Isaiah 1:11

1:11 “Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?” ¹ 

says the Lord.

“I am stuffed with ²  burnt sacrifices

of rams and the fat from steers.

The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats

I do not want. ³ 

Isaiah 1:13

1:13 Do not bring any more meaningless ⁴  offerings;

I consider your incense detestable! ⁵ 

You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations,

but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations! ⁶ 

Isaiah 8:18

8:18 Look, I and the sons whom the Lord has given me ⁷  are reminders and object lessons ⁸  in Israel, sent from the Lord who commands armies, who lives on Mount Zion.

Isaiah 12:2

12:2 Look, God is my deliverer! ⁹ 

I will trust in him ¹⁰  and not fear.

For the Lord gives me strength and protects me; ¹¹ 

he has become my deliverer.” ¹² 

Isaiah 21:2

21:2 I have received a distressing message: ¹³ 

“The deceiver deceives,

the destroyer destroys.

Attack, you Elamites!

Lay siege, you Medes!

I will put an end to all the groaning!” ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 38:14

38:14 Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp,

I coo ¹⁵  like a dove;

my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky. ¹⁶ 

O sovereign master, ¹⁷  I am oppressed;

help me! ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 38:17

38:17 “Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. ¹⁹ 

You delivered me ²⁰  from the pit of oblivion. ²¹ 

For you removed all my sins from your sight. ²² 

Isaiah 43:1

The Lord Will Rescue His People

43:1 Now, this is what the Lord says,

the one who created you, O Jacob,

and formed you, O Israel:

“Don’t be afraid, for I will protect ²³  you.

I call you by name, you are mine.

Isaiah 43:23-24

43:23 You did not bring me lambs for your burnt offerings;

you did not honor me with your sacrifices.

I did not burden you with offerings;

I did not make you weary by demanding ²⁴  incense.

43:24 You did not buy me aromatic reeds; ²⁵ 

you did not present to me ²⁶  the fat of your sacrifices.

Yet you burdened me with your sins;

you made me weary with your evil deeds. ²⁷ 

Isaiah 44:7

44:7 Who is like me? Let him make his claim! ²⁸ 

Let him announce it and explain it to me –

since I established an ancient people – ²⁹ 

let them announce future events! ³⁰ 

Isaiah 44:21

44:21 Remember these things, O Jacob,

O Israel, for you are my servant.

I formed you to be my servant;

O Israel, I will not forget you! ³¹ 

Isaiah 45:23

45:23 I solemnly make this oath ³²  –

what I say is true and reliable: ³³ 

‘Surely every knee will bow to me,

every tongue will solemnly affirm; ³⁴ 

Isaiah 50:7

50:7 But the sovereign Lord helps me,

so I am not humiliated.

For that reason I am steadfastly resolved; ³⁵ 

I know I will not be put to shame.

Isaiah 50:9

50:9 Look, the sovereign Lord helps me.

Who dares to condemn me?

Look, all of them will wear out like clothes;

a moth will eat away at them.

Isaiah 66:1

66:1 This is what the Lord says:

“The heavens are my throne

and the earth is my footstool.

Where then is the house you will build for me?

Where is the place where I will rest?

[1:11]  ¹ tn Heb “Why to me the multitude of your sacrifices?” The sarcastic rhetorical question suggests that their many sacrifices are of no importance to the Lord. This phrase answers the possible objection that an Israelite could raise in response to God’s indictment: “But we are offering the sacrifices you commanded!”

[1:11]  ² tn The verb שָׂבַע (sava’, “be satisfied, full”) is often used of eating and/or drinking one’s fill. See BDB 959 s.v. שָׂבַע. Here sacrifices are viewed, in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion, as food for the deity. God here declares that he has eaten and drunk, as it were, his fill.

[1:11]  ³ sn In the chiastic structure of the verse, the verbs at the beginning and end highlight God’s displeasure, while the heaping up of references to animals, fat, and blood in the middle lines hints at why God wants no more of their sacrifices. They have, as it were, piled the food on his table and he needs no more.

[1:13]  ⁴ tn Or “worthless” (NASB, NCV, CEV); KJV, ASV “vain.”

[1:13]  ⁵ sn Notice some of the other practices that Yahweh regards as “detestable”: homosexuality (Lev 18:22-30; 20:13), idolatry (Deut 7:25; 13:15), human sacrifice (Deut 12:31), eating ritually unclean animals (Deut 14:3-8), sacrificing defective animals (Deut 17:1), engaging in occult activities (Deut 18:9-14), and practicing ritual prostitution (1 Kgs 14:23).

[1:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “sin and assembly” (these two nouns probably represent a hendiadys). The point is that their attempts at worship are unacceptable to God because the people’s everyday actions in the socio-economic realm prove they have no genuine devotion to God (see vv. 16-17).

[8:18]  ⁷ sn This refers to Shear-jashub (7:3) and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (8:1, 3).

[8:18]  ⁸ tn Or “signs and portents” (NAB, NRSV). The names of all three individuals has symbolic value. Isaiah’s name (which meant “the Lord delivers”) was a reminder that the Lord was the nation’s only source of protection; Shear-jashub’s name was meant, at least originally, to encourage Ahaz (see the note at 7:3), and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz’s name was a guarantee that God would defeat Israel and Syria (see the note at 8:4). The word מוֹפֶת (mofet, “portent”) can often refer to some miraculous event, but in 20:3 it is used, along with its synonym אוֹת (’ot, “sign”) of Isaiah’s walking around half-naked as an object lesson of what would soon happen to the Egyptians.

