Yesaya 6:9

6:9 He said, “Go and tell these people:

‘Listen continually, but don’t understand!

Look continually, but don’t perceive!’

Yesaya 7:8

7:8 For Syria’s leader is Damascus,

and the leader of Damascus is Rezin.

Within sixty-five years Ephraim will no longer exist as a nation. ¹ 

Yesaya 7:18

7:18 At that time ²  the Lord will whistle for flies from the distant streams of Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria. ³ 

Yesaya 7:23

7:23 At that time ⁴  every place where there had been a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels will be overrun ⁵  with thorns and briers.

Yesaya 9:12

9:12 Syria from the east,

and the Philistines from the west,

they gobbled up Israelite territory. ⁶ 

Despite all this, his anger does not subside,

and his hand is ready to strike again. ⁷ 

Yesaya 10:17

10:17 The light of Israel ⁸  will become a fire,

their Holy One ⁹  will become a flame;

it will burn and consume the Assyrian king’s ¹⁰  briers

and his thorns in one day.

Yesaya 14:9

14:9 Sheol ¹¹  below is stirred up about you,

ready to meet you when you arrive.

It rouses ¹²  the spirits of the dead for you,

all the former leaders of the earth; ¹³ 

it makes all the former kings of the nations

rise from their thrones. ¹⁴ 

Yesaya 16:12

16:12 When the Moabites plead with all their might at their high places, ¹⁵ 

and enter their temples to pray, their prayers will be ineffective! ¹⁶ 

Yesaya 28:28

28:28 Grain is crushed,

though one certainly does not thresh it forever.

The wheel of one’s wagon rolls over it,

but his horses do not crush it.

Yesaya 30:13

30:13 So this sin will become your downfall.

You will be like a high wall

that bulges and cracks and is ready to collapse;

it crumbles suddenly, in a flash. ¹⁷ 

Yesaya 32:10

32:10 In a year’s time ¹⁸ 

you carefree ones will shake with fear,

for the grape ¹⁹  harvest will fail,

and the fruit harvest will not arrive.

Yesaya 37:16

37:16 “O Lord who commands armies, O God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubim! ²⁰  You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky ²¹  and the earth.

Yesaya 40:22

40:22 He is the one who sits on the earth’s horizon; ²² 

its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him. ²³ 

He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain, ²⁴ 

and spreads it out ²⁵  like a pitched tent. ²⁶ 

Yesaya 44:14

44:14 He cuts down cedars

and acquires a cypress ²⁷  or an oak.

He gets ²⁸  trees from the forest;

he plants a cedar ²⁹  and the rain makes it grow.

Yesaya 48:14

48:14 All of you, gather together and listen!

Who among them ³⁰  announced these things?

The Lord’s ally ³¹  will carry out his desire against Babylon;

he will exert his power against the Babylonians. ³² 

Yesaya 51:9

51:9 Wake up! Wake up!

Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord! ³³ 

Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity!

Did you not smash ³⁴  the Proud One? ³⁵ 

Did you not ³⁶  wound the sea monster? ³⁷ 

Yesaya 59:16

The Lord Intervenes

59:16 He sees there is no advocate; ³⁸ 

he is shocked ³⁹  that no one intervenes.

So he takes matters into his own hands; ⁴⁰ 

his desire for justice drives him on. ⁴¹ 

Yesaya 59:18

59:18 He repays them for what they have done,

dispensing angry judgment to his adversaries

and punishing his enemies. ⁴² 

He repays the coastlands. ⁴³ 

Yesaya 63:10

63:10 But they rebelled and offended ⁴⁴  his holy Spirit, ⁴⁵ 

so he turned into an enemy

and fought against them.

Yesaya 66:22

66:22 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth I am about to make will remain standing before me,” says the Lord, “so your descendants and your name will remain.

[7:8]  ¹ tn Heb “Ephraim will be too shattered to be a nation”; NIV “to be a people.”

