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 9:14

9:14 So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail,

both the shoots and stalk ⁵  in one day.

Isaiah 19:15

19:15 Egypt will not be able to do a thing,

head or tail, shoots and stalk. ⁶ 

Isaiah 1:6

1:6 From the soles of your feet to your head,

there is no spot that is unharmed. ⁷ 

There are only bruises, cuts,

and open wounds.

They have not been cleansed ⁸  or bandaged,

nor have they been treated ⁹  with olive oil. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 7:8

7:8 For Syria’s leader is Damascus,

and the leader of Damascus is Rezin.

Within sixty-five years Ephraim will no longer exist as a nation. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 28:1

The Lord Will Judge Samaria

28:1 The splendid crown of Ephraim’s drunkards is doomed, ¹² 

the withering flower, its beautiful splendor, ¹³ 

situated ¹⁴  at the head of a rich valley,

the crown of those overcome with wine. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 37:22

37:22 this is what the Lord says about him: ¹⁶ 

“The virgin daughter Zion ¹⁷ 

despises you – she makes fun of you;

daughter Jerusalem

shakes her head after you. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 28:4

28:4 The withering flower, its beautiful splendor,

situated at the head of a rich valley,

will be like an early fig before harvest –

as soon as someone notices it,

he grabs it and swallows it. ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 30:17

30:17 One thousand will scurry at the battle cry of one enemy soldier; ²⁰ 

at the battle cry of five enemy soldiers you will all run away, ²¹ 

until the remaining few are as isolated ²² 

as a flagpole on a mountaintop

or a signal flag on a hill.”

[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).

[9:14]  ⁵ sn The metaphor in this line is that of a reed being cut down.

[19:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “And there will not be for Egypt a deed, which head and tail, shoot and stalk can do.” In 9:14-15 the phrase “head or tail” refers to leaders and prophets, respectively. This interpretation makes good sense in this context, where both leaders and advisers (probably including prophets and diviners) are mentioned (vv. 11-14). Here, as in 9:14, “shoots and stalk” picture a reed, which symbolizes the leadership of the nation in its entirety.

[1:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “there is not in it health”; NAB “there is no sound spot.”

[1:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “pressed out.”

[1:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “softened” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “soothed.”

[1:6]  ¹⁶ sn This verse describes wounds like those one would receive in battle. These wounds are comprehensive and without remedy.

[7:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Ephraim will be too shattered to be a nation”; NIV “to be a people.”

[28:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the crown [or “wreath”] of the splendor [or “pride”] of the drunkards of Ephraim.” The “crown” is Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom (Ephraim). Priests and prophets are included among these drunkards in v. 7.

[28:1]  ²² tn Heb “the beauty of his splendor.” In the translation the masculine pronoun (“his”) has been replaced by “its” because the referent (the “crown”) is the city of Samaria.

[28:1]  ²³ tn Heb “which [is].”

[28:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “ones overcome with wine.” The words “the crown of” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The syntactical relationship of the final phrase to what precedes is uncertain. הֲלוּמֵי יָיִן (halume yayin, “ones overcome with wine”) seems to correspond to שִׁכֹּרֵי אֶפְרַיִם (shikkore ’efrayim, “drunkards of Ephraim”) in line 1. The translation assumes that the phrase “the splendid crown” is to be understood in the final line as well.

[37:22]  ²⁵ tn Heb “this is the word which the Lord has spoken about him.”

[37:22]  ²⁶ sn Zion (Jerusalem) is pictured here as a young, vulnerable daughter whose purity is being threatened by the would-be Assyrian rapist. The personification hints at the reality which the young girls of the city would face if the Assyrians conquer it.

[37:22]  ²⁷ sn Shaking the head was a mocking gesture of derision.

[28:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “which the one seeing sees, while still it is in his hand he swallows it.”

[30:17]  ³³ tn Heb “One thousand from before [or “because of”] one battle cry.” גְּעָרָה (gÿ’arah) is often defined as “threat,” but in war contexts it likely refers to a shout or battle cry. See Ps 76:6.

[30:17]  ³⁴ tn Heb “from before [or “because of”] the battle cry of five you will flee.

[30:17]  ³⁵ tn Heb “until you are left” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).