Isaiah 1:4

1:4 ¹ The sinful nation is as good as dead, ² 

the people weighed down by evil deeds.

They are offspring who do wrong,

children ³  who do wicked things.

They have abandoned the Lord,

and rejected the Holy One of Israel. ⁴ 

They are alienated from him. ⁵ 

Revelation 11:18

11:18 The ⁶  nations ⁷  were enraged,

but ⁸  your wrath has come,

and the time has come for the dead to be judged,

and the time has come to give to your servants, ⁹ 

the prophets, their reward,

as well as to the saints

and to those who revere ¹⁰  your name, both small and great,

and the time has come ¹¹  to destroy those who destroy ¹²  the earth.”

Revelation 19:2

19:2 because his judgments are true and just. ¹³ 

For he has judged ¹⁴  the great prostitute

who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality,

and has avenged the blood of his servants ¹⁵  poured out by her own hands!” ¹⁶ 

[1:4]  ¹ sn Having summoned the witnesses and announced the Lord’s accusation against Israel, Isaiah mourns the nation’s impending doom. The third person references to the Lord in the second half of the verse suggest that the quotation from the Lord (cf. vv. 2-3) has concluded.

[1:4]  ² tn Heb “Woe [to the] sinful nation.” The Hebrew term הוֹי, (hoy, “woe, ah”) was used in funeral laments (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5) and carries the connotation of death. In highly dramatic fashion the prophet acts out Israel’s funeral in advance, emphasizing that their demise is inevitable if they do not repent soon.

[1:4]  ³ tn Or “sons” (NASB). The prophet contrasts four terms of privilege – nation, people, offspring, children – with four terms that depict Israel’s sinful condition in Isaiah’s day – sinful, evil, wrong, wicked (see J. A. Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, 43).

[1:4]  ⁴ sn Holy One of Israel is one of Isaiah’s favorite divine titles for God. It pictures the Lord as the sovereign king who rules over his covenant people and exercises moral authority over them.

[1:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “they are estranged backward.” The LXX omits this statement, which presents syntactical problems and seems to be outside the synonymous parallelistic structure of the verse.

[11:18]  ⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[11:18]  ⁷ tn Or “The Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[11:18]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[11:18]  ⁹ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[11:18]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “who fear.”

[11:18]  ¹¹ tn The words “the time has come” do not occur except at the beginning of the verse; the phrase has been repeated for emphasis and contrast. The Greek has one finite verb (“has come”) with a compound subject (“your wrath,” “the time”), followed by three infinitive clauses (“to be judged,” “to give,” “to destroy”). The rhetorical power of the repetition of the finite verb in English thus emulates the rhetorical power of its lone instance in Greek.

[11:18]  ¹² tn Or “who deprave.” There is a possible wordplay here on two meanings for διαφθείρω (diafqeirw), with the first meaning “destroy” and the second meaning either “to ruin” or “to make morally corrupt.” See L&N 20.40.

[19:2]  ¹³ tn Compare the similar phrase in Rev 16:7.

[19:2]  ¹⁴ tn Or “has punished.” See BDAG 568 s.v. κρίνω 5.b.α, describing the OT background which involves both the vindication of the innocent and the punishment of the guilty.

[19:2]  ¹⁵ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[19:2]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “from her hand” (referring to her responsibility in causing the blood of God’s followers to be shed).