Yesaya 35:8

35:8 A thoroughfare will be there –

it will be called the Way of Holiness. ¹ 

The unclean will not travel on it;

it is reserved for those authorized to use it ²  –

fools ³  will not stray into it.

Yesaya 7:25

7:25 They will stay away from all the hills that were cultivated, for fear of the thorns and briers. ⁴  Cattle will graze there and sheep will trample on them. ⁵ 

Yesaya 13:21

13:21 Wild animals will rest there,

the ruined ⁶  houses will be full of hyenas. ⁷ 

Ostriches will live there,

wild goats will skip among the ruins. ⁸ 

Yesaya 32:14

32:14 For the fortress is neglected;

the once-crowded ⁹  city is abandoned.

Hill ¹⁰  and watchtower

are permanently uninhabited. ¹¹ 

Wild donkeys love to go there,

and flocks graze there. ¹² 

Yesaya 5:18

5:18 Those who pull evil along using cords of emptiness are as good as dead, ¹³ 

who pull sin as with cart ropes. ¹⁴ 

Yesaya 1:12

1:12 When you enter my presence,

do you actually think I want this –

animals trampling on my courtyards? ¹⁵ 

Yesaya 5:6

5:6 I will make it a wasteland;

no one will prune its vines or hoe its ground, ¹⁶ 

and thorns and briers will grow there.

I will order the clouds

not to drop any rain on it.

Yesaya 8:21

8:21 They will pass through the land ¹⁷  destitute and starving. Their hunger will make them angry, ¹⁸  and they will curse their king and their God ¹⁹  as they look upward.

Yesaya 34:7

34:7 Wild oxen will be slaughtered ²⁰  along with them,

as well as strong bulls. ²¹ 

Their land is drenched with blood,

their soil is covered with fat.

Yesaya 34:14

34:14 Wild animals and wild dogs will congregate there; ²² 

wild goats will bleat to one another. ²³ 

Yes, nocturnal animals ²⁴  will rest there

and make for themselves a nest. ²⁵ 

Yesaya 43:20

43:20 The wild animals of the desert honor me,

the jackals and ostriches,

because I put water in the desert

and streams in the wilderness,

to quench the thirst of my chosen people,

[35:8]  ¹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and there will be there a road and a way, and the Way of Holiness it will be called.” וְדֶרֶךְ (vÿderekh, “and a/the way”) is accidentally duplicated; the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does not reflect the repetition of the phrase.

[35:8]  ² tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The text reads literally “and it is for them, the one who walks [on the] way.” In this context those authorized to use the Way of Holiness would be morally upright people who are the recipients of God’s deliverance, in contrast to the morally impure and foolish who are excluded from the new covenant community.

[35:8]  ³ tn In this context “fools” are those who are morally corrupt, not those with limited intellectual capacity.

[7:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “and all the hills which were hoed with a hoe, you will not go there [for] fear of the thorns and briers.”

[7:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “and it will become a pasture for cattle and a trampling place for sheep.”

[7:25]  sn At this point one is able to summarize the content of the “sign” (vv. 14-15) as follows: A young woman known to be present when Isaiah delivered this message to Ahaz (perhaps a member of the royal family or the prophetess mentioned in 8:3) would soon give birth to a boy whom the mother would name Immanuel, “God is with us.” Eventually Immanuel would be forced to eat sour milk and honey, which would enable him to make correct moral decisions. How would this situation come about and how would it constitute a sign? Before this situation developed, the Israelites and Syrians would be defeated. But then the Lord would usher in a period of time unlike any since the division of the kingdom almost 200 years before. The Assyrians would overrun the land, destroy the crops, and force the people to subsist on goats’ milk and honey. At that time, as the people saw Immanuel eating his sour milk and honey, the Davidic family would be forced to acknowledge that God was indeed with them. He was present with them in the Syrian-Israelite crisis, fully capable of rescuing them; but he was also present with them in judgment, disciplining them for their lack of trust. The moral of the story is quite clear: Failure to appropriate God’s promises by faith can turn potential blessing into disciplinary judgment.

