Yesaya 8:9

8:9 You will be broken, ¹  O nations;

you will be shattered! ² 

Pay attention, all you distant lands of the earth!

Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered!

Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered! ³ 

Yesaya 10:2

10:2 to keep the poor from getting fair treatment,

and to deprive ⁴  the oppressed among my people of justice,

so they can steal what widows own,

and loot what belongs to orphans. ⁵ 

Yesaya 10:12

10:12 But when ⁶  the sovereign master ⁷  finishes judging ⁸  Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I ⁹  will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays. ¹⁰ 

Yesaya 11:14

11:14 They will swoop down ¹¹  on the Philistine hills to the west; ¹² 

together they will loot the people of the east.

They will take over Edom and Moab, ¹³ 

and the Ammonites will be their subjects.

Yesaya 14:12

14:12 Look how you have fallen from the sky,

O shining one, son of the dawn! ¹⁴ 

You have been cut down to the ground,

O conqueror ¹⁵  of the nations! ¹⁶ 

Yesaya 19:1

The Lord Will Judge Egypt

19:1 Here is a message about Egypt:

Look, the Lord rides on a swift-moving cloud

and approaches Egypt.

The idols of Egypt tremble before him;

the Egyptians lose their courage. ¹⁷ 

Yesaya 19:16-17

19:16 At that time ¹⁸  the Egyptians ¹⁹  will be like women. ²⁰  They will tremble and fear because the Lord who commands armies brandishes his fist against them. ²¹  19:17 The land of Judah will humiliate Egypt. Everyone who hears about Judah will be afraid because of what the Lord who commands armies is planning to do to them. ²² 

Yesaya 23:17

23:17 At the end of seventy years ²³  the Lord will revive ²⁴  Tyre. She will start making money again by selling her services to all the earth’s kingdoms. ²⁵ 

Yesaya 26:14

26:14 The dead do not come back to life,

the spirits of the dead do not rise. ²⁶ 

That is because ²⁷  you came in judgment ²⁸  and destroyed them,

you wiped out all memory of them.

Yesaya 27:4

27:4 I am not angry.

I wish I could confront some thorns and briers!

Then I would march against them ²⁹  for battle;

I would set them ³⁰  all on fire,

Yesaya 27:8

27:8 When you summon her for divorce, you prosecute her; ³¹ 

he drives her away ³²  with his strong wind in the day of the east wind. ³³ 

Yesaya 29:7

29:7 It will be like a dream, a night vision.

There will be a horde from all the nations that fight against Ariel,

those who attack her and her stronghold and besiege her.

Yesaya 34:2

34:2 For the Lord is angry at all the nations

and furious with all their armies.

He will annihilate them and slaughter them.

Yesaya 36:10

36:10 Furthermore it was by the command of the Lord that I marched up against this land to destroy it. The Lord told me, ‘March up against this land and destroy it!’”’” ³⁴ 

Yesaya 36:18

36:18 Hezekiah is misleading you when he says, “The Lord will rescue us.” Has any of the gods of the nations rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria? ³⁵ 

Yesaya 37:9

37:9 The king ³⁶  heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia ³⁷  was marching out to fight him. ³⁸  He again sent ³⁹  messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them:

Yesaya 40:10

40:10 Look, the sovereign Lord comes as a victorious warrior; ⁴⁰ 

his military power establishes his rule. ⁴¹ 

Look, his reward is with him;

his prize goes before him. ⁴² 

Yesaya 43:14

The Lord Will Do Something New

43:14 This is what the Lord says,

your protector, ⁴³  the Holy One of Israel: ⁴⁴ 

“For your sake I send to Babylon

and make them all fugitives, ⁴⁵ 

turning the Babylonians’ joyful shouts into mourning songs. ⁴⁶ 

Yesaya 45:24

45:24 they will say about me,

“Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.”’” ⁴⁷ 

All who are angry at him will cower before him. ⁴⁸ 

Yesaya 48:14

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

Who among them ⁴⁹  announced these things?

