Yesaya 63:15

63:15 Look down from heaven and take notice,

from your holy, majestic palace!

Where are your zeal ¹  and power?

Do not hold back your tender compassion! ² 

Yesaya 63:18

63:18 For a short time your special ³  nation possessed a land, ⁴ 

but then our adversaries knocked down ⁵  your holy sanctuary.

Yesaya 38:18-19

38:18 Indeed ⁶  Sheol does not give you thanks;

death does not ⁷  praise you.

Those who descend into the pit do not anticipate your faithfulness.

38:19 The living person, the living person, he gives you thanks,

as I do today.

A father tells his sons about your faithfulness.

Yesaya 26:16

26:16 O Lord, in distress they looked for you;

they uttered incantations because of your discipline. ⁸ 

Yesaya 64:7

64:7 No one invokes ⁹  your name,

or makes an effort ¹⁰  to take hold of you.

For you have rejected us ¹¹ 

and handed us over to our own sins. ¹² 

Yesaya 12:1

12:1 At that time ¹³  you will say:

“I praise you, O Lord,

for even though you were angry with me,

your anger subsided, and you consoled me.

Yesaya 38:3

38:3 “Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you ¹⁴  faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, ¹⁵  and how I have carried out your will.” ¹⁶  Then Hezekiah wept bitterly. ¹⁷ 

Yesaya 26:3

26:3 You keep completely safe the people who maintain their faith,

for they trust in you. ¹⁸ 

Yesaya 26:8

26:8 Yes, as your judgments unfold, ¹⁹ 

O Lord, we wait for you.

We desire your fame and reputation to grow. ²⁰ 

Yesaya 26:11

26:11 O Lord, you are ready to act, ²¹ 

but they don’t even notice.

They will see and be put to shame by your angry judgment against humankind, ²² 

yes, fire will consume your enemies. ²³ 

Yesaya 26:10

26:10 If the wicked are shown mercy,

they do not learn about justice. ²⁴ 

Even in a land where right is rewarded, they act unjustly; ²⁵ 

they do not see the Lord’s majesty revealed.

Yesaya 38:17

38:17 “Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. ²⁶ 

You delivered me ²⁷  from the pit of oblivion. ²⁸ 

For you removed all my sins from your sight. ²⁹ 

Yesaya 51:9

51:9 Wake up! Wake up!

Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord! ³⁰ 

Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity!

Did you not smash ³¹  the Proud One? ³² 

Did you not ³³  wound the sea monster? ³⁴ 

Yesaya 64:2

64:2 (64:1) As when fire ignites dry wood,

or fire makes water boil,

let your adversaries know who you are, ³⁵ 

and may the nations shake at your presence!

Yesaya 63:17

63:17 Why, Lord, do you make us stray ³⁶  from your ways, ³⁷ 

and make our minds stubborn so that we do not obey you? ³⁸ 

Return for the sake of your servants,

the tribes of your inheritance!

Yesaya 25:3

25:3 So a strong nation will extol you;

the towns of ³⁹  powerful nations will fear you.

Yesaya 26:15

26:15 You have made the nation larger, ⁴⁰  O Lord,

you have made the nation larger and revealed your splendor, ⁴¹ 

you have extended all the borders of the land.

Yesaya 33:2

33:2 Lord, be merciful to us! We wait for you.

Give us strength each morning! ⁴² 

Deliver us when distress comes. ⁴³ 

Yesaya 9:3

9:3 You ⁴⁴  have enlarged the nation;

you give them great joy. ⁴⁵ 

They rejoice in your presence

as harvesters rejoice;

as warriors celebrate ⁴⁶  when they divide up the plunder.

Yesaya 26:17

26:17 As when a pregnant woman gets ready to deliver

and strains and cries out because of her labor pains,

so were we because of you, O Lord.

Yesaya 59:13

59:13 We have rebelled and tried to deceive the Lord;

we turned back from following our God.

We stir up ⁴⁷  oppression and rebellion;

we tell lies we concocted in our minds. ⁴⁸ 

Yesaya 63:14

63:14 Like an animal that goes down into a valley to graze, ⁴⁹ 

so the Spirit of the Lord granted them rest.

In this way ⁵⁰  you guided your people,

gaining for yourself an honored reputation. ⁵¹ 

Yesaya 64:9

64:9 Lord, do not be too angry!

Do not hold our sins against us continually! ⁵² 

Take a good look at your people, at all of us! ⁵³ 

Yesaya 2:6

The Lord’s Day of Judgment

2:6 Indeed, O Lord, ⁵⁴  you have abandoned your people,

the descendants of Jacob.

