Isaiah 1:24

1:24 Therefore, the sovereign Lord who commands armies, ¹ 

the powerful ruler of Israel, ²  says this:

“Ah, I will seek vengeance ³  against my adversaries,

I will take revenge against my enemies. ⁴ 

Isaiah 9:11

9:11 Then the Lord provoked ⁵  their adversaries to attack them, ⁶ 

he stirred up ⁷  their enemies –

Isaiah 59:18

59:18 He repays them for what they have done,

dispensing angry judgment to his adversaries

and punishing his enemies. ⁸ 

He repays the coastlands. ⁹ 

Isaiah 63:10

63:10 But they rebelled and offended ¹⁰  his holy Spirit, ¹¹ 

so he turned into an enemy

and fought against them.

Isaiah 66:6

66:6 The sound of battle comes from the city;

the sound comes from the temple!

It is the sound of the Lord paying back his enemies.

Isaiah 42:13

42:13 The Lord emerges like a hero,

like a warrior he inspires himself for battle; ¹² 

he shouts, yes, he yells,

he shows his enemies his power. ¹³ 

Isaiah 66:14

66:14 When you see this, you will be happy, ¹⁴ 

and you will be revived. ¹⁵ 

The Lord will reveal his power to his servants

and his anger to his enemies. ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 62:8

62:8 The Lord swears an oath by his right hand,

by his strong arm: ¹⁷ 

“I will never again give your grain

to your enemies as food,

and foreigners will not drink your wine,

which you worked hard to produce.

¹ tn Heb “the master, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].” On the title “the Lord who commands armies,” see the note at v. 9.

² tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Israel.”

³ tn Heb “console myself” (i.e., by getting revenge); NRSV “pour out my wrath on.”

⁴ sn The Lord here identifies with the oppressed and comes as their defender and vindicator.

⁵ tn The translation assumes that the prefixed verb with vav (ו) consecutive continues the narrative of past judgment.

⁶ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “adversaries of Rezin against him [i.e., them].” The next verse describes how the Syrians (over whom Rezin ruled, see 7:1, 8) and the Philistines encroached on Israel’s territory. Since the Syrians and Israelites were allies by 735 b.c. (see 7:1), the hostilities described probably occurred earlier, while Israel was still pro-Assyrian. In this case one might understand the phrase צָרֵי רְצִין (tsare rÿtsin, “adversaries of Rezin”) as meaning “adversaries sent from Rezin.” However, another option, the one chosen in the translation above, is to emend the phrase to צָרָיו (tsarayv, “his [i.e., their] adversaries”). This creates tighter parallelism with the next line (note “his [i.e., their] enemies”). The phrase in the Hebrew text may be explained as virtually dittographic.

⁷ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a preterite, used, as is often the case in poetry, without vav consecutive. Note that prefixed forms with vav consecutive both precede (וַיְשַׂגֵּב, vaysaggev, “and he provoked”) and follow in v. 12 (וַיֹּאכְלוּ, vayyo’khÿlu, “and they devoured”) this verb.

⁹ tn Heb “in accordance with deeds, so he repays, anger to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies.”

¹⁰ tn Or “islands” (KJV, NIV).

¹³ tn Or “grieved, hurt the feelings of.”

¹⁴ sn The phrase “holy Spirit” occurs in the OT only here (in v. 11 as well) and in Ps 51:11 (51:13 HT), where it is associated with the divine presence.

¹⁷ tn Heb “like a man of war he stirs up zeal” (NIV similar).

¹⁸ tn Or perhaps, “he triumphs over his enemies” (cf. NIV); NLT “will crush all his enemies.”

²¹ tn “and you will see and your heart will be happy.”

²² tn Heb “and your bones like grass will sprout.”

²³ tn Heb “and the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, and anger to his enemies.”

²⁵ tn The Lord’s right hand and strong arm here symbolize his power and remind the audience that his might guarantees the fulfillment of the following promise.