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 6:9

6:9 He said, “Go and tell these people:

‘Listen continually, but don’t understand!

Look continually, but don’t perceive!’

Isaiah 7:13

7:13 So Isaiah replied, ⁶  “Pay attention, ⁷  family ⁸  of David. ⁹  Do you consider it too insignificant to try the patience of men? Is that why you are also trying the patience of my God?

Isaiah 36:13

36:13 The chief adviser then stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite dialect, ¹⁰  “Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria.

Isaiah 42:24

42:24 Who handed Jacob over to the robber?

Who handed Israel over to the looters? ¹¹ 

Was it not the Lord, against whom we sinned?

They refused to follow his commands;

they disobeyed his law. ¹² 

Isaiah 46:3

46:3 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob, ¹³ 

all you who are left from the family of Israel, ¹⁴ 

you who have been carried from birth, ¹⁵ 

you who have been supported from the time you left the womb. ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 48:16

48:16 Approach me! Listen to this!

From the very first I have not spoken in secret;

when it happens, ¹⁷  I am there.”

So now, the sovereign Lord has sent me, accompanied by his spirit. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 49:1

Ideal Israel Delivers the Exiles

49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! ¹⁹ 

Pay attention, you people who live far away!

The Lord summoned me from birth; ²⁰ 

he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. ²¹ 

Isaiah 51:1

There is Hope for the Future

51:1 “Listen to me, you who pursue godliness, ²² 

who seek the Lord!

Look at the rock from which you were chiseled,

at the quarry ²³  from which you were dug! ²⁴ 

Isaiah 51:7

51:7 Listen to me, you who know what is right,

you people who are aware of my law! ²⁵ 

Don’t be afraid of the insults of men;

don’t be discouraged because of their abuse!

Isaiah 52:15

52:15 his form was so marred he no longer looked human ²⁶  –

so now ²⁷  he will startle ²⁸  many nations.

Kings will be shocked by his exaltation, ²⁹ 

for they will witness something unannounced to them,

and they will understand something they had not heard about.

Isaiah 55:2-3

55:2 Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? ³⁰ 

Why spend ³¹  your hard-earned money ³²  on something that will not satisfy?

Listen carefully ³³  to me and eat what is nourishing! ³⁴ 

Enjoy fine food! ³⁵ 

55:3 Pay attention and come to me!

Listen, so you can live! ³⁶ 

Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to ³⁷  you,

just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. ³⁸ 

Isaiah 64:4

64:4 Since ancient times no one has heard or perceived, ³⁹ 

no eye has seen any God besides you,

who intervenes for those who wait for him.

Isaiah 66:5

66:5 Hear the word of the Lord,

you who respect what he has to say! ⁴⁰ 

Your countrymen, ⁴¹  who hate you

and exclude you, supposedly for the sake of my name,

say, “May the Lord be glorified,

then we will witness your joy.” ⁴² 

But they will be put to shame.

[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).

[7:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he said.” The subject is unexpressed, but the reference to “my God” at the end of the verse indicates the prophet is speaking.

[7:13]  ⁷ tn The verb is second plural in form, because the prophet addresses the whole family of David. He continues to use the plural in v. 14 (with one exception, see the notes on that verse), but then switches back to the second singular (addressing Ahaz specifically) in vv. 16-17.

[7:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “house.” See the note at v. 2.

[7:13]  ⁹ sn The address to the “house of David” is designed to remind Ahaz and his royal court of the protection promised to them through the Davidic covenant. The king’s refusal to claim God’s promise magnifies his lack of faith.

[36:13]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text includes “and he said.”

[42:24]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Who gave to the robber Jacob, and Israel to the looters?” In the first line the consonantal text (Kethib) has מְשׁוֹסֶה (mÿshoseh), a Polel participle from שָׁסָה (shasah, “plunder”). The marginal reading (Qere) is מְשִׁיסָּה (mÿshissah), a noun meaning “plunder.” In this case one could translate “Who handed Jacob over as plunder?”

[42:24]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “they were not willing in his ways to walk, and they did not listen to his law.”

[46:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV “descendants of Jacob.”

[46:3]  ²² tn Heb “and all the remnant of the house of Israel.”