The Lord’s ally ⁵⁰  will carry out his desire against Babylon;

he will exert his power against the Babylonians. ⁵¹ 

Yesaya 66:18

66:18 “I hate their deeds and thoughts! So I am coming ⁵²  to gather all the nations and ethnic groups; ⁵³  they will come and witness my splendor.

[8:9]  ¹ tn The verb רֹעוּ (ro’u) is a Qal imperative, masculine plural from רָעַע (ra’a’, “break”). Elsewhere both transitive (Job 34:24; Ps 2:9; Jer 15:12) and intransitive (Prov 25:19; Jer 11:16) senses are attested for the Qal of this verb. Because no object appears here, the form is likely intransitive: “be broken.” In this case the imperative is rhetorical (like “be shattered” later in the verse) and equivalent to a prediction, “you will be broken.” On the rhetorical use of the imperative in general, see IBHS 572 §34.4c; GKC 324 §110.c.

[8:9]  ² tn The imperatival form (Heb “be shattered”) is rhetorical and expresses the speaker’s firm conviction of the outcome of the nations’ attack. See the note on “be broken.”

[8:9]  ³ tn The initial imperative (“get ready for battle”) acknowledges the reality of the nations’ hostility; the concluding imperative (Heb “be shattered”) is rhetorical and expresses the speakers’ firm conviction of the outcome of the nations’ attack. (See the note on “be broken.”) One could paraphrase, “Okay, go ahead and prepare for battle since that’s what you want to do, but your actions will backfire and you’ll be shattered.” This rhetorical use of the imperatives is comparable to saying to a child who is bent on climbing a high tree, “Okay, go ahead, climb the tree and break your arm!” What this really means is: “Okay, go ahead and climb the tree since that’s what you really want to do, but your actions will backfire and you’ll break your arm.” The repetition of the statement in the final two lines of the verse gives the challenge the flavor of a taunt (ancient Israelite “trash talking,” as it were).

[10:2]  ⁴ tn Or “rob” (ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV); KJV “take away the right from the poor.”

[10:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “so that widows are their plunder, and they can loot orphans.”

[10:2]  sn On the socio-economic background of vv. 1-2, see the note at 1:23.

[10:12]  ⁶ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[10:12]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 16, 23, 24, 33 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[10:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “his work on/against.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV “on”; NIV “against.”

[10:12]  ⁹ tn The Lord is speaking here, as in vv. 5-6a.

[10:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I will visit [judgment] on the fruit of the greatness of the heart of the king of Assyria, and on the glory of the height of his eyes.” The proud Assyrian king is likened to a large, beautiful fruit tree.

[11:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “fly.” Ephraim/Judah are compared to a bird of prey.

[11:14]  ¹² tn Heb “on the shoulder of Philistia toward the sea.” This refers to the slopes of the hill country west of Judah. See HALOT 506 s.v. כָּתֵף.

[11:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “Edom and Moab [will be the place of] the outstretching of their hand,” i.e., included in their area of jurisdiction (see HALOT 648 s.v. ח(וֹ)מִשְׁלֹ).

[14:12]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew text has הֵילֵל בֶּן־שָׁחַר (helel ben-shakhar, “Helel son of Shachar”), which is probably a name for the morning star (Venus) or the crescent moon. See HALOT 245 s.v. הֵילֵל.

