4:2 At that time 3
the crops given by the Lord will bring admiration and honor; 4
the produce of the land will be a source of pride and delight
to those who remain in Israel. 5
10:20 At that time 6 those left in Israel, those who remain of the family 7 of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. 8 Instead they will truly 9 rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 10
9:27 And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel, “Though the number of the children 11 of Israel are as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved,
11:5 So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 11:6 And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
1 tn Heb “The survivors of the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah few in number [more literally, “men of number”; for the idiom see BDB 709 s.v. מִסְפָּר 1.a].” The term “survivors of the sword” may be intended to represent both those who survive death in war or death by starvation or disease, a synecdoche of species for all three genera.
2 tn Heb “will stand,” i.e., in the sense of being fulfilled, proving to be true, or succeeding (see BDB 878 s.v. קוּם 7.g).
3 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).
4 tn Heb “and the vegetation of the Lord will become beauty and honor.” Many English versions understand the phrase צֶמַח יְהוָה (tsemakh yÿhvah) as a messianic reference and render it, “the Branch of the Lord” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT, and others). Though צֶמַח (tsemakh) is used by later prophets of a royal descendant (Jer 23;5; 33:15; Zech 3:8; 6:12), those passages contain clear contextual indicators that a human ruler is in view and that the word is being used in a metaphorical way of offspring. However, in Isa 4:2 there are no such contextual indicators. To the contrary, in the parallel structure of the verse צֶמַח יְהוָה corresponds to “produce of the land,” a phrase that refers elsewhere exclusively to literal agricultural produce (see Num 13:20, 26; Deut 1:25). In the majority of its uses צֶמַח refers to literal crops or vegetation (in Ps 65:10 the Lord is the source of this vegetation). A reference to the Lord restoring crops would make excellent sense in Isa 4 and the prophets frequently included this theme in their visions of the future age (see Isa 30:23-24; 32:20; Jer 31:12; Ezek 34:26-29; and Amos 9:13-14).
5 tn Heb “and the fruit of the land will become pride and beauty for the remnant of Israel.”
6 tn Or “in that day.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
7 tn Heb “house” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
8 tn Heb “on one who strikes him down.” This individual is the king (“foreign leader”) of the oppressing nation (which NLT specifies as “the Assyrians”).
9 tn Or “sincerely”; KJV, ASV, NAB, NRSV “in truth.”
10 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
11 tn Grk “sons.”