Yesaya 9:1

9:1 (8:23) ¹  The gloom will be dispelled for those who were anxious. ² 

In earlier times he ³  humiliated

the land of Zebulun,

and the land of Naphtali; ⁴ 

but now he brings honor ⁵ 

to the way of the sea,

the region beyond the Jordan,

and Galilee of the nations. ⁶ 

Yesaya 19:21

19:21 The Lord will reveal himself to the Egyptians, and they ⁷  will acknowledge the Lord’s authority ⁸  at that time. ⁹  They will present sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them.

Yesaya 25:8

25:8 he will swallow up death permanently. ¹⁰ 

The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from every face,

and remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.

Indeed, the Lord has announced it! ¹¹ 

Yesaya 38:1

The Lord Hears Hezekiah’s Prayer

38:1 In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness. ¹²  The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Give instructions to your household, for you are about to die; you will not get well.’”

Yesaya 49:26

49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;

they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. ¹³ 

Then all humankind ¹⁴  will recognize that

I am the Lord, your deliverer,

your protector, ¹⁵  the powerful ruler of Jacob.” ¹⁶ 

Yesaya 51:11

51:11 Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return;

they will enter Zion with a happy shout.

Unending joy will crown them, ¹⁷ 

happiness and joy will overwhelm ¹⁸  them;

grief and suffering will disappear. ¹⁹ 

Yesaya 59:19

59:19 In the west, people respect ²⁰  the Lord’s reputation; ²¹ 

in the east they recognize his splendor. ²² 

For he comes like a rushing ²³  stream

driven on by wind sent from the Lord. ²⁴ 

[9:1]  ¹ sn In the Hebrew text (BHS) the chapter division comes one verse later than in the English Bible; 9:1 (8:23 HT). Thus 9:2-21 in the English Bible = 9:1-20 in the Hebrew text. Beginning with 10:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.

[9:1]  ² tn The Hebrew text reads, “Indeed there is no gloom for the one to whom there was anxiety for her.” The feminine singular pronominal suffix “her” must refer to the land (cf. vv. 22a, 23b). So one could translate, “Indeed there will be no gloom for the land which was anxious.” In this case the statement introduces the positive message to follow. Some assume an emendation of לֹא (lo’, “no”) to לוֹ (lo, “to him”) and of לָהּ (lah, “to her”) to לוֹ (lo, “to him”), yielding this literal reading: “indeed there is gloom for him, for the one to whom there was anxiety for him.” In this case the statement concludes the preceding description of judgment.

[9:1]  ³ tn The Lord must be understood as the subject of the two verbs in this verse.

[9:1]  ⁴ sn The statement probably alludes to the Assyrian conquest of Israel in ca. 734-733 b.c., when Tiglath-pileser III annexed much of Israel’s territory and reduced Samaria to a puppet state.

[9:1]  ⁵ tn Heb Just as in earlier times he humiliated…, [in] the latter times he has brought honor.” The main verbs in vv. 1b-4 are Hebrew perfects. The prophet takes his rhetorical stance in the future age of restoration and describes future events as if they have already occurred. To capture the dramatic effect of the original text, the translation uses the English present or present perfect.

[9:1]  ⁶ sn These three geographical designations may refer to provinces established by the Assyrians in 734-733 b.c. The “way of the sea” is the province of Dor, along the Mediterranean coast, the “region beyond the Jordan” is the province of Gilead in Transjordan, and “Galilee of the nations” (a title that alludes to how the territory had been overrun by foreigners) is the province of Megiddo located west of the Sea of Galilee. See Y. Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 374.

[19:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “Egypt.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, the present translation uses the pronoun (“they”) here.

[19:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “will know the Lord.”

[19:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV), likewise at the beginning of vv. 23 and 24.

[25:8]  ¹⁰ sn The image of the Lord “swallowing” death would be especially powerful, for death was viewed in Canaanite mythology and culture as a hungry enemy that swallows its victims. See the note at 5:14.

[25:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “has spoken” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[38:1]  ¹² tn Heb “was sick to the point of dying”; NRSV “became sick and was at the point of death.”

[49:26]  ¹³ sn Verse 26a depicts siege warfare and bloody defeat. The besieged enemy will be so starved they will their own flesh. The bloodstained bodies lying on the blood-soaked battle site will look as if they collapsed in drunkenness.

[49:26]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).

[49:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[49:26]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.” See 1:24.

[51:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “[will be] on their head[s].” “Joy” may be likened here to a crown (cf. 2 Sam 1:10). The statement may also be an ironic twist on the idiom “earth/dust on the head” (cf. 2 Sam 1:2; 13:19; 15:32; Job 2:12), referring to a mourning practice.

[51:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “overtake” (so NIV); NASB “they will obtain.”

[51:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee.”

[59:19]  ²⁰ tc Heb “fear.” A few medieval Hebrew mss read “see.”

[59:19]  ²¹ tn Heb “and they fear from the west the name of the Lord.”

[59:19]  ²² tn Heb “and from the rising of the sun his splendor.”

[59:19]  ²³ tn Heb “narrow”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “pent-up.”

[59:19]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the wind of the Lord drives it on.” The term רוּחַ (ruakh) could be translated “breath” here (see 30:28).