Isaiah 1:17

1:17 Learn to do what is right!

Promote justice!

Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! ¹ 

Take up the cause of the orphan!

Defend the rights of the widow! ² 

Isaiah 1:21

Purifying Judgment

1:21 How tragic that the once-faithful city

has become a prostitute! ³ 

She was once a center of ⁴  justice,

fairness resided in her,

but now only murderers. ⁵ 

Isaiah 26:8

26:8 Yes, as your judgments unfold, ⁶ 

O Lord, we wait for you.

We desire your fame and reputation to grow. ⁷ 

Isaiah 28:17

28:17 I will make justice the measuring line,

fairness the plumb line;

hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge, ⁸ 

the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place.

Isaiah 33:5

33:5 The Lord is exalted, ⁹ 

indeed, ¹⁰  he lives in heaven; ¹¹ 

he fills Zion with justice and fairness.

Isaiah 34:5

34:5 He says, ¹²  “Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers. ¹³ 

Look, it now descends on Edom, ¹⁴ 

on the people I will annihilate in judgment.”

Isaiah 40:14

40:14 From whom does he receive directions? ¹⁵ 

Who ¹⁶  teaches him the correct way to do things, ¹⁷ 

or imparts knowledge to him,

or instructs him in skillful design? ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 40:27

40:27 Why do you say, Jacob,

Why do you say, Israel,

“The Lord is not aware of what is happening to me, ¹⁹ 

My God is not concerned with my vindication”? ²⁰ 

Isaiah 41:1

The Lord Challenges the Nations

41:1 “Listen to me in silence, you coastlands! ²¹ 

Let the nations find renewed strength!

Let them approach and then speak;

let us come together for debate! ²² 

Isaiah 42:3-4

42:3 A crushed reed he will not break,

a dim wick he will not extinguish; ²³ 

he will faithfully make just decrees. ²⁴ 

42:4 He will not grow dim or be crushed ²⁵ 

before establishing justice on the earth;

the coastlands ²⁶  will wait in anticipation for his decrees.” ²⁷ 

Isaiah 50:8

50:8 The one who vindicates me is close by.

Who dares to argue with me? Let us confront each other! ²⁸ 

Who is my accuser? ²⁹  Let him challenge me! ³⁰ 

Isaiah 59:11

59:11 We all growl like bears,

we coo mournfully like doves;

we wait for deliverance, ³¹  but there is none,

for salvation, but it is far from us.

[1:17]  ¹ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The translation assumes an emendation of חָמוֹץ (khamots, “oppressor [?]”) to חָמוּץ (khamuts, “oppressed”), a passive participle from II חָמַץ (khamats, “oppress”; HALOT 329 s.v. II חמץ) and takes the verb II אָשַׁר (’ashar) in the sense of “make happy” (the delocutive Piel, meaning “call/pronounce happy,” is metonymic here, referring to actually effecting happiness). The parallelism favors this interpretation, for the next two lines speak of positive actions on behalf of the destitute. The other option is to retain the MT pointing and translate, “set right the oppressor,” but the nuance “set right” is not clearly attested elsewhere for the verb I אשׁר. This verb does appear as a participle in Isa 3:12 and 9:16 with the meaning “to lead or guide.” If it can mean to “lead” or “rebuke/redirect” in this verse, the prophet could be contrasting this appeal for societal reformation (v. 17c) with a command to reorder their personal lives (v. 17a-b). J. A. Motyer (The Prophecy of Isaiah, 47) suggests that these three statements (v. 17a-c) provide “the contrast between the two ends of imperfect society, the oppressor and the needy, the one inflicting and the other suffering the hurt. Isaiah looks for a transformed society wherever it needs transforming.”

[1:17]  ² tn This word refers to a woman who has lost her husband, by death or divorce. The orphan and widow are often mentioned in the OT as epitomizing the helpless and impoverished who have been left without the necessities of life due to the loss of a family provider.

[1:21]  ³ tn Heb “How she has become a prostitute, the faithful city!” The exclamatory אֵיכָה (’ekhah, “how!”) is used several times as the beginning of a lament (see Lam 1:1; 2;1; 4:1-2). Unlike a number of other OT passages that link references to Israel’s harlotry to idolatry, Isaiah here makes the connection with social and moral violations.

[1:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “filled with.”

[1:21]  ⁵ tn Or “assassins.” This refers to the oppressive rich and/or their henchmen. R. Ortlund (Whoredom, 78) posits that it serves as a synecdoche for all varieties of criminals, the worst being mentioned to imply all lesser ones. Since Isaiah often addressed his strongest rebuke to the rulers and leaders of Israel, he may have in mind the officials who bore the responsibility to uphold justice and righteousness.

[26:8]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text has, “yes, the way of your judgments.” The translation assumes that “way” is related to the verb “we wait” as an adverbial accusative (“in the way of your judgments we wait”). מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ (mishpatekha, “your judgments”) could refer to the Lord’s commandments, in which case one might translate, “as we obey your commands.” However, in verse 9 the same form refers to divine acts of judgment on evildoers.

[26:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “your name and your remembrance [is] the desire of [our?] being.”

[28:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “[the] refuge, [the] lie.” See v. 15.

[33:5]  ⁹ tn Or “elevated”; NCV, NLT “is very great.”

[33:5]  ¹⁰ tn Or “for” (KJV, NASB, NIV).

[33:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “on high” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “in the heavens.”

[34:5]  ¹¹ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Lord speaks at this point.

[34:5]  ¹² tn Heb “indeed [or “for”] my sword is drenched in the heavens.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has תראה (“[my sword] appeared [in the heavens]”), but this is apparently an attempt to make sense out of a difficult metaphor. Cf. NIV “My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens.”

[34:5]  ¹³ sn Edom is mentioned here as epitomizing the hostile nations that oppose God.

[40:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “With whom did he consult, so that he gave discernment to him?”

[40:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and taught him.” The vav (ו) consecutive with prefixed verbal form continues the previous line. The translation employs an interrogative pronoun for stylistic reasons.

[40:14]  ¹⁵ tn The phrase אֹרַח מִשְׁפָּט (’orakh mishpat) could be translated “path of justice” (so NASB, NRSV), but in this context, where creative ability and skill is in view, the phrase is better understood in the sense of “the way that is proper or fitting” (see BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 6); cf. NIV, NCV “the right way.”

[40:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “or the way of understanding causes him to know?”

[40:27]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “my way is hidden from the Lord” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[40:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and from my God my justice passes away”; NRSV “my right is disregarded by my God.”

[41:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “islands” (KJV, NIV, CEV); TEV “distant lands”; NLT “lands beyond the sea.”

[41:1]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) could be translated “judgment,” but here it seems to refer to the dispute or debate between the Lord and the nations.

[42:3]  ¹⁹ sn The “crushed reed” and “dim wick” symbolize the weak and oppressed who are on the verge of extinction.

[42:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “faithfully he will bring out justice” (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[42:4]  ²¹ tn For rhetorical effect the terms used to describe the “crushed (רָצַץ, ratsats) reed” and “dim (כָּהָה, kahah) wick” in v. 3 are repeated here.

[42:4]  ²² tn Or “islands” (NIV); NLT “distant lands beyond the sea.”

[42:4]  ²³ tn Or “his law” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV) or “his instruction” (NLT).

[50:8]  ²³ tn Heb “Let us stand together!”

[50:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Who is the master of my judgment?”

[50:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “let him approach me”; NAB, NIV “Let him confront me.”

[59:11]  ²⁵ tn See the note at v. 9.