[46:3]  ²³ tn Heb “from the womb” (so NRSV); KJV “from the belly”; NAB “from your infancy.”

[46:3]  ²⁴ tn Heb “who have been lifted up from the womb.”

[48:16]  ²⁶ tn Heb “from the time of its occurring.”

[48:16]  ²⁷ sn The speaker here is not identified specifically, but he is probably Cyrus, the Lord’s “ally” mentioned in vv. 14-15.

[49:1]  ³¹ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”

[49:1]  ³² tn Heb “called me from the womb.”

[49:1]  ³³ tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”

[51:1]  ³⁶ tn Or “righteousness” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “justice”; NLT “hope for deliverance.”

[51:1]  ³⁷ tn Heb “the excavation of the hole.”

[51:1]  ³⁸ sn The “rock” and “quarry” refer here to Abraham and Sarah, the progenitors of the nation.

[51:7]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “people (who have) my law in their heart.”

[52:15]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and his form from the sons of men.” The preposition מִן (min) here carries the sense “away from,” i.e., “so as not to be.”

[52:15]  ⁴⁷ tn This statement completes the sentence begun in v. 14a. The introductory כֵּן (ken) answers to the introductory כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher) of v. 14a. Verses 14b-15a are parenthetical, explaining why many were horrified.

[52:15]  ⁴⁸ tn Traditionally the verb יַזֶּה (yazzeh, a Hiphil stem) has been understood as a causative of נָזָה (nazah, “spurt, spatter”) and translated “sprinkle.” In this case the passage pictures the servant as a priest who “sprinkles” (or spiritually cleanses) the nations. Though the verb נָזָה does occur in the Hiphil with the meaning “sprinkle,” the usual interpretation is problematic. In all other instances where the object or person sprinkled is indicated, the verb is combined with a preposition. This is not the case in Isaiah 52:15, unless one takes the following עָלָיו (’alayv, “on him”) with the preceding line. But then one would have to emend the verb to a plural, make the nations the subject of the verb “sprinkle,” and take the servant as the object. Consequently some interpreters doubt the cultic idea of “sprinkling” is present here. Some emend the text; others propose a homonymic root meaning “spring, leap,” which in the Hiphil could mean “cause to leap, startle” and would fit the parallelism of the verse nicely.

[52:15]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “Because of him kings will shut their mouths,” i.e., be speechless.

[55:2]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “for what is not food.”

[55:2]  ⁵² tn The interrogative particle and the verb “spend” are understood here by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[55:2]  ⁵³ tn Heb “your labor,” which stands by metonymy for that which one earns.

[55:2]  ⁵⁴ tn The infinitive absolute follows the imperative and lends emphasis to the exhortation.

[55:2]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “good” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[55:2]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “Let your appetite delight in fine food.”

[55:3]  ⁵⁶ tn The jussive with vav (ו) conjunctive following the imperative indicates purpose/result.

[55:3]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “an eternal covenant with.”

[55:3]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “the reliable expressions of loyalty of David.” The syntactical relationship of חַסְדֵי (khasde, “expressions of loyalty”) to the preceding line is unclear. If the term is appositional to בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”), then the Lord here transfers the promises of the Davidic covenant to the entire nation. Another option is to take חַסְדֵי (khasde) as an adverbial accusative and to translate “according to the reliable covenantal promises.” In this case the new covenantal arrangement proposed here is viewed as an extension or perhaps fulfillment of the Davidic promises. A third option, the one reflected in the above translation, is to take the last line as comparative. In this case the new covenant being proposed is analogous to the Davidic covenant. Verses 4-5, which compare David’s international prominence to what Israel will experience, favors this view. In all three of these interpretations, “David” is an objective genitive; he is the recipient of covenantal promises. A fourth option would be to take David as a subjective genitive and understand the line as giving the basis for the preceding promise: “Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, because of David’s faithful acts of covenantal loyalty.”

[64:4]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “from ancient times they have not heard, they have not listened.”

[66:5]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “who tremble at his word.”

[66:5]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “brothers” (so NASB, NIV); NRSV “Your own people”; NLT “Your close relatives.”

[66:5]  ⁶⁸ tn Or “so that we might witness your joy.” The point of this statement is unclear.