Yesaya 8:11

The Lord Encourages Isaiah

8:11 Indeed this is what the Lord told me. He took hold of me firmly and warned me not to act like these people: ¹ 

Yesaya 8:20

8:20 Then you must recall the Lord’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. ²  Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened. ³ 

Yesaya 14:4

14:4 you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words: ⁴ 

“Look how the oppressor has met his end!

Hostility ⁵  has ceased!

Yesaya 21:6

21:6 For this is what the sovereign master ⁶  has told me:

“Go, post a guard!

He must report what he sees.

Yesaya 21:16

21:16 For this is what the sovereign master ⁷  has told me: “Within exactly one year ⁸  all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end.

Yesaya 22:15

22:15 This is what the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, says:

“Go visit this administrator, Shebna, who supervises the palace, ⁹  and tell him: ¹⁰ 

Yesaya 28:10

28:10 Indeed, they will hear meaningless gibberish,

senseless babbling,

a syllable here, a syllable there. ¹¹ 

Yesaya 30:7

30:7 Egypt is totally incapable of helping. ¹² 

For this reason I call her

‘Proud one ¹³  who is silenced.’” ¹⁴ 

Yesaya 52:3

52:3 For this is what the Lord says:

“You were sold for nothing,

and you will not be redeemed for money.”

[8:11]  ¹ tc Heb “with strength of hand and he warned me from walking in the way of these people, saying.” Some want to change the pointing of the suffix and thereby emend the Qal imperfect יִסְּרֵנִי (yissÿreni, “he was warning me”) to the more common Piel perfect יִסְּרַנִי (yissÿrani, “he warned me”). Others follow the lead of the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a and read יְסִירֵנִי (yÿsireni, “he was turning me aside,” a Hiphil imperfect from סוּר, sur).

[8:20]  ² tn Heb “to [the] instruction and to [the] testimony.” The words “then you must recall” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 19-20a are one long sentence, reading literally, “When they say to you…, to the instruction and to the testimony.” On the identity of the “instruction” and “testimony” see the notes at v. 16.

[8:20]  ³ tn Heb “If they do not speak according to this word, [it is] because it has no light of dawn.” The literal translation suggests that “this word” refers to the instruction/testimony. However, it is likely that אִם־לֹא (’im-lo’) is asseverative here, as in 5:9. In this case “this word” refers to the quotation recorded in v. 19. For a discussion of the problem see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 230, n. 9. The singular pronoun in the second half of the verse is collective, referring back to the nation (see v. 19b).

[14:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “you will lift up this taunt over the king of Babylon, saying.”

[14:4]  ⁵ tc The word in the Hebrew text (מַדְהֵבָה, madhevah) is unattested elsewhere and of uncertain meaning. Many (following the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a) assume a dalet-resh (ד-ר) confusion and emend the form to מַרְהֵבָה (marhevah, “onslaught”). See HALOT 548 s.v. II *מִדָּה and HALOT 633 s.v. *מַרְהֵבָה.

[21:6]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 8, 16 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[21:16]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[21:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “in still a year, like the years of a hired worker.” See the note at 16:14.

[22:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “who is over the house” (so ASV); NASB “who is in charge of the royal household.”

[22:15]  ¹⁰ tn The words “and tell him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[28:10]  ¹¹ tn The meaning of this verse has been debated. The text has literally “indeed [or “for”] a little there, a little there” ( כִּי צַו לָצָו צַו לָצָו קַו לָקָו קַו, ki tsav latsav, tsav latsav, qav laqav, qav laqav). The present translation assumes that the repetitive syllables are gibberish that resembles baby talk (cf v. 9b) and mimics what the people will hear when foreign invaders conquer the land (v. 11). In this case זְעֵיר (zÿ’er, “a little”) refers to the short syllabic structure of the babbling (cf. CEV). Some take צַו (tsav) as a derivative of צָוָה (tsavah, “command”) and translate the first part of the statement as “command after command, command after command.” Proponents of this position (followed by many English versions) also take קַו (qav) as a noun meaning “measuring line” (see v. 17), understood here in the abstract sense of “standard” or “rule.”

[30:7]  ¹² tn Heb “As for Egypt, with vanity and emptiness they help.”

[30:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “Rahab” (רַהַב, rahav), which also appears as a name for Egypt in Ps 87:4. The epithet is also used in the OT for a mythical sea monster symbolic of chaos. See the note at 51:9. A number of English versions use the name “Rahab” (e.g., ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) while others attempt some sort of translation (cf. CEV “a helpless monster”; TEV, NLT “the Harmless Dragon”).

[30:7]  ¹⁴ tn The MT reads “Rahab, they, sitting.” The translation above assumes an emendation of הֵם שָׁבֶת (hem shavet) to הַמָּשְׁבָּת (hammashbat), a Hophal participle with prefixed definite article, meaning “the one who is made to cease,” i.e., “destroyed,” or “silenced.” See HALOT 444-45 s.v. ישׁב.