59:2 But your sinful acts have alienated you from your God;
your sins have caused him to reject you and not listen to your prayers. 1
59:1 Look, the Lord’s hand is not too weak 2 to deliver you;
his ear is not too deaf to hear you. 3
8:1 The Lord told me, “Take a large tablet 7 and inscribe these words 8 on it with an ordinary stylus: 9 ‘Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.’ 10
9:5 At the time of the evening offering I got up from my self-abasement, 11 with my tunic and robe torn, and then dropped to my knees and spread my hands to the Lord my God.
27:8 For what hope does the godless have when he is cut off, 12
when God takes away his life? 13
27:9 Does God listen to his cry
when distress overtakes him?
27:20 Terrors overwhelm him like a flood; 14
at night a whirlwind carries him off.
66:18 If I had harbored sin in my heart, 15
the Lord would not have listened.
134:2 Lift your hands toward the sanctuary
and praise the Lord!
1:28 Then they will call to me, but I will not answer;
they will diligently seek 16 me, but they will not find me.
8:17 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man? Is it a trivial thing that the house of Judah commits these abominations they are practicing here? For they have filled the land with violence and provoked me to anger still further. Look, they are putting the branch to their nose! 19 8:18 Therefore I will act with fury! My eye will not pity them nor will I spare 20 them. When they have shouted in my ears, I will not listen to them.”
3:4 Someday these sinners will cry to the Lord for help, 21
but he will not answer them.
He will hide his face from them at that time,
because they have done such wicked deeds.”
7:13 “‘It then came about that just as I 22 cried out, but they would not obey, so they will cry out, but I will not listen,’ the Lord Lord who rules over all had said.
13:1 Now 39 there were some present on that occasion who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 40
2:8 Now 41 there were shepherds 42 nearby 43 living out in the field, keeping guard 44 over their flock at night.
1 tn Heb “and your sins have caused [his] face to be hidden from you so as not to hear.”
2 tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
3 tn Heb “or his ear too heavy [i.e., “dull”] to hear.”
4 tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, ASV, NASB).
5 tn The precise meaning of מְעוּף (mÿ’uf) is uncertain; the word occurs only here. See BDB 734 s.v. מָעוּף.
6 tn Heb “ and darkness, pushed.” The word מְנֻדָּח (mÿnudakh) appears to be a Pual participle from נדח (“push”), but the Piel is unattested for this verb and the Pual occurs only here.
7 sn Probably made of metal, wood, or leather. See HALOT 193 s.v. גִּלָּיוֹן.
8 tn Heb “write” (so KJV, ASV, NIV, NRSV).
9 tn Heb “with the stylus of a man.” The significance of the qualifying genitive “a man” is uncertain. For various interpretations see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:219, n. 1.
10 tn Heb “quickly, [the] plunder; it hurries, [the] loot.” The first word (מַהֵר, maher) is either a Piel imperative (“hurry [to]”) or infinitive (“hurrying,” or “quickly”). The third word (חָשׁ, khash) is either a third masculine singular perfect or a masculine singular participle, in either case from the root חוּשׁ (khush, “hurry”). Perhaps it is best to translate, “One hastens to the plunder, one hurries to the loot.” In this case מַהֵר is understood as an infinitive functioning as a verb, the subject of חוּשׁ is taken as indefinite, and the two nouns are understood as adverbial accusatives. As we discover in v. 3, this is the name of the son to be born to Isaiah through the prophetess.
11 tn The Hebrew word used here is a hapax legomenon. It refers to the self-abasement that accompanies religious sorrow and fasting.
12 tn The verb יִבְצָע (yivtsa’) means “to cut off.” It could be translated transitively or intransitively – the latter is better here (“when he is cut off”). Since the next line speaks of prayer, some have thought this verse should be about prayer. Mandelkern, in his concordance (p. 228b), suggested the verb should be “when he prays” (reading יִפְגַּע [yifga’] in place of יִבְצָע [yivtsa’]).
