Isaiah 14:15

14:15 But you were brought down ¹  to Sheol,

to the remote slopes of the pit. ² 

Isaiah 16:7

16:7 So Moab wails over its demise ³  –

they all wail!

Completely devastated, they moan

about what has happened to the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth. ⁴ 

Isaiah 45:24

45:24 they will say about me,

“Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.”’” ⁵ 

All who are angry at him will cower before him. ⁶ 

Isaiah 63:8

63:8 He said, “Certainly they will be my people,

children who are not disloyal.” ⁷ 

He became their deliverer.

Isaiah 34:14-15

34:14 Wild animals and wild dogs will congregate there; ⁸ 

wild goats will bleat to one another. ⁹ 

Yes, nocturnal animals ¹⁰  will rest there

and make for themselves a nest. ¹¹ 

34:15 Owls ¹²  will make nests and lay eggs ¹³  there;

they will hatch them and protect them. ¹⁴ 

Yes, hawks ¹⁵  will gather there,

each with its mate.

Isaiah 36:5

36:5 Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. ¹⁶  In whom are you trusting, that you would dare to rebel against me?

Isaiah 43:24

43:24 You did not buy me aromatic reeds; ¹⁷ 

you did not present to me ¹⁸  the fat of your sacrifices.

Yet you burdened me with your sins;

you made me weary with your evil deeds. ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 19:11

19:11 The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools; ²⁰ 

Pharaoh’s wise advisers give stupid advice.

How dare you say to Pharaoh,

“I am one of the sages,

one well-versed in the writings of the ancient kings?” ²¹ 

Isaiah 45:14

The Lord is the Nations’ Only Hope

45:14 This is what the Lord says:

“The profit ²²  of Egypt and the revenue ²³  of Ethiopia,

along with the Sabeans, those tall men,

will be brought to you ²⁴  and become yours.

They will walk behind you, coming along in chains. ²⁵ 

They will bow down to you

and pray to you: ²⁶ 

‘Truly God is with ²⁷  you; he has no peer; ²⁸ 

there is no other God!’”

[14:15]  ¹ tn The prefixed verb form is taken as a preterite. Note the use of perfects in v. 12 to describe the king’s downfall.

[14:15]  ² tn The Hebrew term בּוּר (bor, “cistern”) is sometimes used metaphorically to refer to the place of the dead or the entrance to the underworld.

[16:7]  ³ tn Heb “So Moab wails for Moab.”

[16:7]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text has, “for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth you [masculine plural] moan, surely destroyed.” The “raisin cakes” could have cultic significance (see Hos 3:1), but the next verse focuses on agricultural disaster, so here the raisin cakes are mentioned as an example of the fine foods that are no longer available (see 2 Sam 6:19; Song 2:5) because the vines have been destroyed by the invader (see v. 8). Some prefer to take אֲשִׁישֵׁי (’ashishe, “raisin cakes of”) as “men of” (see HALOT 95 s.v. *אָשִׁישׁ; cf. NIV). The verb form תֶהְגּוּ (tehgu, “you moan”) is probably the result of dittography (note that the preceding word ends in tav [ת]) and should be emended to הגו (a perfect, third plural form), “they moan.”

[45:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “‘Yes, in the Lord,’ one says about me, ‘is deliverance and strength.’”

[45:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “will come to him and be ashamed.”

[63:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “children [who] do not act deceitfully.” Here the verb refers to covenantal loyalty.

[34:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “will meet” (so NIV); NLT “will mingle there.”

[34:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and a goat will call to its neighbor.”

[34:14]  ¹¹ tn The precise meaning of לִּילִית (lilit) is unclear, though in this context the word certainly refers to some type of wild animal or bird. The word appears to be related to לַיְלָה (laylah, “night”). Some interpret it as the name of a female night demon, on the basis of an apparent Akkadian cognate used as the name of a demon. Later Jewish legends also identified Lilith as a demon. Cf. NRSV “Lilith.”

[34:14]  ¹² tn Heb “and will find for themselves a resting place.”

[34:15]  ¹¹ tn Hebrew קִפּוֹז (qippoz) occurs only here; the precise meaning of the word is uncertain.

[34:15]  ¹² tn For this proposed meaning for Hebrew מָלַט (malat), see HALOT 589 s.v. I מלט.

[34:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “and brood [over them] in her shadow.”

[34:15]  ¹⁴ tn The precise meaning of דַּיָּה (dayyah) is uncertain, though the term appears to refer to some type of bird of prey, perhaps a vulture.

[36:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “you say only a word of lips, counsel and might for battle.” Sennacherib’s message appears to be in broken Hebrew at this point. The phrase “word of lips” refers to mere or empty talk in Prov 14:23.

[43:24]  ¹⁵ tn That is, “calamus” (so NIV); NCV, TEV, NLT “incense”; CEV “spices.”

[43:24]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “you did not saturate me”; NASB “Neither have you filled Me.”

[43:24]  ¹⁷ sn In vv. 22-24 the Lord appears to be condemning his people for failure to bring the proper sacrifices. However, this is problematic. If this refers to the nation’s behavior while in exile, such cultic service was impossible and could hardly be expected by the Lord. If this refers to the nation’s conduct before the exile, it contradicts other passages that depict Israel as bringing excessive sacrifices (see, e.g., Isa 1:11-14; Jer 6:20; Amos 4:4-5, 5:21-23). Rather than being a condemnation of Israel’s failure to bring sacrifices, these verses are better taken as a highly rhetorical comment on the worthlessness of Israel’s religious ritual. They may have brought sacrifices, but not to the Lord, for he did not accept them or even want them. See C. R. North, Second Isaiah, 127, and R. Whybray, Isaiah 40-66 (NCBC), 91.

[19:11]  ¹⁷ tn Or “certainly the officials of Zoan are fools.” אַךְ (’akh) can carry the sense, “only, nothing but,” or “certainly, surely.”

[19:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “A son of wise men am I, a son of ancient kings.” The term בֶּן (ben, “son of”) could refer to literal descent, but many understand the word, at least in the first line, in its idiomatic sense of “member [of a guild].” See HALOT 138 s.v. בֶּן and J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:371. If this is the case, then one can take the word in a figurative sense in the second line as well, the “son of ancient kings” being one devoted to their memory as preserved in their literature.

[45:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “labor,” which stands metonymically for the fruits of labor, either “monetary profit,” or “products.”

[45:14]  ²⁰ tn Or perhaps, “merchandise” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “the gain of Ethiopia”; CEV “the treasures of Ethiopia.”

[45:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “they will pass over to you”; NASB, NIV “will come over to you”; CEV “will belong to you.”

[45:14]  ²² sn Restored Israel is depicted here in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion as an imperial power that receives riches and slaves as tribute.

[45:14]  ²³ sn Israel’s vassals are portrayed as so intimidated and awed that they treat Israel as an intermediary to God or sub-deity.

[45:14]  ²⁴ tn Or perhaps, “among.” Cf. KJV, ASV “Surely God is in thee.”

[45:14]  ²⁵ tn Heb “there is no other” (so NIV, NRSV). The same phrase occurs at the end of v. 18, in v. 21, and at the end of v. 22.