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 16:8

16:8 For the fields of Heshbon are dried up,

as well as the vines of Sibmah.

The rulers of the nations trample all over its vines,

which reach Jazer and spread to the desert;

their shoots spread out and cross the sea.

Isaiah 34:6

34:6 The Lord’s sword is dripping with blood,

it is covered ⁴  with fat;

it drips ⁵  with the blood of young rams and goats

and is covered ⁶  with the fat of rams’ kidneys.

For the Lord is holding a sacrifice ⁷  in Bozrah, ⁸ 

a bloody ⁹  slaughter in the land of Edom.

Isaiah 48:1

The Lord Appeals to the Exiles

48:1 Listen to this, O family of Jacob, ¹⁰ 

you who are called by the name ‘Israel,’

and are descended from Judah, ¹¹ 

who take oaths in the name of the Lord,

and invoke ¹²  the God of Israel –

but not in an honest and just manner. ¹³ 

Isaiah 65:16

65:16 Whoever pronounces a blessing in the earth ¹⁴ 

will do so in the name of the faithful God; ¹⁵ 

whoever makes an oath in the earth

will do so in the name of the faithful God. ¹⁶ 

For past problems will be forgotten;

I will no longer think about them. ¹⁷ 

[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.

[34:6]  ⁴ tn The verb is a rare Hotpaal passive form. See GKC 150 §54.h.

[34:6]  ⁵ tn The words “it drips” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[34:6]  ⁶ tn The words “and is covered” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[34:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “for there is a sacrifice to the Lord.”

[34:6]  ⁸ sn The Lord’s judgment of Edom is compared to a bloody sacrificial scene.

[34:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “great” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[48:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV, CEV “people of Israel.”

[48:1]  ⁸ tc The Hebrew text reads literally “and from the waters of Judah came out.” מִמֵּי (mimme) could be a corruption of מִמְּעֵי (mimmÿ’e, “from the inner parts of”; cf. NASB, NIV, NLT, NRSV) as suggested in the above translation. Some translations (ESV, NKJV) retain the MT reading because the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, which corrects a similar form to “from inner parts of” in 39:7, does not do it here.

[48:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “cause to remember”; KJV, ASV “make mention of.”

[48:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “not in truth and not in righteousness.”

[65:16]  ¹⁰ tn Or “in the land” (NIV, NCV, NRSV). The same phrase occurs again later in this verse, with the same options.

[65:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “will pronounce a blessing by the God of truth.”

[65:16]  ¹² tn Heb “will take an oath by the God of truth.”

[65:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “for the former distresses will be forgotten, and they will be hidden from my eyes.”