Isaiah 13:5

13:5 They come from a distant land,

from the horizon. ¹ 

It is the Lord with his instruments of judgment, ² 

coming to destroy the whole earth. ³ 

Isaiah 14:12

14:12 Look how you have fallen from the sky,

O shining one, son of the dawn! ⁴ 

You have been cut down to the ground,

O conqueror ⁵  of the nations! ⁶ 

Isaiah 34:5

34:5 He says, ⁷  “Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers. ⁸ 

Look, it now descends on Edom, ⁹ 

on the people I will annihilate in judgment.”

Isaiah 40:22

40:22 He is the one who sits on the earth’s horizon; ¹⁰ 

its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him. ¹¹ 

He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain, ¹² 

and spreads it out ¹³  like a pitched tent. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 48:13

48:13 Yes, my hand founded the earth;

my right hand spread out the sky.

I summon them;

they stand together.

Isaiah 55:9

55:9 for just as the sky ¹⁵  is higher than the earth,

so my deeds ¹⁶  are superior to ¹⁷  your deeds

and my plans ¹⁸  superior to your plans.

[13:5]  ¹ tn Heb “from the end of the sky.”

[13:5]  ² tn Or “anger”; cf. KJV, ASV “the weapons of his indignation.”

[13:5]  ³ tn Or perhaps, “land” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NLT). Even though the heading and subsequent context (see v. 17) indicate Babylon’s judgment is in view, the chapter has a cosmic flavor that suggests that the coming judgment is universal in scope. Perhaps Babylon’s downfall occurs in conjunction with a wider judgment, or the cosmic style is poetic hyperbole used to emphasize the magnitude and importance of the coming event.

[14:12]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text has הֵילֵל בֶּן־שָׁחַר (helel ben-shakhar, “Helel son of Shachar”), which is probably a name for the morning star (Venus) or the crescent moon. See HALOT 245 s.v. הֵילֵל.

[14:12]  ⁵ tn Some understand the verb to from חָלַשׁ (khalash, “to weaken”), but HALOT 324 s.v. II חלשׁ proposes a homonym here, meaning “to defeat.”

[14:12]  ⁶ sn In this line the taunting kings hint at the literal identity of the king, after likening him to the god Helel and a tree. The verb גָדַע (gada’, “cut down”) is used of chopping down trees in 9:10 and 10:33.

[34:5]  ⁷ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Lord speaks at this point.

[34:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “indeed [or “for”] my sword is drenched in the heavens.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has תראה (“[my sword] appeared [in the heavens]”), but this is apparently an attempt to make sense out of a difficult metaphor. Cf. NIV “My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens.”

[34:5]  ⁹ sn Edom is mentioned here as epitomizing the hostile nations that oppose God.

[40:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the circle of the earth” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[40:22]  ¹¹ tn The words “before him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[40:22]  ¹² tn The otherwise unattested noun דֹּק (doq), translated here “thin curtain,” is apparently derived from the verbal root דקק (“crush”) from which is derived the adjective דַּק (daq, “thin”; see HALOT 229 s.v. דקק). The nuance “curtain” is implied from the parallelism (see “tent” in the next line).

[40:22]  ¹³ tn The meaning of the otherwise unattested verb מָתַח (matakh, “spread out”) is determined from the parallelism (note the corresponding verb “stretch out” in the previous line) and supported by later Hebrew and Aramaic cognates. See HALOT 654 s.v. *מתה.

[40:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “like a tent [in which] to live”; NAB, NASB “like a tent to dwell (live NIV, NRSV) in.”

[55:9]  ¹³ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[55:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “ways” (so many English versions).

[55:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “are higher than.”

[55:9]  ¹⁶ tn Or “thoughts” (so many English versions).