65:14 Look, my servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts! 1
But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts; 2
you will wail because your spirits will be crushed. 3
46:12 Listen to me, you stubborn people, 4
you who distance yourself from doing what is right. 5
24:7 The new wine dries up,
the vines shrivel up,
all those who like to celebrate 6 groan.
46:8 Remember this, so you can be brave! 7
Think about it, you rebels! 8
6:10 Make the hearts of these people calloused;
make their ears deaf and their eyes blind!
Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.” 9
35:4 Tell those who panic, 10
“Be strong! Do not fear!
Look, your God comes to avenge!
With divine retribution he comes to deliver you.” 11
42:25 So he poured out his fierce anger on them,
along with the devastation 12 of war.
Its flames encircled them, but they did not realize it; 13
it burned against them, but they did notice. 14
44:20 He feeds on ashes; 15
his deceived mind misleads him.
He cannot rescue himself,
nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’ 16
57:1 The godly 17 perish,
but no one cares. 18
Honest people disappear, 19
when no one 20 minds 21
that the godly 22 disappear 23 because of 24 evil. 25
65:17 For look, I am ready to create
new heavens and a new earth! 26
The former ones 27 will not be remembered;
no one will think about them anymore. 28
40:2 “Speak kindly to 29 Jerusalem, 30 and tell her
that her time of warfare is over, 31
that her punishment is completed. 32
For the Lord has made her pay double 33 for all her sins.”
57:15 For this is what the high and exalted one says,
the one who rules 34 forever, whose name is holy:
“I dwell in an exalted and holy place,
but also with the discouraged and humiliated, 35
in order to cheer up the humiliated
and to encourage the discouraged. 36
61:1 The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me,
because the Lord has chosen 37 me. 38
He has commissioned 39 me to encourage 40 the poor,
to help 41 the brokenhearted,
to decree the release of captives,
and the freeing of prisoners,
1 tn Heb “from the good of the heart.”
2 tn Heb “from the pain of the heart.”
3 tn Heb “from the breaking of the spirit.”
4 tn Heb “strong of heart [or, mind]”; KJV “stouthearted”; NAB “fainthearted”; NIV “stubborn-hearted.”
5 tn Heb “who are far from righteousness [or perhaps, “deliverance”].”
7 tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “all the joyful in heart,” but the context specifies the context as parties and drinking bouts.
10 tn The meaning of the verb אָשַׁשׁ (’ashash, which appears here in the Hitpolel stem) is uncertain. BDB 84 s.v. אשׁשׁ relates it to a root meaning “found, establish” in Arabic; HALOT 100 s.v. II אשׁשׁ gives the meaning “pluck up courage.” The imperative with vav (ו) may indicate purpose following the preceding imperative.
11 tn Heb “return [it], rebels, to heart”; NRSV “recall it to mind, you transgressors.”
13 sn Do we take this commission at face value? Does the Lord really want to prevent his people from understanding, repenting, and being healed? Verse 9, which ostensibly records the content of Isaiah’s message, is clearly ironic. As far as we know, Isaiah did not literally proclaim these exact words. The Hebrew imperatival forms are employed rhetorically and anticipate the response Isaiah will receive. When all is said and done, Isaiah might as well preface and conclude every message with these ironic words, which, though imperatival in form, might be paraphrased as follows: “You continually hear, but don’t understand; you continually see, but don’t perceive.” Isaiah might as well command them to be spiritually insensitive, because, as the preceding and following chapters make clear, the people are bent on that anyway. (This ironic command is comparable to saying to a particularly recalcitrant individual, “Go ahead, be stubborn!”) Verse 10b is also clearly sarcastic. On the surface it seems to indicate Isaiah’s hardening ministry will prevent genuine repentance. But, as the surrounding chapters clearly reveal, the people were hardly ready or willing to repent. Therefore, Isaiah’s preaching was not needed to prevent repentance! Verse 10b reflects the people’s attitude and might be paraphrased accordingly: “Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their mind, repent, and be restored, and they certainly wouldn’t want that, would they?” Of course, this sarcastic statement may also reveal that the Lord himself is now bent on judgment, not reconciliation. Just as Pharaoh’s rejection of Yahweh’s ultimatum ignited judgment and foreclosed, at least temporarily, any opportunity for repentance, so the Lord may have come to the point where he has decreed to bring judgment before opening the door for repentance once more. The sarcastic statement in verse 10b would be an emphatic way of making this clear. (Perhaps we could expand our paraphrase: “Otherwise they might…repent, and be restored, and they certainly wouldn’t want that, would they? Besides, it’s too late for that!”) Within this sarcastic framework, verse 10a must also be seen as ironic. As in verse 9 the imperatival forms should be taken as rhetorical and as anticipating the people’s response. One might paraphrase: “Your preaching will desensitize the minds of these people, make their hearing dull, and blind their eyes.” From the outset the Lord might as well command Isaiah to harden the people, because his preaching will end up having that effect. Despite the use of irony, we should still view this as a genuine, albeit indirect, act of divine hardening. After all, God did not have to send Isaiah. By sending him, he drives the sinful people further from him, for Isaiah’s preaching, which focuses on the Lord’s covenantal demands and impending judgment upon covenantal rebellion, forces the people to confront their sin and then continues to desensitize them as they respond negatively to the message. As in the case of Pharaoh, Yahweh’s hardening is not arbitrarily imposed on a righteous or even morally neutral object. Rather his hardening is an element of his righteous judgment on recalcitrant sinners. Ironically, Israel’s rejection of prophetic preaching in turn expedites disciplinary punishment, and brings the battered people to a point where they might be ready for reconciliation. The prophesied judgment (cf. 6:11-13) was fulfilled by 701
16 tn Heb “Say to the hasty of heart,” i.e., those whose hearts beat quickly from fear.
