1:18 1 Come, let’s consider your options,” 2 says the Lord.
“Though your sins have stained you like the color red,
you can become 3 white like snow;
though they are as easy to see as the color scarlet,
you can become 4 white like wool. 5
30:21 You 6 will hear a word spoken behind you, saying,
“This is the correct 7 way, walk in it,”
whether you are heading to the right or the left.
50:11 Look, all of you who start a fire
and who equip yourselves with 8 flaming arrows, 9
walk 10 in the light 11 of the fire you started
and among the flaming arrows you ignited! 12
This is what you will receive from me: 13
you will lie down in a place of pain. 14
1 sn The Lord concludes his case against Israel by offering them the opportunity to be forgiven and by setting before them the alternatives of renewed blessing (as a reward for repentance) and final judgment (as punishment for persistence in sin).
2 tn Traditionally, “let us reason together,” but the context suggests a judicial nuance. The Lord is giving the nation its options for the future.
3 tn The imperfects must be translated as modal (indicating capability or possibility) to bring out the conditional nature of the offer. This purification will only occur if the people repent and change their ways.
4 tn The imperfects must be translated as modal (indicating capability or possibility) to bring out the conditional nature of the offer. This purification will only occur if the people repent and change their ways.
5 tn Heb “though your sins are like red, they will become white like snow; though they are red like scarlet, they will be like wool.” The point is not that the sins will be covered up, though still retained. The metaphorical language must be allowed some flexibility and should not be pressed into a rigid literalistic mold. The people’s sins will be removed and replaced by ethical purity. The sins that are now as obvious as the color red will be washed away and the ones who are sinful will be transformed.
6 tn Heb “your ears” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
7 tn The word “correct’ is supplied in the translation for clarification.
11 tc Several more recent commentators have proposed an emendation of מְאַזְּרֵי (mÿ’azzÿre, “who put on”) to מְאִירִי (mÿ’iri, “who light”). However, both Qumran scrolls of Isaiah and the Vulgate support the MT reading (cf. NIV, ESV).
12 tn On the meaning of זִיקוֹת (ziqot, “flaming arrows”), see HALOT 268 s.v. זִיקוֹת.
13 tn The imperative is probably rhetorical and has a predictive force.
14 tn Or perhaps, “flame” (so ASV).
15 sn Perhaps the servant here speaks to his enemies and warns them that they will self-destruct.
16 tn Heb “from my hand” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
17 sn The imagery may be that of a person who becomes ill and is forced to lie down in pain on a sickbed. Some see this as an allusion to a fiery place of damnation because of the imagery employed earlier in the verse.