[7:8]  sn This statement is problematic for several reasons. It seems to intrude stylistically, interrupting the symmetry of the immediately preceding and following lines. Furthermore, such a long range prophecy lacks punch in the midst of the immediate crisis. After all, even if Israel were destroyed sometime within the next 65 years, a lot could still happen during that time, including the conquest of Judah and the demise of the Davidic family. Finally the significance of the time frame is uncertain. Israel became an Assyrian province within the next 15 years and ceased to exist as a nation. For these reasons many regard the statement as a later insertion, but why a later editor would include the reference to “65 years” remains a mystery. Some try to relate the prophecy to the events alluded to in Ezra 4:2, 10, which refers to how the Assyrian kings Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal settled foreigners in former Israelite territory, perhaps around 670 b.c. However, even if the statement is referring to these events, it lacks rhetorical punch in its immediate context and has the earmarks of a later commentary that has been merged with the text in the process of transmission.

[7:18]  ² tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[7:18]  ³ sn Swarming flies are irritating; bees are irritating and especially dangerous because of the pain they inflict with their sting (see Deut 1:44; Ps 118:12). The metaphors are well chosen, for the Assyrians (symbolized by the bees) were much more powerful and dangerous than the Egyptians (symbolized by the flies). Nevertheless both would put pressure on Judah, for Egypt wanted Judah as a buffer state against Assyrian aggression, while Assyrian wanted it as a base for operations against Egypt. Following the reference to sour milk and honey, the metaphor is especially apt, for flies are attracted to dairy products and bees can be found in the vicinity of honey.

[7:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “in that day.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[7:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “will become” (so NASB); NAB “shall be turned to.”

[9:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they devoured Israel with all the mouth”; NIV “with open mouth”; NLT “With bared fangs.”

[9:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “in all this his anger is not turned, and still his hand is outstretched.” One could translate in the past tense here (and in 9:17b and 21b), but the appearance of the refrain in 10:4b, where it follows a woe oracle prophesying a future judgment, suggests it is a dramatic portrait of the judge which did not change throughout this period of past judgment and will remain unchanged in the future. The English present tense is chosen to best reflect this dramatic mood. (See also 5:25b, where the refrain appears following a dramatic description of coming judgment.)

[10:17]  ⁸ tn In this context the “Light of Israel” is a divine title (note the parallel title “his holy one”). The title points to God’s royal splendor, which overshadows and, when transformed into fire, destroys the “majestic glory” of the king of Assyria (v. 16b).

[10:17]  ⁹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[10:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “his.” In vv. 17-19 the Assyrian king and his empire is compared to a great forest and orchard that are destroyed by fire (symbolic of the Lord).

[14:9]  ¹¹ sn Sheol is the proper name of the subterranean world which was regarded as the land of the dead.

[14:9]  ¹² tn Heb “arousing.” The form is probably a Polel infinitive absolute, rather than a third masculine singular perfect, for Sheol is grammatically feminine (note “stirred up”). See GKC 466 §145.t.

[14:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “all the rams of the earth.” The animal epithet is used metaphorically here for leaders. See HALOT 903 s.v. *עַתּוּד.

[14:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “lifting from their thrones all the kings of the nations.” הֵקִים (heqim, a Hiphil perfect third masculine singular) should be emended to an infinitive absolute (הָקֵים, haqem). See the note on “rouses” earlier in the verse.

[16:12]  ¹⁵ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[16:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “when he appears, when he grows tired, Moab on the high places, and enters his temple to pray, he will not prevail.” It is possible that “when he grows tired” is an explanatory gloss for the preceding “when he appears.”

[30:13]  ¹⁷ tn The verse reads literally, “So this sin will become for you like a breach ready to fall, bulging on a high wall, the breaking of which comes suddenly, in a flash.” Their sin produces guilt and will result in judgment. Like a wall that collapses their fall will be swift and sudden.

[32:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “days upon a year.”

[32:10]  ¹⁹ tn Or perhaps, “olive.” See 24:13.

[37:16]  ²⁰ sn Cherubim (singular “cherub”) refers to the images of winged angelic creatures that were above the ark of the covenant.