For diviners from the east are everywhere; ⁵⁵ 

they consult omen readers like the Philistines do. ⁵⁶ 

Plenty of foreigners are around. ⁵⁷ 

Yesaya 64:5

64:5 You assist ⁵⁸  those who delight in doing what is right, ⁵⁹ 

who observe your commandments. ⁶⁰ 

Look, you were angry because we violated them continually.

How then can we be saved? ⁶¹ 

[63:15]  ¹ tn This probably refers to his zeal for his people, which motivates him to angrily strike out against their enemies.

[63:15]  ² tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “the agitation of your intestines and your compassion to me they are held back.” The phrase “agitation of your intestines” is metonymic, referring to the way in which one’s nervous system reacts when one feels pity and compassion toward another. אֵלַי (’elay, “to me”) is awkward in this context, where the speaker represents the nation and, following the introduction (see v. 7), utilizes first person plural forms. The translation assumes an emendation to the negative particle אַל (’al). This also necessitates emending the following verb form (which is a plural perfect) to a singular jussive (תִתְאַפָּק, tit’appaq). The Hitpael of אָפַק (’afaq) also occurs in 42:14.

[63:18]  ³ tn Or “holy” (ASV, NASB, NRSV, TEV, NLT).

[63:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “for a short time they had a possession, the people of your holiness.”

[63:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “your adversaries trampled on.”

[38:18]  ⁶ tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[38:18]  ⁷ tn The negative particle is understood by ellipsis in this line. See GKC 483 §152.z.

[26:16]  ⁸ tn The meaning of this verse is unclear. It appears to read literally, “O Lord, in distress they visit you, they pour out [?] an incantation, your discipline to them.” פָּקַד (paqad) may here carry the sense of “seek with interest” (cf. Ezek 23:21 and BDB 823 s.v.) or “seek in vain” (cf. Isa 34:16), but it is peculiar for the Lord to be the object of this verb. צָקוּן (tsaqun) may be a Qal perfect third plural form from צוּק (tsuq, “pour out, melt”), though the verb is not used of pouring out words in its two other occurrences. Because of the appearance of צַר (tsar, “distress”) in the preceding line, it is tempting to emend the form to a noun and derive it from צוּק (“be in distress”) The term לַחַשׁ (lakhash) elsewhere refers to an incantation (Isa 3:3; Jer 8:17; Eccl 10:11) or amulet (Isa 3:20). Perhaps here it refers to ritualistic prayers or to magical incantations used to ward off evil.

[64:7]  ⁹ tn Or “calls out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “calls on.”

[64:7]  ¹⁰ tn Or “rouses himself”; NASB “arouses himself.”

[64:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for you have hidden your face from us.”

[64:7]  ¹² tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and you caused us to melt in the hand of our sin.” The verb וַתְּמוּגֵנוּ (vattÿmugenu) is a Qal preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the root מוּג (mug, “melt”). However, elsewhere the Qal of this verb is intransitive. If the verbal root מוּג (mug) is retained here, the form should be emended to a Polel pattern (וַתְּמֹגְגֵנוּ, vattÿmogÿgenu). The translation assumes an emendation to וַתְּמַגְּנֵנוּ (vattÿmaggÿnenu, “and you handed us over”). This form is a Piel preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the verbal root מִגֵּן (miggen, “hand over, surrender”; see HALOT 545 s.v. מגן and BDB 171 s.v. מָגָן). The point is that God has abandoned them to their sinful ways and no longer seeks reconciliation.

[12:1]  ¹³ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[38:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “walked before you.” For a helpful discussion of the background and meaning of this Hebrew idiom, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 254.

[38:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and with a complete heart”; KJV, ASV “with a perfect heart.”

[38:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and that which is good in your eyes I have done.”

[38:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “wept with great weeping”; NCV “cried loudly”; TEV “began to cry bitterly.”

[26:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “[one of] firm purpose you will keep [in] peace, peace, for in you he possesses trust.” The Hebrew term יֵצֶר (yetser) refers to what one devises in the mind; סָמוּךְ (samukh) probably functions here like an attributive adjective and carries the nuance “firm.” So the phrase literally means, “a firm purpose,” but as the object of the verb “keep, guard,” it must stand by metonymy for the one(s) who possess a firm purpose. In this context the “righteous nation” (v. 2) is probably in view and the “firm purpose” refers to their unwavering faith in God’s vindication (see 25:9). In this context שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “peace”), which is repeated for emphasis, likely refers to national security, not emotional or psychological composure (see vv. 1-2). The passive participle בָּטוּחַ (batuakh) expresses a state that results from the subject’s action.

[26:8]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew text has, “yes, the way of your judgments.” The translation assumes that “way” is related to the verb “we wait” as an adverbial accusative (“in the way of your judgments we wait”). מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ (mishpatekha, “your judgments”) could refer to the Lord’s commandments, in which case one might translate, “as we obey your commands.” However, in verse 9 the same form refers to divine acts of judgment on evildoers.

