Isaiah 14:3

14:3 When the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and anxiety, ¹  and from the hard labor which you were made to perform,

Isaiah 19:21

19:21 The Lord will reveal himself to the Egyptians, and they ²  will acknowledge the Lord’s authority ³  at that time. ⁴  They will present sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them.

Isaiah 19:23

19:23 At that time there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will visit Egypt, and the Egyptians will visit Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. ⁵ 

Isaiah 28:21

28:21 For the Lord will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim, ⁶ 

he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon, ⁷ 

to accomplish his work,

his peculiar work,

to perform his task,

his strange task. ⁸ 

Isaiah 43:23-24

43:23 You did not bring me lambs for your burnt offerings;

you did not honor me with your sacrifices.

I did not burden you with offerings;

I did not make you weary by demanding ⁹  incense.

43:24 You did not buy me aromatic reeds; ¹⁰ 

you did not present to me ¹¹  the fat of your sacrifices.

Yet you burdened me with your sins;

you made me weary with your evil deeds. ¹² 

[14:3]  ¹ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[19:21]  ² tn Heb “Egypt.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, the present translation uses the pronoun (“they”) here.

[19:21]  ³ tn Heb “will know the Lord.”

[19:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV), likewise at the beginning of vv. 23 and 24.

[19:23]  ³ tn The text could be translated, “and Egypt will serve Assyria” (cf. NAB), but subjugation of one nation to the other does not seem to be a theme in vv. 23-25. Rather the nations are viewed as equals before the Lord (v. 25). Therefore it is better to take אֶת (’et) in v. 23b as a preposition, “together with,” rather than the accusative sign. The names of the two countries are understood to refer by metonymy to their respective inhabitants.

[28:21]  ⁴ sn This probably alludes to David’s victory over the Philistines at Baal Perazim. See 2 Sam 5:20.

[28:21]  ⁵ sn This probably alludes to the Lord’s victory over the Canaanites at Gibeon, during the days of Joshua. See Josh 10:10-11.

[28:21]  ⁶ sn God’s judgment of his own people is called “his peculiar work” and “his strange task,” because he must deal with them the way he treated their enemies in the past.

[43:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “with.” The words “by demanding” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[43:24]  ⁶ tn That is, “calamus” (so NIV); NCV, TEV, NLT “incense”; CEV “spices.”

[43:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “you did not saturate me”; NASB “Neither have you filled Me.”

[43:24]  ⁸ 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.