Isaiah 10:13-14

10:13 For he says:

“By my strong hand I have accomplished this,

by my strategy that I devised.

I invaded the territory of nations, ¹ 

and looted their storehouses.

Like a mighty conqueror, ²  I brought down rulers. ³ 

10:14 My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest,

as one gathers up abandoned eggs,

I gathered up the whole earth.

There was no wing flapping,

or open mouth chirping.” ⁴ 

Isaiah 10:1

10:1 Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead, ⁵ 

those who are always instituting unfair regulations, ⁶ 

Isaiah 17:10

17:10 For you ignore ⁷  the God who rescues you;

you pay no attention to your strong protector. ⁸ 

So this is what happens:

You cultivate beautiful plants

and plant exotic vines. ⁹ 

Isaiah 17:1-2

The Lord Will Judge Damascus

17:1 Here is a message about Damascus:

“Look, Damascus is no longer a city,

it is a heap of ruins!

17:2 The cities of Aroer are abandoned. ¹⁰ 

They will be used for herds,

which will lie down there in peace. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 18:1

The Lord Will Judge a Distant Land in the South

18:1 The land of buzzing wings is as good as dead, ¹² 

the one beyond the rivers of Cush,

Isaiah 18:1

The Lord Will Judge a Distant Land in the South

18:1 The land of buzzing wings is as good as dead, ¹³ 

the one beyond the rivers of Cush,

Psalms 10:5

10:5 He is secure at all times. ¹⁴ 

He has no regard for your commands; ¹⁵ 

he disdains all his enemies. ¹⁶ 

Luke 18:2-4

18:2 He said, ¹⁷  “In a certain city ¹⁸  there was a judge ¹⁹  who neither feared God nor respected people. ²⁰  18:3 There was also a widow ²¹  in that city ²²  who kept coming ²³  to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 18:4 For ²⁴  a while he refused, but later on ²⁵  he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor have regard for people, ²⁶ 

[10:13]  ¹ tn Heb “removed the borders of nations”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV “boundaries.”

[10:13]  ² tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has כְּאַבִּיר (kÿ’abir, “like a strong one”); the marginal reading (Qere) is כַּבִיר (kavir, “mighty one”).

[10:13]  ³ tn Heb “and I brought down, like a strong one, ones sitting [or “living”].” The participle יוֹשְׁבִים (yoshÿvim, “ones sitting”) could refer to the inhabitants of the nations, but the translation assumes that it refers to those who sit on thrones, i.e., rulers. See BDB 442 s.v. יָשַׁב and HALOT 444 s.v. ישׁב.

[10:14]  ⁴ sn The Assyrians’ conquests were relatively unopposed, like robbing a bird’s nest of its eggs when the mother bird is absent.

[10:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who decree evil decrees.” On הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) see the note on the first phrase of 1:4.

[10:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “[to] the writers who write out harm.” The participle and verb are in the Piel, suggesting repetitive action.

[17:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “you have forgotten” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[17:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “and the rocky cliff of your strength you do not remember.”

[17:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “a vine, a strange one.” The substantival adjective זָר (zar) functions here as an appositional genitive. It could refer to a cultic plant of some type, associated with a pagan rite. But it is more likely that it refers to an exotic, or imported, type of vine, one that is foreign (i.e., “strange”) to Israel.

[17:2]  ¹⁰ tn Three cities are known by this name in the OT: (1) an Aroer located near the Arnon, (2) an Aroer in Ammon, and (3) an Aroer of Judah. (See BDB 792-93 s.v. עֲרֹעֵר, and HALOT 883 s.v. II עֲרוֹעֵר.) There is no mention of an Aroer in Syrian territory. For this reason some want to emend the text here to עֲזֻבוֹת עָרַיהָ עֲדֵי עַד (’azuvot ’arayha ’adey ’ad, “her cities are permanently abandoned”). However, Aroer near the Arnon was taken by Israel and later conquered by the Syrians. (See Josh 12:2; 13:9, 16; Judg 11:26; 2 Kgs 10:33). This oracle pertains to Israel as well as Syria (note v. 3), so it is possible that this is a reference to Israelite and/or Syrian losses in Transjordan.

[17:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and they lie down and there is no one scaring [them].”

[18:1]  ¹² tn Heb “Woe [to] the land of buzzing wings.” On הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) see the note on the first phrase of 1:4.

[18:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “Woe [to] the land of buzzing wings.” On הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) see the note on the first phrase of 1:4.

[10:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they are firm, his ways, at every time.” The verb חַיִל (khayil, “be firm, be strong”) occurs only here and in Job 20:21, where it has the sense “endure.”

[10:5]  ¹⁵ tc Heb “[on a] height, your judgments from before him.” If the MT is retained, then the idea may be that God’s “judgments” are high above (i.e., not recognized) by the wicked man. However, the syntax is awkward. The translation assumes an emendation of מָרוֹם (marom, “height”) to סָרוּ (saru, “[your judgments] are turned aside”), the final mem (ם) being dittographic (note the initial mem on the immediately following word [מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ, mishÿfatekha, “your judgments”). “Judgments” probably refers here to God’s laws or commands, rather than his judicial decisions or acts of judgment.

[10:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “all his enemies, he snorts against them.” This may picture the wicked man defiantly challenging his enemies because he is confident of success. Another option is to take יָפִיחַ (yafiakh) from the root יָפַח (yafakh, “to testify”) and translate “he testifies against all his enemies,” implying that he gets the upper hand over them in legal battles. The noun יָפֵחַ (yafeakh, “witness”) is attested in biblical Hebrew (see Prov 6:19; 12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9, and Hab 2:3). The verb, however, is not clearly attested.

[18:2]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “lose heart, saying.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text, but a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronominal subject “He.”

[18:2]  ¹⁸ tn Or “town.”

[18:2]  ¹⁹ sn The judge here is apparently portrayed as a civil judge who often handled financial cases.

[18:2]  ²⁰ tn Grk “man,” but the singular ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used as a generic in comparison to God.

[18:3]  ²¹ sn This widow was not necessarily old, since many people lived only into their thirties in the 1st century.

[18:3]  ²² tn Or “town.”

[18:3]  ²³ tn This is an iterative imperfect; the widow did this on numerous occasions.

[18:4]  ²⁴ tn Grk “And for.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[18:4]  ²⁵ tn Grk “after these things.”

[18:4]  ²⁶ tn Grk “man,” but the singular ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used as a generic in comparison to God.