21:17 I too will clap my hands together,
I will exhaust my rage;
I the Lord have spoken.”
24:13 You mix uncleanness with obscene conduct. 6
I tried to cleanse you, 7 but you are not clean.
You will not be cleansed from your uncleanness 8
until I have exhausted my anger on you.
1:21 How tragic that the once-faithful city
has become a prostitute! 9
She was once a center of 10 justice,
fairness resided in her,
but now only murderers. 11
1 tn Heb “and your mouth will not be open any longer.”
2 tn Heb “when I make atonement for you for all which you have done.”
3 tn Heb “give.”
4 tn Heb “they will remove.”
5 tn Heb “fall.”
6 tn Heb “in your uncleanness (is) obscene conduct.”
7 tn Heb “because I cleansed you.” In this context (see especially the very next statement), the statement must refer to divine intention and purpose. Despite God’s efforts to cleanse his people, they resisted him and remained morally impure.
8 tn The Hebrew text adds the word “again.”
9 tn Heb “How she has become a prostitute, the faithful city!” The exclamatory אֵיכָה (’ekhah, “how!”) is used several times as the beginning of a lament (see Lam 1:1; 2;1; 4:1-2). Unlike a number of other OT passages that link references to Israel’s harlotry to idolatry, Isaiah here makes the connection with social and moral violations.
10 tn Heb “filled with.”
11 tn Or “assassins.” This refers to the oppressive rich and/or their henchmen. R. Ortlund (Whoredom, 78) posits that it serves as a synecdoche for all varieties of criminals, the worst being mentioned to imply all lesser ones. Since Isaiah often addressed his strongest rebuke to the rulers and leaders of Israel, he may have in mind the officials who bore the responsibility to uphold justice and righteousness.