Isaiah 11:3

11:3 He will take delight in obeying the Lord. ¹ 

He will not judge by mere appearances, ² 

or make decisions on the basis of hearsay. ³ 

Isaiah 49:20

49:20 Yet the children born during your time of bereavement

will say within your hearing,

‘This place is too cramped for us, ⁴ 

make room for us so we can live here.’ ⁵ 

Isaiah 50:5

50:5 The sovereign Lord has spoken to me clearly; ⁶ 

I have not rebelled,

I have not turned back.

Isaiah 59:1

Injustice Brings Alienation from God

59:1 Look, the Lord’s hand is not too weak ⁷  to deliver you;

his ear is not too deaf to hear you. ⁸ 

[11:3]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “and his smelling is in the fear of the Lord.” In Amos 5:21 the Hiphil of רוּחַ (ruakh, “smell”) carries the nuance of “smell with delight, get pleasure from.” There the Lord declares that he does not “smell with delight” (i.e., get pleasure from) Israel’s religious assemblies, which probably stand by metonymy for the incense offered during these festivals. In Isa 11:3 there is no sacrificial context to suggest such a use, but it is possible that “the fear of the Lord” is likened to incense. This coming king will get the same kind of delight from obeying (fearing) the Lord, as a deity does in the incense offered by worshipers. Some regard such an explanation as strained in this context, and prefer to omit this line from the text as a virtual dittograph of the preceding statement.

[11:3]  ² tn Heb “by what appears to his eyes”; KJV “after the sight of his eyes”; NIV “by what he sees with his eyes.”

[11:3]  ³ tn Heb “by what is heard by his ears”; NRSV “by what his ears hear.”

[49:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “me.” The singular is collective.

[49:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “draw near to me so I can dwell.”

[50:5]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps, “makes me obedient.” The text reads literally, “has opened for me an ear.”

[59:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[59:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “or his ear too heavy [i.e., “dull”] to hear.”