Isaiah 14:21

14:21 Prepare to execute ¹  his sons

for the sins their ancestors have committed. ² 

They must not rise up and take possession of the earth,

or fill the surface of the world with cities.” ³ 

Isaiah 26:11

26:11 O Lord, you are ready to act, ⁴ 

but they don’t even notice.

They will see and be put to shame by your angry judgment against humankind, ⁵ 

yes, fire will consume your enemies. ⁶ 

Isaiah 26:18

26:18 We were pregnant, we strained,

we gave birth, as it were, to wind. ⁷ 

We cannot produce deliverance on the earth;

people to populate the world are not born. ⁸ 

Isaiah 35:9

35:9 No lions will be there,

no ferocious wild animals will be on it ⁹  –

they will not be found there.

Those delivered from bondage will travel on it,

Isaiah 44:8

44:8 Don’t panic! Don’t be afraid! ¹⁰ 

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; ¹¹  I know of none.

[14:21]  ¹ tn Or “the place of slaughter for.”

[14:21]  ² tn Heb “for the sin of their fathers.”

[14:21]  ³ sn J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:320, n. 10) suggests that the garrison cities of the mighty empire are in view here.

[26:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “O Lord, your hand is lifted up.”

[26:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “They will see and be ashamed of zeal of people.” Some take the prefixed verbs as jussives and translate the statement as a prayer, “Let them see and be put to shame.” The meaning of the phrase קִנְאַת־עָם (qin’at-’am, “zeal of people”) is unclear. The translation assumes that this refers to God’s angry judgment upon people. Another option is to understand the phrase as referring to God’s zealous, protective love of his covenant people. In this case one might translate, “by your zealous devotion to your people.”

[26:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “yes, fire, your enemies, will consume them.” Many understand the prefixed verb form to be jussive and translate, “let [fire] consume” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV). The mem suffixed to the verb may be enclitic; if a pronominal suffix, it refers back to “your enemies.”

[26:18]  ⁷ tn On the use of כְּמוֹ (kÿmo, “like, as”) here, see BDB 455 s.v. Israel’s distress and suffering, likened here to the pains of childbirth, seemed to be for no purpose. A woman in labor endures pain with the hope that a child will be born; in Israel’s case no such positive outcome was apparent. The nation was like a woman who strains to bring forth a child, but can’t push the baby through to daylight. All her effort produces nothing.

[26:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “and the inhabitants of the world do not fall.” The term נָפַל (nafal) apparently means here, “be born,” though the Qal form of the verb is not used with this nuance anywhere else in the OT. (The Hiphil appears to be used in the sense of “give birth” in v. 19, however.) The implication of verse 18b seems to be that Israel hoped its suffering would somehow end in deliverance and an increase in population. The phrase “inhabitants of the world” seems to refer to the human race in general, but the next verse, which focuses on Israel’s dead, suggests the referent may be more limited.

[35:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “will go up on it”; TEV “will pass that way.”

[44:8]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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.”