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 

Isaiah 5:24

5:24 Therefore, as flaming fire ⁶  devours straw,

and dry grass disintegrates in the flames,

so their root will rot,

and their flower will blow away like dust. ⁷ 

For they have rejected the law of the Lord who commands armies,

they have spurned the commands ⁸  of the Holy One of Israel. ⁹ 

Isaiah 10:20

10:20 At that time ¹⁰  those left in Israel, those who remain of the family ¹¹  of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. ¹²  Instead they will truly ¹³  rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 31:1

Egypt Will Disappoint

31:1 Those who go down to Egypt for help are as good as dead, ¹⁵ 

those who rely on war horses,

and trust in Egypt’s many chariots ¹⁶ 

and in their many, many horsemen. ¹⁷ 

But they do not rely on the Holy One of Israel ¹⁸ 

and do not seek help from the Lord.

Isaiah 58:13

58:13 You must ¹⁹  observe the Sabbath ²⁰ 

rather than doing anything you please on my holy day. ²¹ 

You must look forward to the Sabbath ²² 

and treat the Lord’s holy day with respect. ²³ 

You must treat it with respect by refraining from your normal activities,

and by refraining from your selfish pursuits and from making business deals. ²⁴ 

Isaiah 60:9

60:9 Indeed, the coastlands ²⁵  look eagerly for me,

the large ships ²⁶  are in the lead,

bringing your sons from far away,

along with their silver and gold,

to honor the Lord your God, ²⁷ 

the Holy One of Israel, ²⁸  for he has bestowed honor on you.

[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.

[5:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “a tongue of fire” (so NASB), referring to a tongue-shaped flame.

[5:24]  ⁷ sn They are compared to a flowering plant that withers quickly in a hot, arid climate.

[5:24]  ⁸ tn Heb “the word.”

[5:24]  ⁹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[10:20]  ¹¹ tn Or “in that day.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[10:20]  ¹² tn Heb “house” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[10:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “on one who strikes him down.” This individual is the king (“foreign leader”) of the oppressing nation (which NLT specifies as “the Assyrians”).

[10:20]  ¹⁴ tn Or “sincerely”; KJV, ASV, NAB, NRSV “in truth.”

[10:20]  ¹⁵ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[31:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who go down to Egypt for help.”

[31:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and trust in chariots for they are many.”

[31:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and in horsemen for they are very strong [or “numerous”].”

[31:1]  ¹⁹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[58:13]  ²¹ tn Lit., “if you.” In the Hebrew text vv. 13-14 are one long conditional sentence. The protasis (“if” clauses appear in v. 13), with the apodosis (“then” clause) appearing in v. 14.

[58:13]  ²² tn Heb “if you turn from the Sabbath your feet.”

[58:13]  ²³ tn Heb “[from] doing your desires on my holy day.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a supplies the preposition מִן (min) on “doing.”

[58:13]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and call the Sabbath a pleasure”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “a delight.”

[58:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and [call] the holy [day] of the Lord honored.” On קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, “holy”) as indicating a time period, see BDB 872 s.v. 2.e (cf. also Neh 8:9-11).

[58:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and you honor it [by refraining] from accomplishing your ways, from finding your desire and speaking a word.” It is unlikely that the last phrase (“speaking a word”) is a prohibition against talking on the Sabbath; instead it probably refers to making transactions or plans (see Hos 10:4). Some see here a reference to idle talk (cf. 2 Sam 19:30).

[60:9]  ²⁶ tn Or “islands” (NIV); CEV “distant islands”; TEV “distant lands.”

[60:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” See the note at 2:16.

[60:9]  ²⁸ tn Heb “to the name of the Lord your God.”

[60:9]  ²⁹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.