Isaiah 1:2

Obedience, not Sacrifice

1:2 Listen, O heavens,

pay attention, O earth! ¹ 

For the Lord speaks:

“I raised children, ²  I brought them up, ³ 

but ⁴  they have rebelled ⁵  against me!

Isaiah 13:13

13:13 So I will shake the heavens, ⁶ 

and the earth will shake loose from its foundation, ⁷ 

because of the fury of the Lord who commands armies,

in the day he vents his raging anger. ⁸ 

Isaiah 44:24

The Lord Empowers Cyrus

44:24 This is what the Lord, your protector, ⁹  says,

the one who formed you in the womb:

“I am the Lord, who made everything,

who alone stretched out the sky,

who fashioned the earth all by myself, ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 45:8

45:8 O sky, rain down from above!

Let the clouds send down showers ¹¹  of deliverance!

Let the earth absorb it ¹²  so salvation may grow, ¹³ 

and deliverance may sprout up ¹⁴  along with it.

I, the Lord, create it. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 45:12

45:12 I made the earth,

I created the people who live ¹⁶  on it.

It was me – my hands ¹⁷  stretched out the sky, ¹⁸ 

I give orders to all the heavenly lights. ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 47:13

47:13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice. ²⁰ 

Let them take their stand –

the ones who see omens in the sky,

who gaze at the stars,

who make monthly predictions –

let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! ²¹ 

Isaiah 49:13

49:13 Shout for joy, O sky! ²² 

Rejoice, O earth!

Let the mountains give a joyful shout!

For the Lord consoles his people

and shows compassion to the ²³  oppressed.

Isaiah 51:16

Zion’s Time to Celebrate

51:16 I commission you ²⁴  as my spokesman; ²⁵ 

I cover you with the palm of my hand, ²⁶ 

to establish ²⁷  the sky and to found the earth,

to say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’” ²⁸ 

Isaiah 65:17

65:17 For look, I am ready to create

new heavens and a new earth! ²⁹ 

The former ones ³⁰  will not be remembered;

no one will think about them anymore. ³¹ 

[1:2]  ¹ sn The personified heavens and earth are summoned to God’s courtroom as witnesses against God’s covenant people. Long before this Moses warned the people that the heavens and earth would be watching their actions (see Deut 4:26; 30:19; 31:28; 32:1).

[1:2]  ² tn Or “sons” (NAB, NASB).

[1:2]  ³ sn The normal word pair for giving birth to and raising children is יָלַד (yalad, “to give birth to”) and גָּדַל (gadal, “to grow, raise”). The pair גָּדַל and רוּם (rum, “to raise up”) probably occur here to highlight the fact that Yahweh made something important of Israel (cf. R. Mosis, TDOT 2:403).

[1:2]  ⁴ sn Against the backdrop of Yahweh’s care for his chosen people, Israel’s rebellion represents abhorrent treachery. The conjunction prefixed to a nonverbal element highlights the sad contrast between Yahweh’s compassionate care for His people and Israel’s thankless rebellion.

[1:2]  ⁵ sn To rebel carries the idea of “covenant treachery.” Although an act of פֶּשַׁע (pesha’, “rebellion”) often signifies a breach of the law, the legal offense also represents a violation of an existing covenantal relationship (E. Carpenter and M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 3:707).

[13:13]  ⁶ tn Or “the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[13:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “from its place” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV).

[13:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “and in the day of the raging of his anger.”

[44:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[44:24]  ¹² tn The consonantal text (Kethib) has “Who [was] with me?” The marginal reading (Qere) is “from with me,” i.e., “by myself.” See BDB 87 s.v. II אֵת 4.c.

[45:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “let the clouds drip with”; KJV “let the skies pour down.”

[45:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “open up” (so NASB); NIV, NLT “open wide.”

[45:8]  ¹⁸ tc The plural verb should be emended to a singular form. The vav (ו) ending is probably virtually dittographic (note the yod at the beginning of the following word).

[45:8]  ¹⁹ tc The Hiphil verb form (תַצְמִיחַ, tatsmiakh) should probably be emended to a Qal (תִצְמַח, titsmakh). The יח sequence at the end of the form is probably due to dittography (note the following יַחַד, yakhad).

[45:8]  ²⁰ tn The masculine singular pronominal suffix probably refers back to יָשַׁע (yasha’, “salvation”).

[45:12]  ²¹ tn The words “who live” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[45:12]  ²² tn Heb “I, even my hands”; NASB “I stretched out…with My hands”; NRSV “it was my hands that stretched out.” The same construction occurs at the beginning of v. 13.

[45:12]  ²³ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[45:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and to all their host I commanded.” See the notes at 40:26.

[47:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “you are tired because of the abundance of your advice.”

[47:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “let them stand and rescue you – the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make known by months – from those things which are coming upon you.”

[49:13]  ³¹ tn Or “O heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[49:13]  ³² tn Heb “his” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[51:16]  ³⁶ tn The addressee (second masculine singular, as in vv. 13, 15) in this verse is unclear. The exiles are addressed in the immediately preceding verses (note the critical tone of vv. 12-13 and the reference to the exiles in v. 14). However, it seems unlikely that they are addressed in v. 16, for the addressee appears to be commissioned to tell Zion, who here represents the restored exiles, “you are my people.” The addressee is distinct from the exiles. The language of v. 16a is reminiscent of 49:2 and 50:4, where the Lord’s special servant says he is God’s spokesman and effective instrument. Perhaps the Lord, having spoken to the exiles in vv. 1-15, now responds to this servant, who spoke just prior to this in 50:4-11.

[51:16]  ³⁷ tn Heb “I place my words in your mouth.”

[51:16]  ³⁸ tn Heb “with the shadow of my hand.”

[51:16]  ³⁹ tc The Hebrew text has לִנְטֹעַ (lintoa’, “to plant”). Several scholars prefer to emend this form to לִנְטֹת (lintot) from נָטָה (natah, “to stretch out”); see v. 13, as well as 40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; cf. NAB, NCV, NRSV. However, since the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, LXX (and Aquila and Symmachus), and Vulgate support the MT reading, there is no need to emend the form. The interpretation is clear enough: Yahweh fixed the sky in its place.

[51:16]  ⁴⁰ tn The infinitives in v. 16b are most naturally understood as indicating the purpose of the divine actions described in v. 16a. The relationship of the third infinitive to the commission is clear enough – the Lord has made the addressee (his special servant?) his spokesman so that the latter might speak encouraging words to those in Zion. But how do the first two infinitives relate? The text seems to indicate that the Lord has commissioned the addressee so that the latter might create the universe! Perhaps creation imagery is employed metaphorically here to refer to the transformation that Jerusalem will experience (see 65:17-18).

[65:17]  ⁴¹ sn This hyperbolic statement likens the coming transformation of Jerusalem (see vv. 18-19) to a new creation of the cosmos.

[65:17]  ⁴² tn Or perhaps, “the former things” (so ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “The events of the past.”

[65:17]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and they will not come up on the mind.”