Isaiah 7:4

7:4 Tell him, ‘Make sure you stay calm! ¹  Don’t be afraid! Don’t be intimidated ²  by these two stubs of smoking logs, ³  or by the raging anger of Rezin, Syria, and the son of Remaliah.

Isaiah 28:7

28:7 Even these men ⁴  stagger because of wine,

they stumble around because of beer –

priests and prophets stagger because of beer,

they are confused ⁵  because of wine,

they stumble around because of beer;

they stagger while seeing prophetic visions, ⁶ 

they totter while making legal decisions. ⁷ 

Isaiah 36:12

36:12 But the chief adviser said, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. ⁸  His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you!” ⁹ 

Isaiah 39:3

39:3 Isaiah the prophet visited King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say? Where do they come from?” Hezekiah replied, “They come from the distant land of Babylon.”

Isaiah 40:26

40:26 Look up at the sky! ¹⁰ 

Who created all these heavenly lights? ¹¹ 

He is the one who leads out their ranks; ¹² 

he calls them all by name.

Because of his absolute power and awesome strength,

not one of them is missing.

Isaiah 42:16

42:16 I will lead the blind along an unfamiliar way; ¹³ 

I will guide them down paths they have never traveled. ¹⁴ 

I will turn the darkness in front of them into light,

and level out the rough ground. ¹⁵ 

This is what I will do for them.

I will not abandon them.

Isaiah 66:8

66:8 Who has ever heard of such a thing?

Who has ever seen this?

Can a country ¹⁶  be brought forth in one day?

Can a nation be born in a single moment?

Yet as soon as Zion goes into labor she gives birth to sons!

¹ tn Heb “guard yourself and be quiet,” but the two verbs should be coordinated.

² tn Heb “and let not your heart be weak”; ASV “neither let thy heart be faint.”

³ sn The derogatory metaphor indicates that the power of Rezin and Pekah is ready to die out.

⁴ tn Heb “these.” The demonstrative pronoun anticipates “priests and prophets” two lines later.

⁵ tn According to HALOT 135 s.v. III בלע, the verb form is derived from בָּלַע (bala’, “confuse”), not the more common בָּלַע (“swallow”). See earlier notes at 3:12 and 9:16.

⁶ tn Heb “in the seeing.”

⁷ tn Heb “[in] giving a decision.”

⁷ tn Heb “To your master and to you did my master send me to speak these words?” The rhetorical question expects a negative answer.

⁸ tn Heb “[Is it] not [also] to the men…?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Yes, it is.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “Lift on high your eyes and see.”

¹¹ tn The words “heavenly lights” are supplied in the translation for clarification. See the following lines.

¹² tn Heb “the one who brings out by number their host.” The stars are here likened to a huge army that the Lord leads out. Perhaps the next line pictures God calling roll. If so, the final line may be indicating that none of them dares “go AWOL.” (“AWOL” is a military acronym for “absent without leave.”)

¹³ tn Heb “a way they do not know” (so NASB); NRSV “a road they do not know.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “in paths they do not know I will make them walk.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “and the rough ground into a level place.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “land,” but here אֶרֶץ (’erets) stands metonymically for an organized nation (see the following line).