Isaiah 1:23

1:23 Your officials are rebels, ¹ 

they associate with ²  thieves.

All of them love bribery,

and look for ³  payoffs. ⁴ 

They do not take up the cause of the orphan, ⁵ 

or defend the rights of the widow. ⁶ 

Isaiah 1:26

1:26 I will reestablish honest judges as in former times,

wise advisers as in earlier days. ⁷ 

Then you will be called, ‘The Just City,

Faithful Town.’”

Isaiah 11:4

11:4 He will treat the poor fairly, ⁸ 

and make right decisions ⁹  for the downtrodden of the earth. ¹⁰ 

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, ¹¹ 

and order the wicked to be executed. ¹² 

Isaiah 16:5

16:5 Then a trustworthy king will be established;

he will rule in a reliable manner,

this one from David’s family. ¹³ 

He will be sure to make just decisions

and will be experienced in executing justice. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 51:5

51:5 I am ready to vindicate, ¹⁵ 

I am ready to deliver, ¹⁶ 

I will establish justice among the nations. ¹⁷ 

The coastlands ¹⁸  wait patiently for me;

they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power. ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 59:4

59:4 No one is concerned about justice; ²⁰ 

no one sets forth his case truthfully.

They depend on false words ²¹  and tell lies;

they conceive of oppression ²² 

and give birth to sin.

[1:23]  ¹ tn Or “stubborn”; CEV “have rejected me.”

[1:23]  ² tn Heb “and companions of” (so KJV, NASB); CEV “friends of crooks.”

[1:23]  ³ tn Heb “pursue”; NIV “chase after gifts.”

[1:23]  ⁴ sn Isaiah may have chosen the word for gifts (שַׁלְמוֹנִים, shalmonim; a hapax legomena here), as a sarcastic pun on what these rulers should have been doing. Instead of attending to peace and wholeness (שָׁלוֹם, shalom), they sought after payoffs (שַׁלְמוֹנִים).

[1:23]  ⁵ sn See the note at v. 17.

[1:23]  ⁶ sn The rich oppressors referred to in Isaiah and the other eighth century prophets were not rich capitalists in the modern sense of the word. They were members of the royal military and judicial bureaucracies in Israel and Judah. As these bureaucracies grew, they acquired more and more land and gradually commandeered the economy and legal system. At various administrative levels bribery and graft become commonplace. The common people outside the urban administrative centers were vulnerable to exploitation in such a system, especially those, like widows and orphans, who had lost their family provider through death. Through confiscatory taxation, conscription, excessive interest rates, and other oppressive governmental measures and policies, they were gradually disenfranchised and lost their landed property, and with it, their rights as citizens. The socio-economic equilibrium envisioned in the law of Moses was radically disturbed.

[1:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will restore your judges as in the beginning; and your counselors as in the beginning.” In this context, where social injustice and legal corruption are denounced (see v. 23), the “judges” are probably government officials responsible for making legal decisions, while the “advisers” are probably officials who helped the king establish policies. Both offices are also mentioned in 3:2.

[11:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “with justice” (so NAB) or “with righteousness” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[11:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “make decisions with rectitude”; cf. ASV, NRSV “and decide with equity.”

[11:4]  ¹⁵ tn Or “land” (NAB, NCV, CEV). It is uncertain if the passage is picturing universal dominion or focusing on the king’s rule over his covenant people. The reference to God’s “holy mountain” in v. 9 and the description of renewed Israelite conquests in v. 14 suggest the latter, though v. 10 seems to refer to a universal kingdom (see 2:2-4).

[11:4]  ¹⁶ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and he will strike the earth with the scepter of his mouth.” Some have suggested that in this context אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) as an object of judgment seems too broad in scope. The parallelism is tighter if one emends the word to ץ(י)עָרִ (’arits, “potentate, tyrant”). The phrase “scepter of his mouth” refers to the royal (note “scepter”) decrees that he proclaims with his mouth. Because these decrees will have authority and power (see v. 2) behind them, they can be described as “striking” the tyrants down. Nevertheless, the MT reading may not need emending. Isaiah refers to the entire “earth” as the object of God’s judgment in several places without specifying the wicked as the object of the judgment (Isa 24:17-21; 26:9, 21; 28:22; cf. 13:11).

[11:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.” The “breath of his lips” refers to his speech, specifically in this context his official decrees that the wicked oppressors be eliminated from his realm. See the preceding note.

[16:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and a throne will be established in faithfulness, and he will sit on it in reliability, in the tent of David.”

[16:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “one who judges and seeks justice, and one experienced in fairness.” Many understand מְהִר (mÿhir) to mean “quick, prompt” (see BDB 555 s.v. מָהִיר), but HALOT 552 s.v. מָהִיר offers the meaning “skillful, experienced,” and translates the phrase in v. 5 “zealous for what is right.”

[51:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”] is near.”

[51:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “my deliverance goes forth.”

[51:5]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and my arms will judge [on behalf of] nations.”

[51:5]  ²⁸ tn Or “islands” (NIV); TEV “Distant lands.”

[51:5]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for my arm” (so NIV, NRSV).

[59:4]  ³¹ tn Heb “no one pleads with justice.”

[59:4]  ³² tn Heb “nothing”; NAB “emptiness.”

[59:4]  ³³ tn Or “trouble” (NIV), or “harm.”