Yesaya 5:17

5:17 Lambs ¹  will graze as if in their pastures,

amid the ruins the rich sojourners will graze. ² 

Yesaya 9:14

9:14 So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail,

both the shoots and stalk ³  in one day.

Yesaya 21:16

21:16 For this is what the sovereign master ⁴  has told me: “Within exactly one year ⁵  all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end.

Yesaya 22:8

22:8 They ⁶  removed the defenses ⁷  of Judah.

At that time ⁸  you looked

for the weapons in the House of the Forest. ⁹ 

Yesaya 28:11

28:11 For with mocking lips and a foreign tongue

he will speak to these people. ¹⁰ 

Yesaya 33:24

33:24 No resident of Zion ¹¹  will say, “I am ill”;

the people who live there will have their sin forgiven.

Yesaya 36:9

36:9 Certainly you will not refuse one of my master’s minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen. ¹² 

Yesaya 38:20

38:20 The Lord is about to deliver me, ¹³ 

and we will celebrate with music ¹⁴ 

for the rest of our lives in the Lord’s temple.” ¹⁵ 

Yesaya 63:13

63:13 who led them through the deep water?

Like a horse running on flat land ¹⁶  they did not stumble.

Yesaya 66:7

66:7 Before she goes into labor, she gives birth!

Before her contractions begin, she delivers a boy!

[5:17]  ¹ tn Or “young rams”; NIV, NCV “sheep”; NLT “flocks.”

[5:17]  ² tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and ruins, fatlings, resident aliens, will eat.” This part of the verse has occasioned various suggestions of emendation. The parallelism is tighter if the second line refers to animals grazing. The translation, “amid the ruins the fatlings and young sheep graze,” assumes an emendation of “resident aliens” (גָּרִים, garim) to “young goats/sheep” (גְּדַיִם, gÿdayim) – confusion of dalet and resh is quite common – and understands “fatlings” and “young sheep” taken as a compound subject or as in apposition as the subject of the verb. However, no emendations are necessary if the above translation is correct. The meaning of מֵחִים (mekhim) has a significant impact on one’s textual decision and translation. The noun can refer to a sacrificial (“fat”) animal as it does in its only other occurrence (Ps 66:15). However, it could signify the rich of the earth (“the fat ones of the earth”; Ps 22:29 [MT 30]) using a different word for “fatness” (דָּשֶׁן, dashen). If so, it serves a figurative reference to the rich. Consequently, the above translation coheres with the first half of the verse. Just as the sheep are out of place grazing in these places (“as in their pasture”), the sojourners would not have expected to have the chance to eat in these locations. Both animals and itinerant foreigners would eat in places not normal for them.

[5:17]  sn The image completes the picture begun in v. 14 and adds to the irony. When judgment comes, Sheol will eat up the sinners who frequent the feasts; then the banqueting halls will lie in ruins and only sheep will eat there.

[9:14]  ³ sn The metaphor in this line is that of a reed being cut down.

[21:16]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[21:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “in still a year, like the years of a hired worker.” See the note at 16:14.

[22:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “he,” i.e., the enemy invader. NASB, by its capitalization of the pronoun, takes this to refer to the Lord.

[22:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “covering.”

[22:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV), likewise at the beginning of v. 12.

[22:8]  ⁹ sn Perhaps this refers to a royal armory, or to Solomon’s “House of the Forest of Lebanon,” where weapons may have been kept (see 1 Kgs 10:16-17).

[28:11]  ¹⁰ sn This verse alludes to the coming Assyrian invasion, when the people will hear a foreign language that sounds like gibberish to them. The Lord is the subject of the verb “will speak,” as v. 12 makes clear. He once spoke in meaningful terms, but in the coming judgment he will speak to them, as it were, through the mouth of foreign oppressors. The apparent gibberish they hear will be an outward reminder that God has decreed their defeat.

[33:24]  ¹¹ tn The words “of Zion” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[36:9]  ¹² tn Heb “How can you turn back the face of an official [from among] the least of my master’s servants and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?” In vv. 8-9 the chief adviser develops further the argument begun in v. 6. His reasoning seems to be as follows: “In your weakened condition you obviously need military strength. Agree to the king’s terms and I will personally give you more horses than you are capable of outfitting. If I, a mere minor official, am capable of giving you such military might, just think what power the king has. There is no way the Egyptians can match our strength. It makes much better sense to deal with us.”

[38:20]  ¹³ tn The infinitive construct is used here to indicate that an action is imminent. See GKC 348-49 §114.i, and IBHS 610 §36.2.3g.

[38:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and music [or perhaps, “stringed instruments”] we will play.”

[38:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all the days of our lives in the house of the Lord.”

[38:20]  sn Note that vv. 21-22 have been placed between vv. 6-7, where they logically belong. See 2 Kgs 20:7-8.

[63:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in the desert [or “steppe”].”