “near to come is her time.”

[13:22]  ¹² sn When was the prophecy of Babylon’s fall fulfilled? Some argue that the prophecy was fulfilled in 689 b.c. when the Assyrians under Sennacherib sacked and desecrated the city (this event is alluded to in 23:13). This may have been an initial phase in the fulfillment of the prophecy, but the reference to the involvement of the Medes (v. 17) and the suggestion that Babylon’s demise will bring about the restoration of Israel (14:1-2) indicate that the fall of Babylon to the Medes and Persians in 538 b.c. is the primary focus of the prophecy. (After all, the Lord did reveal to Isaiah that the Chaldeans [not the Assyrians] would someday conquer Jerusalem and take the people into exile [see 39:5-7].) However, the vivid picture of destruction in vv. 15-22 raises a problem. The Medes and Persians did not destroy the city; in fact Cyrus’ takeover of Babylon, though preceded by a military campaign, was relatively peaceful and even welcomed by some Babylonian religious officials. How then does one explain the prophecy’s description of the city’s violent fall? As noted above, the events of 689 b.c. and 538 b.c. may have been merged in the prophecy. However, it is more likely that the language is stylized and exaggerated for rhetorical effect. See Isa 34:11-15; Jer 50:39-40 (describing Babylon’s fall in 538 b.c.); 51:36-37 (describing Babylon’s fall in 538 b.c.); Zeph 2:13-15; the extra-biblical Sefire treaty curses; and Ashurbanipal’s description of the destruction of Elam in his royal annals. In other words, the events of 538 b.c. essentially, though not necessarily literally, fulfill the prophecy.

[15:4]  ¹³ tn The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[15:4]  ¹⁴ tc The Hebrew text has, “For this reason the soldiers of Moab shout, his inner being quivers for him.” To achieve tighter parallelism, some emend the first line, changing חֲלֻצֵי (khalutse, “soldiers”) to חַלְצֵי (khaltse, “loins”) and יָרִיעוּ (yari’u, “they shout,” from רוּעַ, rua’) to יָרְעוּ (yor’u, “they quiver”), a verb from יָרַע (yara’), which also appears in the next line. One can then translate v. 4b as “For this reason the insides of the Moabites quiver, their whole body shakes” (cf. NAB, NRSV).

[24:16]  ¹⁵ sn The identity of the subject is unclear. Apparently in vv. 15-16a an unidentified group responds to the praise they hear in the west by exhorting others to participate.

[24:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Beauty belongs to the just one.” These words may summarize the main theme of the songs mentioned in the preceding line.

[24:16]  ¹⁷ sn The prophet seems to contradict what he hears the group saying. Their words are premature because more destruction is coming.

[24:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and [with] deception deceivers deceive.”

[24:16]  tn Verse 16b is a classic example of Hebrew wordplay. In the first line (“I’m wasting away…”) four consecutive words end with hireq yod ( ִי); in the second line all forms are derived from the root בָּגַד (bagad). The repetition of sound draws attention to the prophet’s lament.

[29:18]  ¹⁹ tn Or “In that day” (KJV).

[29:18]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.”

[29:18]  sn Perhaps this depicts the spiritual transformation of the once spiritually insensitive nation (see vv. 10-12, cf. also 6:9-10).

[37:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “I will put in him a spirit.” The precise sense of רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) is uncertain in this context. It may refer to a spiritual being who will take control of his mind (see 1 Kgs 22:19), or it could refer to a disposition of concern and fear. In either case the Lord’s sovereignty over the king is apparent.

[37:7]  ²² tn Heb “cause him to fall” (so KJV, ASV, NAB), that is, “kill him.”

[38:14]  ²³ tn Or “moan” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); KJV, CEV “mourn.”

[38:14]  ²⁴ tn Heb “my eyes become weak, toward the height.”

[38:14]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in v. 16 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[38:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “stand surety for me.” Hezekiah seems to be picturing himself as a debtor who is being exploited; he asks that the Lord might relieve his debt and deliver him from the oppressive creditor.

[40:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and he says.” Apparently a second “voice” responds to the command of the first “voice.”

[40:6]  ²⁸ tn The words “the first voice responds” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The first voice tells the second one what to declare.

[40:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “all flesh is grass.” The point of the metaphor is explained in v. 7.

[40:6]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and all his loyalty.” The antecedent of the third masculine suffix is בָּשָׂר (basar, “flesh”), which refers collectively to mankind. The LXX, apparently understanding the antecedent as “grass,” reads “glory,” but חֶסֶד (khesed) rarely, if ever, has this nuance. The normal meaning of חֶסֶד (“faithfulness, loyalty, devotion”) fits very well in the argument. Human beings and their faithfulness (verbal expressions of faithfulness are specifically in view; cf. NRSV “constancy”) are short-lived and unreliable, in stark contrast to the decrees and promises of the eternal God.

[42:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “like a man of war he stirs up zeal” (NIV similar).

[42:13]  ³² tn Or perhaps, “he triumphs over his enemies” (cf. NIV); NLT “will crush all his enemies.”

[58:4]  ³³ tn Heb “you fast for” (so NASB); NRSV “you fast only to quarrel.”

[58:4]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and for striking with a sinful fist.”