Isaiah 1:25

1:25 I will attack you;

I will purify your metal with flux.

I will remove all your slag.

Isaiah 45:17

45:17 Israel will be delivered once and for all by the Lord;

you will never again be ashamed or humiliated.

Isaiah 54:7

54:7 “For a short time I abandoned you,

but with great compassion I will gather you.


tn Heb “turn my hand against you.” The second person pronouns in vv. 25-26 are feminine singular. Personified Jerusalem is addressed. The idiom “turn the hand against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack,” in Ps 81:15 HT (81:14 ET); Ezek 38:12; Am 1:8; Zech 13:7. In Jer 6:9 it is used of gleaning grapes.

tn Heb “I will purify your dross as [with] flux.” “Flux” refers here to minerals added to the metals in a furnace to prevent oxides from forming. For this interpretation of II בֹּר (bor), see HALOT 153 s.v. II בֹּר and 750 s.v. סִיג.

sn The metaphor comes from metallurgy; slag is the substance left over after the metallic ore has been refined.

tn Heb “Israel will be delivered by the Lord [with] a permanent deliverance.”

tn Heb “you will not be ashamed and you will not be humiliated for ages of future time.”

tn Or “forsook” (NASB).