[14:12]  sn What is the background for the imagery in vv. 12-15? This whole section (vv. 4b-21) is directed to the king of Babylon, who is clearly depicted as a human ruler. Other kings of the earth address him in vv. 9ff., he is called “the man” in v. 16, and, according to vv. 19-20, he possesses a physical body. Nevertheless the language of vv. 12-15 has led some to see a dual referent in the taunt song. These verses, which appear to be spoken by other pagan kings to a pagan king (cf. vv. 9-11), contain several titles and motifs that resemble those of Canaanite mythology, including references to Helel son of Shachar, the stars of El, the mountain of assembly, the recesses of Zaphon, and the divine title Most High. Apparently these verses allude to a mythological story about a minor god (Helel son of Shachar) who tried to take over Zaphon, the mountain of the gods. His attempted coup failed and he was hurled down to the underworld. The king of Babylon is taunted for having similar unrealized delusions of grandeur. Some Christians have seen an allusion to the fall of Satan here, but this seems contextually unwarranted (see J. Martin, “Isaiah,” BKCOT, 1061).

[14:12]  ¹⁵ tn Some understand the verb to from חָלַשׁ (khalash, “to weaken”), but HALOT 324 s.v. II חלשׁ proposes a homonym here, meaning “to defeat.”

[14:12]  ¹⁶ sn In this line the taunting kings hint at the literal identity of the king, after likening him to the god Helel and a tree. The verb גָדַע (gada’, “cut down”) is used of chopping down trees in 9:10 and 10:33.

[19:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and the heart of Egypt melts within it.”

[19:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV), likewise at the beginning of vv. 18 and 19.

[19:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Egypt,” which stands by metonymy for the country’s inhabitants.

[19:16]  ²⁰ sn As the rest of the verse indicates, the point of the simile is that the Egyptians will be relatively weak physically and will wilt in fear before the Lord’s onslaught.

[19:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “and he will tremble and be afraid because of the brandishing of the hand of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts], which he brandishes against him.” Since according to the imagery here the Lord’s “hand” is raised as a weapon against the Egyptians, the term “fist” has been used in the translation.

[19:17]  ²² tn Heb “and the land of Judah will become [a source of] shame to Egypt, everyone to whom one mentions it [i.e., the land of Judah] will fear because of the plan of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] which he is planning against him.”

[23:17]  ²³ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[23:17]  ²⁴ tn Heb “visit [with favor]” (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “will deal with.”

[23:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and she will return to her [prostitute’s] wages and engage in prostitution with all the kingdoms of the earth on the face of the earth.”

[26:14]  ²⁶ sn In light of what is said in verse 14b, the “dead” here may be the “masters” mentioned in verse 13.

[26:14]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew term לָכֵן (lakhen) normally indicates a cause-effect relationship between what precedes and follows and is translated, “therefore.” Here, however, it infers the cause from the effect and brings out what is implicit in the previous statement. See BDB 487 s.v.

[26:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “visited [for harm]” (cf. KJV, ASV); NAB, NRSV “you have punished.”

[27:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense. For other examples of a cohortative expressing resolve after a hypothetical statement introduced by נָתַן with מִי (miwith natan), see Judg 9:29; Jer 9:1-2; Ps 55:6.

[27:4]  ³⁰ tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense.

[27:8]  ³¹ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “in [?], in sending her away, you oppose her.” The meaning of this line is uncertain. The form בְּסַאסְּאָה (bÿsa’ssÿ’ah) is taken as an infinitive from סַאסְּאָה (sa’ssÿ’ah) with a prepositional prefix and a third feminine singular suffix. (The MT does not have a mappiq in the final he [ה], however). According to HALOT 738 s.v. סַאסְּאָה the verb is a Palpel form from an otherwise unattested root cognate with an Arabic verb meaning “to gather beasts with a call.” Perhaps it means “to call, summon” here, but this is a very tentative proposal. בְּשַׁלְחָהּ (bÿshalkhah, “in sending her away”) appears to be a Piel infinitive with a prepositional prefix and a third feminine singular suffix. Since the Piel of שָׁלָח (shalakh) can sometimes mean “divorce” (HALOT 1514-15 s.v.) and the following verb רִיב (riv, “oppose”) can be used in legal contexts, it is possible that divorce proceedings are alluded to here. This may explain why Israel is referred to as feminine in this verse, in contrast to the masculine forms used in vv. 6-7 and 9.

