19:18 At that time five cities 1 in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord who commands armies. One will be called the City of the Sun. 2
45:23 I solemnly make this oath 3 –
what I say is true and reliable: 4
‘Surely every knee will bow to me,
every tongue will solemnly affirm; 5
45:24 they will say about me,
“Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.”’” 6
All who are angry at him will cower before him. 7
45:25 All the descendants of Israel will be vindicated by the Lord
and will boast in him. 8
48:1 Listen to this, O family of Jacob, 9
you who are called by the name ‘Israel,’
and are descended from Judah, 10
who take oaths in the name of the Lord,
and invoke 11 the God of Israel –
but not in an honest and just manner. 12
63:11 But the king 13 will rejoice in God;
everyone who takes oaths in his name 14 will boast,
for the mouths of those who speak lies will be shut up. 15
1:5 I will remove 21 those who worship the stars in the sky from their rooftops, 22
those who swear allegiance to the Lord 23 while taking oaths in the name of 24 their ‘king,’ 25
2:11 and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.
1 sn The significance of the number “five” in this context is uncertain. For a discussion of various proposals, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:376-77.
2 tc The Hebrew text has עִיר הַהֶרֶס (’ir haheres, “City of Destruction”; cf. NASB, NIV) but this does not fit the positive emphasis of vv. 18-22. The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa and some medieval Hebrew
3 tn Heb “I swear by myself”; KJV, NASB “have sworn.”
4 tn Heb “a word goes out from my mouth [in] truth and will not return.”
5 tn Heb “swear” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “confess allegiance.”
6 tn Heb “‘Yes, in the Lord,’ one says about me, ‘is deliverance and strength.’”
7 tn Heb “will come to him and be ashamed.”
8 tn Heb “In the Lord all the offspring of Israel will be vindicated and boast.”
9 tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV, CEV “people of Israel.”
10 tc The Hebrew text reads literally “and from the waters of Judah came out.” מִמֵּי (mimme) could be a corruption of מִמְּעֵי (mimmÿ’e, “from the inner parts of”; cf. NASB, NIV, NLT, NRSV) as suggested in the above translation. Some translations (ESV, NKJV) retain the MT reading because the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa, which corrects a similar form to “from inner parts of” in 39:7, does not do it here.
11 tn Heb “cause to remember”; KJV, ASV “make mention of.”
12 tn Heb “not in truth and not in righteousness.”
13 sn The psalmist probably refers to himself in the third person here.
14 tn Heb “who swears [an oath] by him.”
15 tn The Niphal of this verb occurs only here and in Gen 8:2, where it is used of God “stopping” or “damming up” the great deep as he brought the flood to an end.
16 tn Heb “the ways of my people.” For this nuance of the word “ways” compare 10:2 and the notes there.
17 tn Heb “taught my people to swear by Baal.”
18 tn The words “I swear” are not in the text but are implicit to the oath formula. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
19 tn The words “If they do this” are not in the text. They are part of an attempt to break up a Hebrew sentence which is long and complex into equivalent shorter sentences consistent with contemporary English style. Verse 16 in Hebrew is all one sentence with a long complex conditional clause followed by a short consequence: “If they carefully learn the ways of my people to swear by name, ‘By the life of the
20 tn Heb “they will be built up among my people.” The expression “be built up among” is without parallel. However, what is involved here is conceptually parallel to the ideas expressed in Isa 19:23-25 and Zech 14:16-19. That is, these people will be allowed to live on their own land, to worship the
21 tn The words “I will remove” are repeated from v. 4b for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 4b-6 contain a long list of objects for the verb “I will remove” in v. 4b. In the present translation a new sentence was begun at the beginning of v. 5 in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences.
22 tn Heb “those who worship on their roofs the host of heaven.” The “host of heaven” included the sun, moon, planets, and stars, all of which were deified in the ancient Near East.
23 tc The MT reads, “those who worship, those who swear allegiance to the
24 tn Heb “those who swear by.”
25 tn The referent of “their king” is unclear. It may refer sarcastically to a pagan god (perhaps Baal) worshiped by the people. Some English versions (cf. NEB, NASB, NRSV) prefer to emend the text to “Milcom,” the name of an Ammonite god (following some LXX
26 sn A quotation from Isa 45:23.