Isaiah 10:8-9

10:8 Indeed, ¹  he says:

“Are not my officials all kings?

10:9 Is not Calneh like Carchemish?

Hamath like Arpad?

Samaria like Damascus? ² 

Isaiah 10:11

10:11 As I have done to Samaria and its idols,

so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.” ³ 

Isaiah 44:8

44:8 Don’t panic! Don’t be afraid! ⁴ 

Did I not tell you beforehand and decree it?

You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me?

There is no other sheltering rock; ⁵  I know of none.

Isaiah 36:12

36:12 But the chief adviser said, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. ⁶  His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you!” ⁷ 

Isaiah 57:11

57:11 Whom are you worried about?

Whom do you fear, that you would act so deceitfully

and not remember me

or think about me? ⁸ 

Because I have been silent for so long, ⁹ 

you are not afraid of me. ¹⁰ 

[10:8]  ¹ tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[10:9]  ² sn Calneh … Carchemish … Hamath … Arpad … Samaria … Damascus. The city states listed here were conquered by the Assyrians between 740-717 b.c. The point of the rhetorical questions is that no one can stand before Assyria’s might. On the geographical, rather than chronological arrangement of the cities, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:264, n. 4.

[10:11]  ³ tn The statement is constructed as a rhetorical question in the Hebrew text: “Is it not [true that] just as I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols?”

[44:8]  ⁴ tn BDB 923 s.v. רָהָה derives this verb from an otherwise unattested root, while HALOT 403 s.v. יָרָה defines it as “be stupefied” on the basis of an Arabic cognate. The form is likely a corruption of תיראו, the reading attested in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a.

[44:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “rock” or “rocky cliff,” a title that depicts God as a protective refuge in his role as sovereign king; thus the translation “sheltering rock.”

[36:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “To your master and to you did my master send me to speak these words?” The rhetorical question expects a negative answer.

[36:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “[Is it] not [also] to the men…?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Yes, it is.”

[57:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “you do not place [it] on your heart.”

[57:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “Is it not [because] I have been silent, and from long ago?”

[57:11]  ⁸ sn God’s patience with sinful Israel has caused them to think that they can sin with impunity and suffer no consequences.