Yesaya 40:15

40:15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;

they are regarded as dust on the scales.

He lifts ¹  the coastlands ²  as if they were dust.

Yesaya 44:20

44:20 He feeds on ashes; ³ 

his deceived mind misleads him.

He cannot rescue himself,

nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’ ⁴ 

Yesaya 52:2

52:2 Shake off the dirt! ⁵ 

Get up, captive ⁶  Jerusalem!

Take off the iron chains around your neck,

O captive daughter Zion!

Yesaya 58:5

58:5 Is this really the kind of fasting I want? ⁷ 

Do I want a day when people merely humble themselves, ⁸ 

bowing their heads like a reed

and stretching out ⁹  on sackcloth and ashes?

Is this really what you call a fast,

a day that is pleasing to the Lord?

Yesaya 61:3

61:3 to strengthen those who mourn in Zion,

by giving them a turban, instead of ashes,

oil symbolizing joy, ¹⁰  instead of mourning,

a garment symbolizing praise, ¹¹  instead of discouragement. ¹² 

They will be called oaks of righteousness, ¹³ 

trees planted by the Lord to reveal his splendor. ¹⁴ 

Yesaya 29:4

29:4 You will fall;

while lying on the ground ¹⁵  you will speak;

from the dust where you lie, your words will be heard. ¹⁶ 

Your voice will sound like a spirit speaking from the underworld; ¹⁷ 

from the dust you will chirp as if muttering an incantation. ¹⁸ 

Yesaya 2:10

2:10 Go up into the rocky cliffs,

hide in the ground.

Get away from the dreadful judgment of the Lord, ¹⁹ 

from his royal splendor!

Yesaya 5:24

5:24 Therefore, as flaming fire ²⁰  devours straw,

and dry grass disintegrates in the flames,

so their root will rot,

and their flower will blow away like dust. ²¹ 

For they have rejected the law of the Lord who commands armies,

they have spurned the commands ²²  of the Holy One of Israel. ²³ 

Yesaya 29:5

29:5 But the horde of invaders will be like fine dust,

the horde of tyrants ²⁴  like chaff that is blown away.

It will happen suddenly, in a flash.

Yesaya 26:19

26:19 ²⁵ Your dead will come back to life;

your corpses will rise up.

Wake up and shout joyfully, you who live in the ground! ²⁶ 

For you will grow like plants drenched with the morning dew, ²⁷ 

and the earth will bring forth its dead spirits. ²⁸ 

Yesaya 65:25

65:25 A wolf and a lamb will graze together; ²⁹ 

a lion, like an ox, will eat straw, ³⁰ 

and a snake’s food will be dirt. ³¹ 

They will no longer injure or destroy

on my entire royal mountain,” ³²  says the Lord.

[40:15]  ¹ tn Or “weighs” (NIV); NLT “picks up.”

[40:15]  ² tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV, NLT).

[44:20]  ³ tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”

[44:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”

[52:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “Shake yourself free from the dirt.”

[52:2]  ⁶ tc The Hebrew text has שְּׂבִי (shÿvi), which some understand as a feminine singular imperative from יָשַׁב (yashav, “sit”). The LXX, Vulgate, Syriac, and the Targum support the MT reading (the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does indirectly). Some interpret this to mean “take your throne”: The Lord exhorts Jerusalem to get up from the dirt and sit, probably with the idea of sitting in a place of honor (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 2:361). However, the form is likely a corruption of שְׁבִיָּה (shÿviyyah, “captive”), which appears in the parallel line.

[58:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “choose” (so NASB, NRSV); NAB “wish.”

[58:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “a day when man humbles himself.” The words “Do I want” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[58:5]  ⁹ tn Or “making [their] bed.”

[61:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “oil of joy” (KJV, ASV); NASB, NIV, NRSV “the oil of gladness.”

[61:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “garment of praise.”

[61:3]  ¹² tn Heb “a faint spirit” (so NRSV); KJV, ASV “the spirit of heaviness”; NASB “a spirit of fainting.”

[61:3]  ¹³ tn Rather than referring to the character of the people, צֶדֶק (tsedeq) may carry the nuance “vindication” here, suggesting that God’s restored people are a testimony to his justice. See v. 2, which alludes to the fact that God will take vengeance against the enemies of his people. Cf. NAB “oaks of justice.”

[61:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a planting of the Lord to reveal splendor.”

[29:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “from the ground” (so NIV, NCV).

[29:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and from the dust your word will be low.”

[29:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and your voice will be like a ritual pit from the earth.” The Hebrew אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. See the note on “incantations” in 8:19. Here the word is used metonymically for the voice that emerges from such a pit.

[29:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and from the dust your word will chirp.” The words “as if muttering an incantation” are supplied in the translation for clarification. See the parallelism and 8:19.

[2:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “from the dread of the Lord,” that is, from the dread that he produces in the objects of his judgment.” The words “get away” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[5:24]  ²⁰ tn Heb “a tongue of fire” (so NASB), referring to a tongue-shaped flame.

[5:24]  ²¹ sn They are compared to a flowering plant that withers quickly in a hot, arid climate.

[5:24]  ²² tn Heb “the word.”

[5:24]  ²³ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[29:5]  ²⁴ tn Or “violent men”; cf. NASB “the ruthless ones.”

[26:19]  ²⁵ sn At this point the Lord (or prophet) gives the people an encouraging oracle.

[26:19]  ²⁶ tn Heb “dust” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[26:19]  ²⁷ tn Heb “for the dew of lights [is] your dew.” The pronominal suffix on “dew” is masculine singular, like the suffixes on “your dead” and “your corpses” in the first half of the verse. The statement, then, is addressed to collective Israel, the speaker in verse 18. The plural form אוֹרֹת (’orot) is probably a plural of respect or magnitude, meaning “bright light” (i.e., morning’s light). Dew is a symbol of fertility and life. Here Israel’s “dew,” as it were, will soak the dust of the ground and cause the corpses of the dead to spring up to new life, like plants sprouting up from well-watered soil.

[26:19]  ²⁸ sn It is not certain whether the resurrection envisioned here is intended to be literal or figurative. A comparison with 25:8 and Dan 12:2 suggests a literal interpretation, but Ezek 37:1-14 uses resurrection as a metaphor for deliverance from exile and the restoration of the nation (see Isa 27:12-13).

[65:25]  ²⁹ sn A similar statement appears in 11:6.

[65:25]  ³⁰ sn These words also appear in 11:7.

[65:25]  ³¹ sn Some see an allusion to Gen 3:14 (note “you will eat dirt”). The point would be that even in this new era the snake (often taken as a symbol of Satan) remains under God’s curse. However, it is unlikely that such an allusion exists. Even if there is an echo of Gen 3:14, the primary allusion is to 11:8, where snakes are pictured as no longer dangerous. They will no longer attack other living creatures, but will be content to crawl along the ground. (The statement “you will eat dirt” in Gen 3:14 means “you will crawl on the ground.” In the same way the statement “dirt will be its food” in Isa 65:25 means “it will crawl on the ground.”)

[65:25]  ³² tn Heb “in all my holy mountain.” These same words appear in 11:9. See the note there.

[65:25]  sn As in 11:1-9 the prophet anticipates a time when the categories predator-prey no longer exist. See the note at the end of 11:8.