17 tn The jussive form וְיֹשַׁעֲכֶם (vÿyosha’akhem), which is subordinated to the preceding imperfect with vav conjunctive, indicates purpose.
19 tn Heb “strength” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “fury”; NASB “fierceness”; NIV “violence.”
20 tn Heb “and it blazed against him all around, but he did not know.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb “blazed” is the divine חֵמָה (khemah, “anger”) mentioned in the previous line.
21 tn Heb “and it burned against him, but he did not set [it] upon [the] heart.”
22 tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”
23 tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”
25 tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the just man”; TEV “Good people.”
26 tn Or perhaps, “understands.” Heb “and there is no man who sets [it] upon [his] heart.”
27 tn Heb “Men of loyalty are taken away.” The Niphal of אָסַף (’asaf) here means “to die.”
28 tn The Hebrew term בְּאֵין (bÿ’en) often has the nuance “when there is no.” See Prov 8:24; 11;14; 14:4; 15:22; 26:20; 29:18.
29 tn Or “realizes”; Heb “understands” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
30 tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the just man.”
31 tn Heb “are taken away.” The Niphal of אָסַף (’asaf) here means “to die.”
32 tn The term מִפְּנֵי (mippÿne, “from the face of”) often has a causal nuance. It also appears with the Niphal of אָסַף (’asaph, “gather”) in 2 Chr 12:5: אֲשֶׁר־נֶאֶסְפוּ אֶל־יְרוּשָׁלַם מִפְּנֵי שִׁישָׁק (’asher-ne’esphu ’el-yÿrushalam mippÿney shishaq, “who had gathered at Jerusalem because of [i.e., due to fear of] Shishak”).
33 tn The translation assumes that this verse, in proverbial fashion, laments society’s apathy over the persecution of the godly. The second half of the verse observes that such apathy results in more widespread oppression. Since the next verse pictures the godly being taken to a place of rest, some interpret the second half of v. 1 in a more positive vein. According to proponents of this view, God removes the godly so that they might be spared suffering and calamity, a fact which the general populace fails to realize.
28 sn This hyperbolic statement likens the coming transformation of Jerusalem (see vv. 18-19) to a new creation of the cosmos.
29 tn Or perhaps, “the former things” (so ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “The events of the past.”
30 tn Heb “and they will not come up on the mind.”
31 tn Heb “speak to the heart of Jerusalem.” Jerusalem is personified as a woman.
32 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
33 tn Heb “that she is filled [with] her warfare.” Some understand צָבָא (tsavah, “warfare”) as meaning “hard service” or “compulsory labor” in this context.
34 tn Heb “that her punishment is accepted [as satisfactory].”
35 tn Heb “for she has received from the hand of the Lord double.” The principle of the double portion in punishment is also seen in Jer 16:18; 17:18 and Rev 18:6. For examples of the double portion in Israelite law, see Exod 22:4, 7, 9 (double restitution by a thief) and Deut 21:17 (double inheritance portion for the firstborn).
34 tn Heb “the one who dwells forever.” שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ’ad) is sometimes translated “the one who lives forever,” and understood as a reference to God’s eternal existence. However, the immediately preceding and following descriptions (“high and exalted” and “holy”) emphasize his sovereign rule. In the next line, he declares, “I dwell in an exalted and holy [place],” which refers to the place from which he rules. Therefore it is more likely that שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ’ad) means “I dwell [in my lofty palace] forever” and refers to God’s eternal kingship.
35 tn Heb “and also with the crushed and lowly of spirit.” This may refer to the repentant who have humbled themselves (see 66:2) or more generally to the exiles who have experienced discouragement and humiliation.
36 tn Heb “to restore the lowly of spirit and to restore the heart of the crushed.”
37 tn Heb “anointed,” i.e., designated to carry out an assigned task.
38 sn The speaker is not identified, but he is distinct from the Lord and from Zion’s suffering people. He possesses the divine spirit, is God’s spokesman, and is sent to release prisoners from bondage. The evidence suggests he is the Lord’s special servant, described earlier in the servant songs (see 42:1-4, 7; 49:2, 9; 50:4; see also 51:16).
39 tn Or “sent” (NAB); NCV “has appointed me.”
40 tn Or “proclaim good news to.”
41 tn Heb “to bind up [the wounds of].”