13 tn The verb יֵשֶׁל (yeshel) is found only here. It has been related spoils [or sheaves]”); שָׁאַל (sha’al, “to ask”); נָשָׂא (nasa’, “to lift up” [i.e., pray]); and a host of others.
14 tn Many commentators want a word parallel to “in the night.” And so we are offered בַּיּוֹם (bayyom, “in the day”) for כַמַּיִם (khammayim, “like waters”) as well as a number of others. But “waters” sometimes stand for major calamities, and so may be retained here. Besides, not all parallel structures are synonymous.
15 tn Heb “sin if I had seen in my heart.”
16 tn Heb “look to.” The verb שָׁחַר (shakhar, “to look”) is used figuratively of intensely looking (=seeking) for deliverance out of trouble (W. L. Holladay, Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 366); cf. NLT “anxiously search for.” It is used elsewhere in parallelism with בָּקַשׁ (baqash, “to seek rescue”; Hos 5:15). It does not mean “to seek early” (cf. KJV) as is popularly taught due to etymological connections with the noun שַׁחַר (shakhar, “dawn”; so BDB 1007 s.v. שָׁחַר).
17 sn See 6:16-20 for parallels.
18 tn Heb “through sword, starvation, and plague.”
19 tn It is not clear what the practice of “holding a branch to the nose” indicates. A possible parallel is the Syrian relief of a king holding a flower to his nose as he worships the stars (ANEP 281). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:145-46. The LXX glosses the expression as “Behold, they are like mockers.”
20 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.
21 tn Heb “then they will cry out to the
22 tn Heb “he.” Since the third person pronoun refers to the
23 tn The syntactical relationship between vv. 24-25 is disputed. The question turns on whether v. 25 is connected to v. 24 or not. A lack of a clear connective makes an independent idea more likely. However, one must then determine what the beginning of the sentence connects to. Though it makes for slightly awkward English, the translation has opted to connect it to “he will answer” so that this functions, in effect, as an apodosis. One could end the sentence after “us” and begin a new sentence with “He will answer” to make simpler sentences, although the connection between the two sentences is thereby less clear. The point of the passage, however, is clear. Once the door is shut, because one failed to come in through the narrow way, it is closed permanently. The moral: Do not be too late in deciding to respond.
24 tn Or “the master of the household.”
25 tn Or “rises,” or “stands up.”
26 tn Or “Sir.”
27 tn Grk “Open to us.”
28 tn Grk “and answering, he will say to you.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “he will answer you.”
29 sn For the imagery behind the statement “I do not know where you come from,” see Ps 138:6; Isa 63:16; Jer 1:5; Hos 5:3.
30 sn This term refers to wide streets, and thus suggests the major streets of a city.
31 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
32 tc Most
33 sn The issue is not familiarity (with Jesus’ teaching) or even shared activity (eating and drinking with him), but knowing Jesus. Those who do not know him, he will not know where they come from (i.e., will not acknowledge) at the judgment.
34 tn Grk “all you workers of iniquity.” The phrase resembles Ps 6:8.
35 sn Weeping and gnashing of teeth is a figure for remorse and trauma, which occurs here because of exclusion from God’s promise.
36 tn Grk “and Isaac and Jacob,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.
37 sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.
38 tn Or “being thrown out.” The present accusative participle, ἐκβαλλομένους (ekballomenous), related to the object ὑμᾶς (Jumas), seems to suggest that these evildoers will witness their own expulsion from the kingdom.
39 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.
40 sn This is an event that otherwise is unattested, though several events similar to it are noted in Josephus (J. W. 2.9.2-4 [2.169-177]; Ant. 13.13.5 [13.372-73], 18.3.1-2 [18.55-62]; 18.4.1 [18.85-87]). It would have caused a major furor.
41 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.
42 sn Some argue that shepherds were among the culturally despised, but the evidence for this view of shepherds is late, coming from 5th century Jewish materials. December 25 as the celebrated date of Jesus’ birth arose around the time of Constantine (ca.
43 tn Grk “in that region.”
44 tn Grk “living in the field (see BDAG 15 s.v. ἀγραυλέω) and guarding their flock.”