Isaiah 1:20

1:20 But if you refuse and rebel,

you will be devoured ¹  by the sword.”

Know for certain that the Lord has spoken. ² 

Isaiah 8:10

8:10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted!

Issue your orders, but they will not be executed! ³ 

For God is with us! ⁴ 

Isaiah 21:17

21:17 Just a handful of archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be left.” ⁵  Indeed, ⁶  the Lord God of Israel has spoken.

Isaiah 24:3

24:3 The earth will be completely devastated

and thoroughly ransacked.

For the Lord has decreed this judgment. ⁷ 

Isaiah 28:11

28:11 For with mocking lips and a foreign tongue

he will speak to these people. ⁸ 

Isaiah 32:4

32:4 The mind that acts rashly will possess discernment ⁹ 

and the tongue that stutters will speak with ease and clarity.

Isaiah 38:15

38:15 What can I say?

He has decreed and acted. ¹⁰ 

I will walk slowly all my years because I am overcome with grief. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 40:5

40:5 The splendor ¹²  of the Lord will be revealed,

and all people ¹³  will see it at the same time.

For ¹⁴  the Lord has decreed it.” ¹⁵ 

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, ¹⁶ 

My God is not concerned with my vindication”? ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 41:1

The Lord Challenges the Nations

41:1 “Listen to me in silence, you coastlands! ¹⁸ 

Let the nations find renewed strength!

Let them approach and then speak;

let us come together for debate! ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 52:6

52:6 For this reason my people will know my name,

for this reason they will know ²⁰  at that time ²¹  that I am the one who says,

‘Here I am.’”

Isaiah 59:3

59:3 For your hands are stained with blood

and your fingers with sin;

your lips speak lies,

your tongue utters malicious words.

Isaiah 65:24

65:24 Before they even call out, ²²  I will respond;

while they are still speaking, I will hear.

[1:20]  ¹ sn The wordplay in the Hebrew draws attention to the options. The people can obey, in which case they will “eat” v. 19 (תֹּאכֵלוּ [to’khelu], Qal active participle of אָכַל) God’s blessing, or they can disobey, in which case they will be devoured (Heb “eaten,” תְּאֻכְּלוּ, [tÿ’ukkÿlu], Qal passive/Pual of אָכַל) by God’s judgment.

[1:20]  ² tn Heb “for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” The introductory כִּי (ki) may be asseverative (as reflected in the translation) or causal/explanatory, explaining why the option chosen by the people will become reality (it is guaranteed by the divine word).

[8:10]  ³ tn Heb “speak a word, but it will not stand.”

[8:10]  ⁴ sn In these vv. 9-10 the tone shifts abruptly from judgment to hope. Hostile nations like Assyria may attack God’s people, but eventually they will be destroyed, for God is with his people, sometimes to punish, but ultimately to vindicate. In addition to being a reminder of God’s presence in the immediate crisis faced by Ahaz and Judah, Immanuel (whose name is echoed in this concluding statement) was a guarantee of the nation’s future greatness in fulfillment of God’s covenantal promises. Eventually God would deliver his people from the hostile nations (vv. 9-10) through another child, an ideal Davidic ruler who would embody God’s presence in a special way (see 9:6-7). Jesus the Messiah is the fulfillment of the Davidic ideal prophesied by Isaiah, the one whom Immanuel foreshadowed. Through the miracle of the incarnation he is literally “God with us.” Matthew realized this and applied Isaiah’s ancient prophecy of Immanuel’s birth to Jesus (Matt 1:22-23). The first Immanuel was a reminder to the people of God’s presence and a guarantee of a greater child to come who would manifest God’s presence in an even greater way. The second Immanuel is “God with us” in a heightened and infinitely superior sense. He “fulfills” Isaiah’s Immanuel prophecy by bringing the typology intended by God to realization and by filling out or completing the pattern designed by God. Of course, in the ultimate fulfillment of the type, the incarnate Immanuel’s mother must be a virgin, so Matthew uses a Greek term (παρθένος, parqenos), which carries that technical meaning (in contrast to the Hebrew word עַלְמָה [’almah], which has the more general meaning “young woman”). Matthew draws similar analogies between NT and OT events in 2:15, 18. The linking of these passages by analogy is termed “fulfillment.” In 2:15 God calls Jesus, his perfect Son, out of Egypt, just as he did his son Israel in the days of Moses, an historical event referred to in Hos 11:1. In so doing he makes it clear that Jesus is the ideal Israel prophesied by Isaiah (see Isa 49:3), sent to restore wayward Israel (see Isa 49:5, cf. Matt 1:21). In 2:18 Herod’s slaughter of the infants is another illustration of the oppressive treatment of God’s people by foreign tyrants. Herod’s actions are analogous to those of the Assyrians, who deported the Israelites, causing the personified land to lament as inconsolably as a mother robbed of her little ones (Jer 31:15).

[21:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the remnant of the number of the bow, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few.”

[21:17]  ⁶ tn Or “for” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[24:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “for the Lord has spoken this word.”

[28:11]  ⁹ sn This verse alludes to the coming Assyrian invasion, when the people will hear a foreign language that sounds like gibberish to them. The Lord is the subject of the verb “will speak,” as v. 12 makes clear. He once spoke in meaningful terms, but in the coming judgment he will speak to them, as it were, through the mouth of foreign oppressors. The apparent gibberish they hear will be an outward reminder that God has decreed their defeat.

[32:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the heart of rashness will understand knowledge”; cf. NAB “The flighty will become wise and capable.”

[38:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he has spoken and he has acted.”

[38:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “because of the bitterness of my soul.”

[40:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “glory.” The Lord’s “glory” is his theophanic radiance and royal splendor (see Isa 6:3; 24:23; 35:2; 60:1; 66:18-19).

[40:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, ASV, NASB); NAB, NIV “mankind”; TEV “the whole human race.”

[40:5]  ¹⁷ tn Or “indeed.”

[40:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[40:27]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “my way is hidden from the Lord” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[40:27]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and from my God my justice passes away”; NRSV “my right is disregarded by my God.”

[41:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “islands” (KJV, NIV, CEV); TEV “distant lands”; NLT “lands beyond the sea.”

[41:1]  ²⁰ 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.

[52:6]  ²¹ tn The verb is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[52:6]  ²² tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[65:24]  ²³ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.