Isaiah 13:14

13:14 Like a frightened gazelle ¹ 

or a sheep with no shepherd,

each will turn toward home, ² 

each will run to his homeland.

Isaiah 53:3

53:3 He was despised and rejected by people, ³ 

one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness;

people hid their faces from him; ⁴ 

he was despised, and we considered him insignificant. ⁵ 

Isaiah 57:1

57:1 The godly ⁶  perish,

but no one cares. ⁷ 

Honest people disappear, ⁸ 

when no one ⁹  minds ¹⁰ 

that the godly ¹¹  disappear ¹²  because of ¹³  evil. ¹⁴ 

[13:14]  ¹ tn Or “like a gazelle being chased.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[13:14]  ² tn Heb “his people” (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “his nation” (cf. TEV “their own countries”).

[53:3]  ³ tn Heb “lacking of men.” If the genitive is taken as specifying (“lacking with respect to men”), then the idea is that he lacked company because he was rejected by people. Another option is to take the genitive as indicating genus or larger class (i.e., “one lacking among men”). In this case one could translate, “he was a transient” (cf. the use of חָדֵל [khadel] in Ps 39:5 HT [39:4 ET]).

[53:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “like a hiding of the face from him,” i.e., “like one before whom the face is hidden” (see BDB 712 s.v. מַסְתֵּר).

[53:3]  ⁵ sn The servant is likened to a seriously ill person who is shunned by others because of his horrible disease.

[57:1]  ⁵ tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the just man”; TEV “Good people.”

[57:1]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps, “understands.” Heb “and there is no man who sets [it] upon [his] heart.”

[57:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “Men of loyalty are taken away.” The Niphal of אָסַף (’asaf) here means “to die.”

[57:1]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term בְּאֵין (bÿ’en) often has the nuance “when there is no.” See Prov 8:24; 11;14; 14:4; 15:22; 26:20; 29:18.

[57:1]  ⁹ tn Or “realizes”; Heb “understands” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[57:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the just man.”

[57:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “are taken away.” The Niphal of אָסַף (’asaf) here means “to die.”

[57:1]  ¹² tn The term מִפְּנֵי (mippÿne, “from the face of”) often has a causal nuance. It also appears with the Niphal of אָסַף (’asaph, “gather”) in 2 Chr 12:5: אֲשֶׁר־נֶאֶסְפוּ אֶל־יְרוּשָׁלַם מִפְּנֵי שִׁישָׁק (’asher-ne’esphu ’el-yÿrushalam mippÿney shishaq, “who had gathered at Jerusalem because of [i.e., due to fear of] Shishak”).

[57:1]  ¹³ tn The translation assumes that this verse, in proverbial fashion, laments society’s apathy over the persecution of the godly. The second half of the verse observes that such apathy results in more widespread oppression. Since the next verse pictures the godly being taken to a place of rest, some interpret the second half of v. 1 in a more positive vein. According to proponents of this view, God removes the godly so that they might be spared suffering and calamity, a fact which the general populace fails to realize.