Isaiah 1:22

1:22 Your ¹  silver has become scum, ² 

your beer is diluted with water. ³ 

Isaiah 12:3

12:3 Joyfully you will draw water

from the springs of deliverance. ⁴ 

Isaiah 27:9

27:9 So in this way Jacob’s sin will be forgiven, ⁵ 

and this is how they will show they are finished sinning: ⁶ 

They will make all the stones of the altars ⁷ 

like crushed limestone,

and the Asherah poles and the incense altars will no longer stand. ⁸ 

Isaiah 42:18

The Lord Reasons with His People

42:18 “Listen, you deaf ones!

Take notice, ⁹  you blind ones!

Isaiah 46:8

46:8 Remember this, so you can be brave! ¹⁰ 

Think about it, you rebels! ¹¹ 

Isaiah 65:22

65:22 No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, ¹² 

or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, ¹³ 

for my people will live as long as trees, ¹⁴ 

and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. ¹⁵ 

[1:22]  ¹ tn The pronoun is feminine singular; personified Jerusalem (see v. 21) is addressed.

[1:22]  ² tn Or “dross.” The word refers to the scum or impurites floating on the top of melted metal.

[1:22]  ³ sn The metaphors of silver becoming impure and beer being watered down picture the moral and ethical degeneration that had occurred in Jerusalem.

[12:3]  ⁴ tn Or “salvation” (so many English versions, e.g., KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); CEV “victory.”

[27:9]  ⁷ tn Or “be atoned for” (NIV); cf. NRSV “be expiated.”

[27:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “and this [is] all the fruit of removing his sin.” The meaning of the statement is not entirely clear, though “removing his sin” certainly parallels “Jacob’s sin will be removed” in the preceding line. If original, “all the fruit” may refer to the result of the decision to remove sin, but the phrase may be a corruption of לְכַפֵּר (lekhaper, “to atone for”), which in turn might be a gloss on הָסִר (hasir, “removing”).

[27:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “when he makes the stones of an altar.” The singular “altar” is collective here; pagan altars are in view, as the last line of the verse indicates. See also 17:8.

[27:9]  ¹⁰ sn As interpreted and translated above, this verse says that Israel must totally repudiate its pagan religious practices in order to experience God’s forgiveness and restoration. Another option is to understand “in this way” and “this” in v. 9a as referring back to the judgment described in v. 8. In this case כָּפַר (kafar, “atone for”) is used in a sarcastic sense; Jacob’s sin is “atoned for” and removed through severe judgment. Following this line of interpretation, one might paraphrase the verse as follows: “So in this way (through judgment) Jacob’s sin will be “atoned for,” and this is the way his sin will be removed, when he (i.e., God) makes all the altar stones like crushed limestone….” This interpretation is more consistent with the tone of judgment in vv. 8 and 10-11.

[42:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “look to see”; NAB, NCV “look and see”; NRSV “look up and see.”

[46:8]  ¹³ tn The meaning of the verb אָשַׁשׁ (’ashash, which appears here in the Hitpolel stem) is uncertain. BDB 84 s.v. אשׁשׁ relates it to a root meaning “found, establish” in Arabic; HALOT 100 s.v. II אשׁשׁ gives the meaning “pluck up courage.” The imperative with vav (ו) may indicate purpose following the preceding imperative.

[46:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “return [it], rebels, to heart”; NRSV “recall it to mind, you transgressors.”

[65:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they will not build, and another live [in it].”

[65:22]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “they will not plant, and another eat.”

[65:22]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “for like the days of the tree [will be] the days of my people.”

[65:22]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the work of their hands” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “their hard-won gains.”