35:8 A thoroughfare will be there –
it will be called the Way of Holiness. 1
The unclean will not travel on it;
it is reserved for those authorized to use it 2 –
fools 3 will not stray into it.
44:12 A blacksmith works with his tool 4
and forges metal over the coals.
He forms it 5 with hammers;
he makes it with his strong arm.
He gets hungry and loses his energy; 6
he drinks no water and gets tired.
44:16 Half of it he burns in the fire –
over that half he cooks 7 meat;
he roasts a meal and fills himself.
Yes, he warms himself and says,
‘Ah! I am warm as I look at the fire.’
52:5 And now, what do we have here?” 8 says the Lord.
“Indeed my people have been carried away for nothing,
those who rule over them taunt,” 9 says the Lord,
“and my name is constantly slandered 10 all day long.
54:9 “As far as I am concerned, this is like in Noah’s time, 11
when I vowed that the waters of Noah’s flood 12 would never again cover the earth.
In the same way I have vowed that I will not be angry at you or shout at you.
1 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and there will be there a road and a way, and the Way of Holiness it will be called.” וְדֶרֶךְ (vÿderekh, “and a/the way”) is accidentally duplicated; the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa does not reflect the repetition of the phrase.
2 tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The text reads literally “and it is for them, the one who walks [on the] way.” In this context those authorized to use the Way of Holiness would be morally upright people who are the recipients of God’s deliverance, in contrast to the morally impure and foolish who are excluded from the new covenant community.
3 tn In this context “fools” are those who are morally corrupt, not those with limited intellectual capacity.
4 tn The noun מַעֲצָד (ma’atsad), which refers to some type of tool used for cutting, occurs only here and in Jer 10:3. See HALOT 615 s.v. מַעֲצָד.
5 tn Some English versions take the pronoun “it” to refer to an idol being fashioned by the blacksmith (cf. NIV, NCV, CEV). NLT understands the referent to be “a sharp tool,” which is then used by the carpenter in the following verse to carve an idol from wood.
6 tn Heb “and there is no strength”; NASB “his strength fails.”
7 tn Heb “eats” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV “roasts.”
10 tn Heb “and now what [following the marginal reading (Qere)] to me here?”
11 tn The verb appears to be a Hiphil form from the root יָלַל (yalal, “howl”), perhaps here in the sense of “mock.” Some emend the form to יְהוֹלָּלוֹ (yÿhollalo) and understand a Polel form of the root הָלַל meaning here “mock, taunt.”
12 tn The verb is apparently a Hitpolal form (with assimilated tav, ת) from the root נָאַץ (na’ats), but GKC 151-52 §55.b explains it as a mixed form, combining Pual and Hitpolel readings.
13 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “For [or “indeed”] the waters of Noah [is] this to me.” כִּי־מֵי (ki-me, “for the waters of”) should be emended to כְּמֵי (kÿmey, “like the days of”), which is supported by the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa and all the ancient versions except LXX.
14 tn Heb “the waters of Noah” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).