[37:16]  ²¹ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[40:22]  ²² tn Heb “the circle of the earth” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[40:22]  ²³ tn The words “before him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[40:22]  ²⁴ tn The otherwise unattested noun דֹּק (doq), translated here “thin curtain,” is apparently derived from the verbal root דקק (“crush”) from which is derived the adjective דַּק (daq, “thin”; see HALOT 229 s.v. דקק). The nuance “curtain” is implied from the parallelism (see “tent” in the next line).

[40:22]  ²⁵ tn The meaning of the otherwise unattested verb מָתַח (matakh, “spread out”) is determined from the parallelism (note the corresponding verb “stretch out” in the previous line) and supported by later Hebrew and Aramaic cognates. See HALOT 654 s.v. *מתה.

[40:22]  ²⁶ tn Heb “like a tent [in which] to live”; NAB, NASB “like a tent to dwell (live NIV, NRSV) in.”

[44:14]  ²⁷ tn It is not certain what type of tree this otherwise unattested noun refers to. Cf. ASV “a holm-tree” (NRSV similar).

[44:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “strengthens for himself,” i.e., “secures for himself” (see BDB 55 s.v. אָמֵץ Pi.2).

[44:14]  ²⁹ tn Some prefer to emend אֹרֶן (’oren) to אֶרֶז (’erez, “cedar”), but the otherwise unattested noun appears to have an Akkadian cognate, meaning “cedar.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 44-45. HALOT 90 s.v. I אֹרֶן offers the meaning “laurel.”

[48:14]  ³⁰ sn This probably refers to the idol gods (see v. 5).

[48:14]  ³¹ tn Or “friend,” or “covenant partner.”

[48:14]  sn The Lord’s ally is a reference to Cyrus.

[48:14]  ³² tn Heb “and his arm [against] the Babylonians.”

[51:9]  ³³ tn The arm of the Lord is a symbol of divine military power. Here it is personified and told to arouse itself from sleep and prepare for action.

[51:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Are you not the one who smashed?” The feminine singular forms agree grammatically with the feminine noun “arm.” The Hebrew text has ַהמַּחְצֶבֶת (hammakhtsevet), from the verbal root חָצַב (khatsav, “hew, chop”). The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has, probably correctly, המחצת, from the verbal root מָחַץ (makhats, “smash”) which is used in Job 26:12 to describe God’s victory over “the Proud One.”

[51:9]  ³⁵ tn This title (רַהַב, rahav, “proud one”) is sometimes translated as a proper name: “Rahab” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). It is used here of a symbolic sea monster, known elsewhere in the Bible and in Ugaritic myth as Leviathan. This sea creature symbolizes the forces of chaos that seek to destroy the created order. In the Bible “the Proud One” opposes God’s creative work, but is defeated (see Job 26:12; Ps 89:10). Here the title refers to Pharaoh’s Egyptian army that opposed Israel at the Red Sea (see v. 10, and note also Isa 30:7 and Ps 87:4, where the title is used of Egypt).

[51:9]  ³⁶ tn The words “did you not” are understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line). The rhetorical questions here and in v. 10 expect the answer, “Yes, you certainly did!”

[51:9]  ³⁷ tn Hebrew תַּנִּין (tannin) is another name for the symbolic sea monster. See the note at 27:1. In this context the sea creature represents Egypt. See the note on the title “Proud One” earlier in this verse.

[59:16]  ³⁸ tn Heb “man” (so KJV, ASV); TEV “no one to help.”

[59:16]  ³⁹ tn Or “appalled” (NAB, NIV, NRSV), or “disgusted.”

[59:16]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and his arm delivers for him.”

[59:16]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and his justice [or “righteousness”] supports him.”

[59:18]  ⁴² tn Heb “in accordance with deeds, so he repays, anger to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies.”

[59:18]  ⁴³ tn Or “islands” (KJV, NIV).

[63:10]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “grieved, hurt the feelings of.”

[63:10]  ⁴⁵ sn The phrase “holy Spirit” occurs in the OT only here (in v. 11 as well) and in Ps 51:11 (51:13 HT), where it is associated with the divine presence.