Isaiah 1:5

1:5 ¹ Why do you insist on being battered?

Why do you continue to rebel? ² 

Your head has a massive wound, ³ 

your whole body is weak. ⁴ 

Isaiah 9:13

9:13 The people did not return to the one who struck them,

they did not seek reconciliation ⁵  with the Lord who commands armies.

Isaiah 14:6

14:6 It ⁶  furiously struck down nations

with unceasing blows. ⁷ 

It angrily ruled over nations,

oppressing them without restraint. ⁸ 

Isaiah 50:6

50:6 I offered my back to those who attacked, ⁹ 

my jaws to those who tore out my beard;

I did not hide my face

from insults and spitting.

Isaiah 53:4

53:4 But he lifted up our illnesses,

he carried our pain; ¹⁰ 

even though we thought he was being punished,

attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 57:17

57:17 I was angry because of their sinful greed;

I attacked them and angrily rejected them, ¹² 

yet they remained disobedient and stubborn. ¹³ 

Isaiah 60:10

60:10 Foreigners will rebuild your walls;

their kings will serve you.

Even though I struck you down in my anger,

I will restore my favor and have compassion on you. ¹⁴ 

[1:5]  ¹ sn In vv. 5-9 Isaiah addresses the battered nation (5-8) and speaks as their representative (9).

[1:5]  ² tn Heb “Why are you still beaten? [Why] do you continue rebellion?” The rhetorical questions express the prophet’s disbelief over Israel’s apparent masochism and obsession with sin. The interrogative construction in the first line does double duty in the parallelism. H. Wildberger (Isaiah, 1:18) offers another alternative by translating the two statements with one question: “Why do you still wish to be struck that you persist in revolt?”

[1:5]  ³ tn Heb “all the head is ill”; NRSV “the whole head is sick”; CEV “Your head is badly bruised.”

[1:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “and all the heart is faint.” The “heart” here stands for bodily strength and energy, as suggested by the context and usage elsewhere (see Jer 8:18; Lam 1:22).

[9:13]  ⁵ tn This verse describes the people’s response to the judgment described in vv. 11-12. The perfects are understood as indicating simple past.

[14:6]  ⁹ tn Or perhaps, “he” (cf. KJV; NCV “the king of Babylon”). The present translation understands the referent of the pronoun (“it”) to be the “club/scepter” of the preceding line.

[14:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “it was striking down nations in fury [with] a blow without ceasing.” The participle (“striking down”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.

[14:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “it was ruling in anger nations [with] oppression without restraint.” The participle (“ruling”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.

[50:6]  ¹³ tn Or perhaps, “who beat [me].”

[53:4]  ¹⁷ sn Illness and pain stand by metonymy (or perhaps as metaphors) for sin and its effects, as vv. 11-12 make clear.

[53:4]  ¹⁸ tn The words “for something he had done” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The group now realizes he suffered because of his identification with them, not simply because he was a special target of divine anger.

[57:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “and I struck him, hiding, and I was angry.” פָּנַיִם (panayim, “face”) is the implied object of “hiding.”

[57:17]  ²² tn Heb “and he walked [as an] apostate in the way of his heart.”

[60:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “in my favor I will have compassion on you.”