[26:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “your name and your remembrance [is] the desire of [our?] being.”

[26:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “O Lord, your hand is lifted up.”

[26:11]  ²² tn Heb “They will see and be ashamed of zeal of people.” Some take the prefixed verbs as jussives and translate the statement as a prayer, “Let them see and be put to shame.” The meaning of the phrase קִנְאַת־עָם (qin’at-’am, “zeal of people”) is unclear. The translation assumes that this refers to God’s angry judgment upon people. Another option is to understand the phrase as referring to God’s zealous, protective love of his covenant people. In this case one might translate, “by your zealous devotion to your people.”

[26:11]  ²³ tn Heb “yes, fire, your enemies, will consume them.” Many understand the prefixed verb form to be jussive and translate, “let [fire] consume” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV). The mem suffixed to the verb may be enclitic; if a pronominal suffix, it refers back to “your enemies.”

[26:10]  ²⁴ tn As in verse 9b, the translation understands צֶדֶק (tsedeq) in the sense of “justice,” but it is possible that it carries the nuance “righteousness,” in which case one might translate, “they do not learn to live in a righteous manner.”

[26:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “in a land of uprightness they act unjustly”; NRSV “they deal perversely.”

[38:17]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Look, for peace bitterness was to me bitter”; NAB “thus is my bitterness transformed into peace.”

[38:17]  ²⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads, “you loved my soul,” but this does not fit syntactically with the following prepositional phrase. חָשַׁקְתָּ (khashaqta, “you loved”), may reflect an aural error; most emend the form to חָשַׂכְת, (khasakht, “you held back”).

[38:17]  ²⁸ tn בְּלִי (bÿli) most often appears as a negation, meaning “without,” suggesting the meaning “nothingness, oblivion,” here. Some translate “decay” or “destruction.”

[38:17]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for you threw behind your back all my sins.”

[51:9]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ 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]  ³² 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]  ³³ 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]  ³⁴ 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.

[64:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “to make known your name to your adversaries.” Perhaps the infinitive construct with preposition -לְ (lamed) should be construed with “come down” in v. 1a, or subordinated to the following line: “To make known your name to your adversaries, let the nations shake from before you.”

[63:17]  ³⁶ tn Some suggest a tolerative use of the Hiphil here, “[why do] you allow us to stray?” (cf. NLT). Though the Hiphil of תָעָה (ta’ah) appears to be tolerative in Jer 50:6, elsewhere it is preferable or necessary to take it as causative. See Isa 3:12; 9:15; and 30:28, as well as Gen 20:13; 2 Kgs 21:9; Job 12:24-25; Prov 12:26; Jer 23:13, 32; Hos 4:12; Amos 2:4; Mic 3:5.

[63:17]  ³⁷ tn This probably refers to God’s commands.

[63:17]  ³⁸ tn Heb “[Why do] you harden our heart[s] so as not to fear you.” The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[63:17]  sn How direct this hardening is, one cannot be sure. The speaker may envision direct involvement on the Lord’s part. The Lord has brought the exile as judgment for the nation’s sin and now he continues to keep them at arm’s length by blinding them spiritually. The second half of 64:7 might support this, though the precise reading of the final verb is uncertain. On the other hand, the idiom of lament is sometimes ironic and hyperbolically deterministic. For example, Naomi lamented that Shaddai was directly opposing her and bringing her calamity (Ruth 1:20-21), while the author of Ps 88 directly attributes his horrible suffering and loneliness to God (see especially vv. 6-8, 16-18). Both individuals make little, if any, room for intermediate causes or the principle of sin and death which ravages the human race. In the same way, the speaker in Isa 63:17 (who evidences great spiritual sensitivity and is anything but “hardened”) may be referring to the hardships of exile, which discouraged and even embittered the people, causing many of them to retreat from their Yahwistic faith. In this case, the “hardening” in view is more indirect and can be lifted by the Lord’s intervention. Whether the hardening here is indirect or direct, it is important to recognize that the speaker sees it as one of the effects of rebellion against the Lord (note especially 64:5-6).

[25:3]  ³⁹ tn The Hebrew text has a singular form, but it should be emended to a plural or eliminated altogether. The noun may have been accidentally copied from the preceding verse.

[26:15]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “you have added to the nation.” The last line of the verse suggests that geographical expansion is in view. “The nation” is Judah.

[26:15]  ⁴¹ tn Or “brought honor to yourself.”

[33:2]  ⁴² tn Heb “Be their arm each morning.” “Arm” is a symbol for strength. The mem suffixed to the noun has been traditionally understood as a third person suffix, but this is contrary to the context, where the people speak of themselves in the first person. The mem (מ) is probably enclitic with ellipsis of the pronoun, which can be supplied from the context. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:589, n. 1.