[13:21]  ⁶ tn The word “ruined” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[13:21]  ⁷ tn The precise referent of this word in uncertain. See HALOT 29 s.v. *אֹחַ. Various English versions translate as “owls” (e.g., NAB, NASB), “wild dogs” (NCV); “jackals” (NIV); “howling creatures” (NRSV, NLT).

[13:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “will skip there.”

[32:14]  ⁹ tn Or “noisy” (NAB, NIV, NCV).

[32:14]  ¹⁰ tn Hebrew עֹפֶל (’ofel), probably refers here to a specific area within the city of Jerusalem. See HALOT 861 s.v. II עֹפֶל.

[32:14]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text has בְעַד מְעָרוֹת (vÿ’ad mÿ’arot). The force of בְעַד, which usually means “behind, through, round about,” or “for the benefit of,” is uncertain here. HALOT 616 s.v. *מְעָרָה takes מְעָרוֹת (mÿ’arot) as a homonym of “cave” and define it here as “cleared field.” Despite these lexical problems, the general point of the statement seems clear – the city will be uninhabited.

[32:14]  ¹² tn Heb “the joy of wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks.”

[5:18]  ¹³ sn See the note at v. 8.

[5:18]  ¹⁴ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “Woe to those who pull evil with the ropes of emptiness, and, as [with] ropes of a cart, sin.” Though several textual details are unclear, the basic idea is apparent. The sinners are so attached to their sinful ways (compared here to a heavy load) that they strain to drag them along behind them. If שָׁוְא (shavÿ’, “emptiness”) is retained, it makes a further comment on their lifestyle, denouncing it as one that is devoid of what is right and destined to lead to nothing but destruction. Because “emptiness” does not form a very tight parallel with “cart” in the next line, some emend שָׁוְא to שֶׂה (she, “sheep”) and עֲגָלָה (’agalah, “cart”) to עֵגֶל (’egel, “calf”): “Those who pull evil along with a sheep halter are as good as dead who pull sin with a calf rope” (following the lead of the LXX and improving the internal parallelism of the verse). In this case, the verse pictures the sinners pulling sin along behind them as one pulls an animal with a halter. For a discussion of this view, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:163, n. 1. Nevertheless, this emendation is unnecessary. The above translation emphasizes the folly of the Israelites who hold on to their sin (and its punishment) even while they hope for divine intervention.

[1:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “When you come to appear before me, who requires this from your hand, trampling of my courtyards?” The rhetorical question sarcastically makes the point that God does not require this parade of livestock. The verb “trample” probably refers to the eager worshipers and their sacrificial animals walking around in the temple area.

[5:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “it will not be pruned or hoed” (so NASB); ASV and NRSV both similar.

[8:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he will pass through it.” The subject of the collective singular verb is the nation. (See the preceding note.) The immediately preceding context supplies no antecedent for “it” (a third feminine singular suffix in the Hebrew text); the suffix may refer to the land, which would be a reasonable referent with a verb of motion. Note also that אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”) does appear at the beginning of the next verse.

[8:21]  ¹⁸ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[8:21]  ¹⁹ tn Or “gods” (NAB, NRSV, CEV).

[34:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “will go down”; NAB “shall be struck down.”

[34:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “and bulls along with strong ones.” Perhaps this refers to the leaders.

[34:14]  ²² tn Heb “will meet” (so NIV); NLT “will mingle there.”

[34:14]  ²³ tn Heb “and a goat will call to its neighbor.”

[34:14]  ²⁴ tn The precise meaning of לִּילִית (lilit) is unclear, though in this context the word certainly refers to some type of wild animal or bird. The word appears to be related to לַיְלָה (laylah, “night”). Some interpret it as the name of a female night demon, on the basis of an apparent Akkadian cognate used as the name of a demon. Later Jewish legends also identified Lilith as a demon. Cf. NRSV “Lilith.”

[34:14]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and will find for themselves a resting place.”