1:5 1 Why do you insist on being battered?
Why do you continue to rebel? 2
Your head has a massive wound, 3
your whole body is weak. 4
1:26 I will reestablish honest judges as in former times,
wise advisers as in earlier days. 5
Then you will be called, ‘The Just City,
Faithful Town.’”
14:20 You will not be buried with them, 6
because you destroyed your land
and killed your people.
The offspring of the wicked
will never be mentioned again.
23:12 He said,
“You will no longer celebrate,
oppressed 7 virgin daughter Sidon!
Get up, travel to Cyprus,
but you will find no relief there.” 8
34:10 Night and day it will burn; 9
its smoke will ascend continually.
Generation after generation it will be a wasteland
and no one will ever pass through it again.
49:20 Yet the children born during your time of bereavement
will say within your hearing,
‘This place is too cramped for us, 10
make room for us so we can live here.’ 11
52:1 Wake up! Wake up!
Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion!
Put on your beautiful clothes,
O Jerusalem, 12 holy city!
For uncircumcised and unclean pagans
will no longer invade you.
60:20 Your sun will no longer set;
your moon will not disappear; 13
the Lord will be your permanent source of light;
your time 14 of sorrow will be over.
61:4 They will rebuild the perpetual ruins
and restore the places that were desolate; 15
they will reestablish the ruined cities,
the places that have been desolate since ancient times.
1 sn In vv. 5-9 Isaiah addresses the battered nation (5-8) and speaks as their representative (9).
2 tn Heb “Why are you still beaten? [Why] do you continue rebellion?” The rhetorical questions express the prophet’s disbelief over Israel’s apparent masochism and obsession with sin. The interrogative construction in the first line does double duty in the parallelism. H. Wildberger (Isaiah, 1:18) offers another alternative by translating the two statements with one question: “Why do you still wish to be struck that you persist in revolt?”
3 tn Heb “all the head is ill”; NRSV “the whole head is sick”; CEV “Your head is badly bruised.”
4 tn Heb “and all the heart is faint.” The “heart” here stands for bodily strength and energy, as suggested by the context and usage elsewhere (see Jer 8:18; Lam 1:22).
5 tn Heb “I will restore your judges as in the beginning; and your counselors as in the beginning.” In this context, where social injustice and legal corruption are denounced (see v. 23), the “judges” are probably government officials responsible for making legal decisions, while the “advisers” are probably officials who helped the king establish policies. Both offices are also mentioned in 3:2.
9 tn Heb “you will not be united with them in burial” (so NASB).
13 tn Or “violated, raped,” the point being that Daughter Sidon has lost her virginity in the most brutal manner possible.
14 tn Heb “[to the] Kittim, get up, cross over; even there there will be no rest for you.” On “Kittim” see the note on “Cyprus” at v. 1.
17 tn Heb “it will not be extinguished.”
21 tn Heb “me.” The singular is collective.
22 tn Heb “draw near to me so I can dwell.”
25 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
29 sn In this verse “sun” and “moon” refer to the Lord’s light, which will replace the sun and moon (see v. 19). Light here symbolizes the restoration of divine blessing and prosperity in conjunction with the Lord’s presence. See 30:26.
30 tn Heb “days” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
33 tn Heb “and the formerly desolate places they will raise up.”