[12:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “salvation” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[12:2]  ¹¹ tn The words “in him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[12:2]  ¹² tc The Hebrew text has, “for my strength and protection [is] the Lord, the Lord (Heb “Yah, Yahweh).” The word יְהוָה (yehvah) is probably dittographic or explanatory here (note that the short form of the name [יָהּ, yah] precedes, and that the graphically similar וַיְהִי [vayÿhi] follows). Exod 15:2, the passage from which the words of v. 2b are taken, has only יָהּ. The word זִמְרָת (zimrat) is traditionally understood as meaning “song,” in which case one might translate, “for the Lord gives me strength and joy” (i.e., a reason to sing); note that in v. 5 the verb זָמַר (zamar, “sing”) appears. Many recent commentators, however, have argued that the noun is here instead a homonym, meaning “protection” or “strength.” See HALOT 274 s.v. III *זמר.

[12:2]  ¹³ tn Or “salvation” (so many English versions, e.g., KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “my savior.”

[21:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “a severe revelation has been related to me.”

[21:2]  ¹⁴ sn This is often interpreted to mean “all the groaning” that Babylon has caused others.

[38:14]  ¹⁶ tn Or “moan” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); KJV, CEV “mourn.”

[38:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “my eyes become weak, toward the height.”

[38:14]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in v. 16 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[38:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “stand surety for me.” Hezekiah seems to be picturing himself as a debtor who is being exploited; he asks that the Lord might relieve his debt and deliver him from the oppressive creditor.

[38:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Look, for peace bitterness was to me bitter”; NAB “thus is my bitterness transformed into peace.”

[38:17]  ²⁰ tc The Hebrew text reads, “you loved my soul,” but this does not fit syntactically with the following prepositional phrase. חָשַׁקְתָּ (khashaqta, “you loved”), may reflect an aural error; most emend the form to חָשַׂכְת, (khasakht, “you held back”).

[38:17]  ²¹ tn בְּלִי (bÿli) most often appears as a negation, meaning “without,” suggesting the meaning “nothingness, oblivion,” here. Some translate “decay” or “destruction.”

[38:17]  ²² tn Heb “for you threw behind your back all my sins.”

[43:1]  ²² tn Or “redeem.” See the note at 41:14. Cf. NCV “saved you”; CEV “rescued you”; NLT “ransomed you.”

[43:23]  ²⁵ tn Heb “with.” The words “by demanding” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[43:24]  ²⁸ tn That is, “calamus” (so NIV); NCV, TEV, NLT “incense”; CEV “spices.”

[43:24]  ²⁹ tn Heb “you did not saturate me”; NASB “Neither have you filled Me.”

[43:24]  ³⁰ sn In vv. 22-24 the Lord appears to be condemning his people for failure to bring the proper sacrifices. However, this is problematic. If this refers to the nation’s behavior while in exile, such cultic service was impossible and could hardly be expected by the Lord. If this refers to the nation’s conduct before the exile, it contradicts other passages that depict Israel as bringing excessive sacrifices (see, e.g., Isa 1:11-14; Jer 6:20; Amos 4:4-5, 5:21-23). Rather than being a condemnation of Israel’s failure to bring sacrifices, these verses are better taken as a highly rhetorical comment on the worthlessness of Israel’s religious ritual. They may have brought sacrifices, but not to the Lord, for he did not accept them or even want them. See C. R. North, Second Isaiah, 127, and R. Whybray, Isaiah 40-66 (NCBC), 91.

[44:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “let him call” or “let him proclaim” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “Let him stand up and speak.”

[44:7]  ³² tc The Hebrew text reads, “from (the time) I established an ancient people, and the coming things.” Various emendations have been proposed. One of the options assumes the reading מַשְׁמִיעִים מֵעוֹלָם אוֹתִיּוֹת (mashmi’im me’olam ’otiyyot); This literally reads “the ones causing to hear from antiquity coming things,” but more idiomatically would read “as for those who predict from antiquity what will happen” (cf. NAB, NEB, REB). The emendation directs the attention of the reader to those who claim to be able to predict the future, challenging them to actually do what they claim they can do. The MT presents Yahweh as an example to whom these alleged “predictors of the future” can compare themselves. Since the ancient versions are unanimous in their support of the MT, the emendations should be set aside.

[44:7]  ³³ tn Heb and those things which are coming let them declare for themselves.”

[44:21]  ³⁴ tc The verb in the Hebrew text is a Niphal imperfect with a pronominal suffix. Although the Niphal ordinarily has the passive sense, it can have a reflexive nuance as well (see above translation). Some have suggested an emendation to a Qal form: “Do not forget me” (all the ancient versions, NEB, REB; see GKC 369 §117.x). “Do not forget me” would make a good parallel with “remember these things” in the first line. Since the MT is the harder reading and fits with Israel’s complaint that God had forgotten her (Isa 40:27), the MT reading should be retained (NASB, NKJV, NRSV, ESV). The passive has been rendered as an active in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style (so also NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT).

[45:23]  ³⁷ tn Heb “I swear by myself”; KJV, NASB “have sworn.”

[45:23]  ³⁸ tn Heb “a word goes out from my mouth [in] truth and will not return.”

[45:23]  ³⁹ tn Heb “swear” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “confess allegiance.”

[50:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “Therefore I set my face like flint.”