Isaiah 10:7

10:7 But he does not agree with this,

his mind does not reason this way, ¹ 

for his goal is to destroy,

and to eliminate many nations. ² 

Isaiah 34:17

34:17 He assigns them their allotment; ³ 

he measures out their assigned place. ⁴ 

They will live there ⁵  permanently;

they will settle in it through successive generations.

Isaiah 35:8

35:8 A thoroughfare will be there –

it will be called the Way of Holiness. ⁶ 

The unclean will not travel on it;

it is reserved for those authorized to use it ⁷  –

fools ⁸  will not stray into it.

Isaiah 42:22

42:22 But these people are looted and plundered;

all of them are trapped in pits ⁹ 

and held captive ¹⁰  in prisons.

They were carried away as loot with no one to rescue them;

they were carried away as plunder, and no one says, “Bring that back!” ¹¹ 

Isaiah 53:7

53:7 He was treated harshly and afflicted, ¹² 

but he did not even open his mouth.

Like a lamb led to the slaughtering block,

like a sheep silent before her shearers,

he did not even open his mouth. ¹³ 

[10:7]  ¹ tn Heb “but he, not so does he intend, and his heart, not so does it think.”

[10:7]  ² tn Heb “for to destroy [is] in his heart, and to cut off nations, not a few.”

[34:17]  ³ tn Heb “and he causes the lot to fall for them.” Once again the pronominal suffix (“them”) is feminine plural, referring to the birds mentioned in v. 15b or to all of the creatures listed in vv. 14b-15 (all of which are identified with feminine nouns).

[34:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “and his hand divides for them with a measuring line.” The pronominal suffix (“them”) now switches to masculine plural, referring to all the animals and birds mentioned in vv. 11-15, some of which were identified with masculine nouns. This signals closure for this portion of the speech, which began in v. 11. The following couplet (v. 17b) forms an inclusio with v. 11a through verbal repetition.

[34:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “will possess it” (so NIV); NCV “they will own that land forever.”

[35:8]  ⁵ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and there will be there a road and a way, and the Way of Holiness it will be called.” וְדֶרֶךְ (vÿderekh, “and a/the way”) is accidentally duplicated; the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does not reflect the repetition of the phrase.

[35:8]  ⁶ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The text reads literally “and it is for them, the one who walks [on the] way.” In this context those authorized to use the Way of Holiness would be morally upright people who are the recipients of God’s deliverance, in contrast to the morally impure and foolish who are excluded from the new covenant community.

[35:8]  ⁷ tn In this context “fools” are those who are morally corrupt, not those with limited intellectual capacity.

[42:22]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text has בַּחוּרִים (bakhurim, “young men”), but the text should be emended to בְּהוֹרִים (bÿhorim, “in holes”).

[42:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “and made to be hidden”; NAB, NASB, NIV, TEV “hidden away in prisons.”

[42:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “they became loot and there was no one rescuing, plunder and there was no one saying, ‘Bring back’.”

[53:7]  ⁹ tn The translation assumes the Niphal is passive; another option is take the clause (note the subject + verb pattern) as concessive and the Niphal as reflexive, “though he humbled himself.”

[53:7]  ¹⁰ sn This verse emphasizes the servant’s silent submission. The comparison to a sheep does not necessarily suggest a sacrificial metaphor. Sheep were slaughtered for food as well as for sacrificial rituals, and טֶבַח (tevakh) need not refer to sacrificial slaughter (see Gen 43:16; Prov 7:22; 9:2; Jer 50:27; note also the use of the related verb in Exod 21:37; Deut 28:31; 1 Sam 25:11).