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 1:15

1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I look the other way; ⁴ 

when you offer your many prayers,

I do not listen,

because your hands are covered with blood. ⁵ 

Isaiah 4:4

4:4 At that time ⁶  the sovereign master ⁷  will wash the excrement ⁸  from Zion’s women,

he will rinse the bloodstains from Jerusalem’s midst, ⁹ 

as he comes to judge

and to bring devastation. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 9:5

9:5 Indeed every boot that marches and shakes the earth ¹¹ 

and every garment dragged through blood

is used as fuel for the fire.

Isaiah 15:9

15:9 Indeed, the waters of Dimon ¹²  are full of blood!

Indeed, I will heap even more trouble on Dimon. ¹³ 

A lion will attack ¹⁴  the Moabite fugitives

and the people left in the land.

Isaiah 49:26

49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;

they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. ¹⁵ 

Then all humankind ¹⁶  will recognize that

I am the Lord, your deliverer,

your protector, ¹⁷  the powerful ruler of Jacob.” ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 59:7

59:7 They are eager to do evil, ¹⁹ 

quick to shed innocent blood. ²⁰ 

Their thoughts are sinful;

they crush and destroy. ²¹ 

[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.

[1:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”

[1:15]  ⁵ sn This does not just refer to the blood of sacrificial animals, but also the blood, as it were, of their innocent victims. By depriving the poor and destitute of proper legal recourse and adequate access to the economic system, the oppressors have, for all intents and purposes, “killed” their victims.

[4:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “when” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); CEV “after”; NRSV “once.”

[4:4]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).

[4:4]  ⁹ tn The word refers elsewhere to vomit (Isa 28:8) and fecal material (Isa 36:12). Many English versions render this somewhat euphemistically as “filth” (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV). Ironically in God’s sight the beautiful jewelry described earlier is nothing but vomit and feces, for it symbolizes the moral decay of the city’s residents (cf. NLT “moral filth”).

[4:4]  ¹⁰ sn See 1:21 for a related concept.

[4:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.” The precise meaning of the second half of the verse is uncertain. רוּחַ (ruakh) can be understood as “wind” in which case the passage pictures the Lord using a destructive wind as an instrument of judgment. However, this would create a mixed metaphor, for the first half of the verse uses the imagery of washing and rinsing to depict judgment. Perhaps the image would be that of a windstorm accompanied by heavy rain. רוּחַ can also mean “spirit,” in which case the verse may be referring to the Lord’s Spirit or, more likely, to a disposition that the Lord brings to the task of judgment. It is also uncertain if בָּעַר (ba’ar) here means “burning” or “sweeping away, devastating.”

[9:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Indeed every boot marching with shaking.” On the meaning of סְאוֹן (sÿ’on, “boot”) and the related denominative verb, both of which occur only here, see HALOT 738 s.v. סְאוֹן.

[15:9]  ¹³ tc The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a reads “Dibon” instead of “Dimon” in this verse.

[15:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Indeed I will place on Dimon added things.” Apparently the Lord is speaking.

[15:9]  ¹⁵ tn The words “will attack” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[49:26]  ¹⁶ sn Verse 26a depicts siege warfare and bloody defeat. The besieged enemy will be so starved they will their own flesh. The bloodstained bodies lying on the blood-soaked battle site will look as if they collapsed in drunkenness.

[49:26]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).

[49:26]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[49:26]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.” See 1:24.

[59:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “their feet run to evil.”

[59:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they quickly pour out innocent blood.”

[59:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “their thoughts are thoughts of sin, destruction and crushing [are] in their roadways.”