Isaiah 10:2

10:2 to keep the poor from getting fair treatment,

and to deprive ¹  the oppressed among my people of justice,

so they can steal what widows own,

and loot what belongs to orphans. ² 

Isaiah 19:25

19:25 The Lord who commands armies will pronounce a blessing over the earth, saying, ³  “Blessed be my people, Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria, and my special possession, ⁴  Israel!”

Isaiah 22:4

22:4 So I say:

“Don’t look at me! ⁵ 

I am weeping bitterly.

Don’t try ⁶  to console me

concerning the destruction of my defenseless people.” ⁷ 

Isaiah 26:20

26:20 Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms!

Close your doors behind you!

Hide for a little while,

until his angry judgment is over! ⁸ 

Isaiah 32:13

32:13 Mourn ⁹  over the land of my people,

which is overgrown with thorns and briers,

and over all the once-happy houses ¹⁰ 

in the city filled with revelry. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 43:20

43:20 The wild animals of the desert honor me,

the jackals and ostriches,

because I put water in the desert

and streams in the wilderness,

to quench the thirst of my chosen people,

Isaiah 47:6

47:6 I was angry at my people;

I defiled my special possession

and handed them over to you.

You showed them no mercy; ¹² 

you even placed a very heavy burden on old people. ¹³ 

Isaiah 51:4

51:4 Pay attention to me, my people!

Listen to me, my people!

For ¹⁴  I will issue a decree, ¹⁵ 

I will make my justice a light to the nations. ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 51:16

Zion’s Time to Celebrate

51:16 I commission you ¹⁷  as my spokesman; ¹⁸ 

I cover you with the palm of my hand, ¹⁹ 

to establish ²⁰  the sky and to found the earth,

to say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’” ²¹ 

Isaiah 52:4

52:4 For this is what the sovereign Lord says:

“In the beginning my people went to live temporarily in Egypt;

Assyria oppressed them for no good reason.

Isaiah 53:8

53:8 He was led away after an unjust trial ²²  –

but who even cared? ²³ 

Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living; ²⁴ 

because of the rebellion of his own ²⁵  people he was wounded.

Isaiah 65:22

65:22 No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, ²⁶ 

or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, ²⁷ 

for my people will live as long as trees, ²⁸ 

and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. ²⁹ 

[10:2]  ¹ tn Or “rob” (ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV); KJV “take away the right from the poor.”

[10:2]  ² tn Heb “so that widows are their plunder, and they can loot orphans.”

[19:25]  ³ tn Heb “which the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] will bless [it], saying.” The third masculine singular suffix on the form בֵּרֲכוֹ (berakho) should probably be emended to a third feminine singular suffix בֵּרֲכָהּ (berakhah), for its antecedent would appear to be the feminine noun אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) at the end of v. 24.

[19:25]  ⁴ tn Or “my inheritance” (NAB, NASB, NIV).

[22:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “look away from me” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

[22:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “don’t hurry” (so NCV).

[22:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “the daughter of my people.” “Daughter” is here used metaphorically to express the speaker’s emotional attachment to his people, as well as their vulnerability and weakness.

[26:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “until anger passes by.”

[32:13]  ⁹ tn “Mourn” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 12-13 are one long sentence.

[32:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “indeed, over all the houses of joy.” It is not certain if this refers to individual homes or to places where parties and celebrations were held.

[32:13]  ¹¹ sn This same phrase is used in 22:2.

[47:6]  ¹¹ tn Or “compassion.”

[47:6]  ¹² tn Heb “on the old you made very heavy your yoke.”

[51:4]  ¹³ tn Or “certainly.”

[51:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “instruction [or “a law”] will go out from me.”

[51:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and my justice for a light to the nations I will cause to rest.”

[51:16]  ¹⁵ tn The addressee (second masculine singular, as in vv. 13, 15) in this verse is unclear. The exiles are addressed in the immediately preceding verses (note the critical tone of vv. 12-13 and the reference to the exiles in v. 14). However, it seems unlikely that they are addressed in v. 16, for the addressee appears to be commissioned to tell Zion, who here represents the restored exiles, “you are my people.” The addressee is distinct from the exiles. The language of v. 16a is reminiscent of 49:2 and 50:4, where the Lord’s special servant says he is God’s spokesman and effective instrument. Perhaps the Lord, having spoken to the exiles in vv. 1-15, now responds to this servant, who spoke just prior to this in 50:4-11.

[51:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “I place my words in your mouth.”

[51:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “with the shadow of my hand.”

[51:16]  ¹⁸ tc The Hebrew text has לִנְטֹעַ (lintoa’, “to plant”). Several scholars prefer to emend this form to לִנְטֹת (lintot) from נָטָה (natah, “to stretch out”); see v. 13, as well as 40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; cf. NAB, NCV, NRSV. However, since the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, LXX (and Aquila and Symmachus), and Vulgate support the MT reading, there is no need to emend the form. The interpretation is clear enough: Yahweh fixed the sky in its place.

[51:16]  ¹⁹ tn The infinitives in v. 16b are most naturally understood as indicating the purpose of the divine actions described in v. 16a. The relationship of the third infinitive to the commission is clear enough – the Lord has made the addressee (his special servant?) his spokesman so that the latter might speak encouraging words to those in Zion. But how do the first two infinitives relate? The text seems to indicate that the Lord has commissioned the addressee so that the latter might create the universe! Perhaps creation imagery is employed metaphorically here to refer to the transformation that Jerusalem will experience (see 65:17-18).

[53:8]  ¹⁷ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The present translation assumes that מִן (min) here has an instrumental sense (“by, through”) and understands עֹצֶר וּמִמִּשְׁפָּט (’otser umimmishpat, “coercion and legal decision”) as a hendiadys meaning “coercive legal decision,” thus “an unjust trial.” Other interpretive options include: (1) “without [for this sense of מִן, see BDB 578 s.v. 1.b] hindrance and proper judicial process,” i.e., “unfairly and with no one to defend him,” (2) “from [in the sense of “after,” see BDB 581 s.v. 4.b] arrest and judgment.”

[53:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and his generation, who considers?” (NASB similar). Some understand “his generation” as a reference to descendants. In this case the question would suggest that he will have none. However, אֶת (’et) may be taken here as specifying a new subject (see BDB 85 s.v. I אֵת 3). If “his generation” refers to the servant’s contemporary generation, one may then translate, “As for his contemporary generation, who took note?” The point would be that few were concerned about the harsh treatment he received.

[53:8]  ¹⁹ sn The “land of the living” is an idiom for the sphere where people live, in contrast to the underworld realm of the dead. See, for example, Ezek 32:23-27.

[53:8]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew text reads “my people,” a reading followed by most English versions, but this is problematic in a context where the first person plural predominates, and where God does not appear to speak again until v. 11b. Therefore, it is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a עמו (“his people”). In this case, the group speaking in these verses is identified as the servant’s people (compare פְּשָׁעֵנוּ [pÿsha’enu, “our rebellious deeds”] in v. 5 with פֶּשַׁע עַמִּי [pesha’ ’ammi, “the rebellion of his people”] in v. 8).

[65:22]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “they will not build, and another live [in it].”

[65:22]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they will not plant, and another eat.”

[65:22]  ²¹ tn Heb “for like the days of the tree [will be] the days of my people.”

[65:22]  ²² tn Heb “the work of their hands” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “their hard-won gains.”