[27:8]  ³² tn The Hebrew text has no object expressed, but one can understand a third feminine singular pronominal object and place a mappiq in the final he (ה) of the form to indicate the suffix.

[27:8]  ³³ sn The “east wind” here symbolizes violent divine judgment.

[36:10]  ³⁴ sn In v. 10 the chief adviser develops further the argument begun in v. 7. He claims that Hezekiah has offended the Lord and that the Lord has commissioned Assyria as his instrument of discipline and judgment.

[36:18]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Have the gods of the nations rescued, each his land, from the hand of the king of Assyria?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course not!”

[37:9]  ³⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[37:9]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Cush” (so NASB); NIV, NCV “the Cushite king of Egypt.”

[37:9]  ³⁸ tn Heb “heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, ‘He has come out to fight with you.’”

[37:9]  ³⁹ tn The Hebrew text has, “and he heard and he sent,” but the parallel in 2 Kgs 19:9 has וַיָּשָׁב וַיִּשְׁלַח (vayyashav vayyishlakh, “and he returned and he sent”), i.e., “he again sent.”

[40:10]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “comes as a strong one”; ASV “will come as a mighty one.” The preposition בְּ (bet) here carries the nuance “in the capacity of.” It indicates that the Lord possesses the quality expressed by the noun. See GKC 379 §119.i and HALOT 104 s.v. בְּ.

[40:10]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “his arm rules for him” (so NIV, NRSV). The Lord’s “arm” symbolizes his military power (see Isa 51:9-10; 63:5).

[40:10]  ⁴² tn As the Lord returns to Jerusalem as a victorious warrior, he brings with him the spoils of victory, called here his “reward” and “prize.” These terms might also be translated “wages” and “recompense.” Verse 11 indicates that his rescued people, likened to a flock of sheep, are his reward.

[43:14]  ⁴³ tn Or “kinsman redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[43:14]  ⁴⁴ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[43:14]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and I bring down [as] fugitives all of them.”

[43:14]  ⁴⁶ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “as for the Babylonians, in ships their joyful shout.” This might be paraphrased, “even the Babylonians in the ships [over which] they joyfully shouted.” The point would be that the Lord caused the Babylonians to flee for safety in the ships in which they took such great pride. A slight change in vocalization yields the reading “into mourning songs,” which provides a good contrast with “joyful shout.” The prefixed bet (בְּ) would indicate identity.

[45:24]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “‘Yes, in the Lord,’ one says about me, ‘is deliverance and strength.’”

[45:24]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “will come to him and be ashamed.”

[48:14]  ⁴⁹ sn This probably refers to the idol gods (see v. 5).

[48:14]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “friend,” or “covenant partner.”

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

[48:14]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “and his arm [against] the Babylonians.”

[66:18]  ⁵² tc The Hebrew text reads literally “and I, their deeds and their thoughts, am coming.” The syntax here is very problematic, suggesting that the text may have suffered corruption. Some suggest that the words “their deeds and their thoughts” have been displaced from v. 17. This line presents two primary challenges. In the first place, the personal pronoun “I” has no verb after it. Most translations insert “know” for the sake of clarity (NASB, NRSV, NLT, ESV). The NIV has “I, because of their actions and their imaginations…” Since God’s “knowledge” of Israel’s sin occasions judgment, the verb “hate” is an option as well (see above translation). The feminine form of the next verb (בָּאָה, ba’ah) could be understood in one of two ways. One could provide an implied noun “time” (עֵת, ’et) and render the next line “the time is coming/has come” (NASB, ESV). One could also emend the feminine verb to the masculine בָּא (ba’) and have the “I” at the beginning of the line govern this verb as well (for the Lord is speaking here): “I am coming” (cf. NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, NLT).

[66:18]  ⁵³ tn Heb “and the tongues”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “and tongues.”