[33:2]  ⁴³ tn Heb “[Be] also our deliverance in the time of distress.”

[9:3]  ⁴⁴ sn The Lord is addressed directly in vv. 3-4.

[9:3]  ⁴⁵ tc The Hebrew consonantal text reads “You multiply the nation, you do not make great the joy.” The particle לֹא (lo’, “not”) is obviously incorrect; the marginal reading has לוֹ (lo, “to him”). In this case, one should translate, “You multiply the nation, you increase his (i.e., their) joy.” However, the parallelism is tighter if one emends הַגּוֹי לוֹ (hagoy lo, “the nation, to him”) to הַגִּילָה (haggilah, “the joy,” a noun attested in Isa 65:18), which corresponds to הַשִּׂמְחָה (hasimkhah, “the joy”) later in the verse (H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:386). As attractive as this reading is, it has not textual evidence supporting it. The MT reading (accepting the marginal reading “to him” for the negative particle “not”) affirms that Yahweh caused the nation to grow in population and increased their joy.

[9:3]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “as they are happy.” The word “warriors” is supplied in the translation to clarify the word picture. This last simile comes close to reality, for vv. 4-5 indicate that the people have won a great military victory over their oppressors.

[59:13]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “speaking.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[59:13]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.”

[63:14]  ⁴⁹ tn The words “to graze” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[63:14]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “so” (KJV, ASV), or “thus” (NAB, NRSV).

[63:14]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “making for yourself a majestic name.”

[64:9]  ⁵² tn Heb “do not remember sin continually.”

[64:9]  ⁵³ tn Heb “Look, gaze at your people, all of us.” Another option is to translate, “Take a good look! We are all your people.”

[2:6]  ⁵⁴ tn The words “O Lord” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Isaiah addresses the Lord in prayer.

[2:6]  ⁵⁵ tc Heb “they are full from the east.” Various scholars retain the BHS reading and suggest that the prophet makes a general statement concerning Israel’s reliance on foreign customs (J. Watts, Isaiah [WBC], 1:32; J. de Waard, Isaiah, 12-13). Nevertheless, it appears that a word is missing. Based on the parallelism (note “omen readers” in 5:6c), many suggest that קֹסְמִים (qosÿmim, “diviners”) or מִקְסָם (miqsam, “divination”) has been accidentally omitted. Homoioteleuton could account for the omission of an original קֹסְמִים (note how this word and the following מִקֶּדֶם [miqqedem, “from the east”] both end in mem); an original מִקְסָם could have fallen out by homoioarcton (note how this word and the following מִקֶּדֶם both begin with mem).

[2:6]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “and omen readers like the Philistines.” Through this line and the preceding, the prophet contends that Israel has heavily borrowed the pagan practices of the east and west (in violation of Lev 19:26; Deut 18:9-14).

[2:6]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “and with the children of foreigners they [?].” The precise meaning of the final word is uncertain. Some take this verb (I שָׂפַק, safaq) to mean “slap,” supply the object “hands,” and translate, “they slap [hands] with foreigners”; HALOT 1349 s.v. I שׂפק. This could be a reference to foreign alliances. This translation has two disadvantages: It requires the conjectural insertion of “hands” and the use of this verb with its object prefixed with a בְּ (bet) preposition with this meaning does not occur elsewhere. The other uses of this verb refer to clapping at someone, an indication of hostility. The translation above assumes the verb is derived from II שׂפק (“to suffice,” attested in the Qal in 1 Kgs 20:10; HALOT 1349 s.v. II שׂפק). In this case the point is that a sufficient number of foreigners (in this case, too many!) live in the land. The disadvantage of this option is that the preposition prefixed to “the children of foreigners” does not occur with this verb elsewhere. The chosen translation is preferred since it continues the idea of abundant foreign influence and does not require a conjectural insertion or emendation.

[64:5]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “meet [with kindness].”

[64:5]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “the one who rejoices and does righteousness.”

[64:5]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “in your ways they remember you.”

[64:5]  ⁶¹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “look, you were angry and we sinned against them continually [or perhaps, “in ancient times”] and we were delivered.” The statement makes little sense as it stands. The first vav [ו] consecutive (“and we sinned”) must introduce an explanatory clause here (see Num 1:48 and Isa 39:1 for other examples of this relatively rare use of the vav [ו] consecutive). The final verb (if rendered positively) makes no sense in this context – God’s anger at their sin resulted in judgment, not deliverance. One of the alternatives involves an emendation to וַנִּרְשָׁע (vannirsha’, “and we were evil”; LXX, NRSV, TEV). The Vulgate and the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a support the MT reading. One can either accept an emendation or cast the statement as a question (as above).