Isaiah 14:6

14:6 It ¹  furiously struck down nations

with unceasing blows. ² 

It angrily ruled over nations,

oppressing them without restraint. 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 23:3

23:3 the deep waters! ⁷ 

Grain from the Shihor region, ⁸ 

crops grown near the Nile ⁹  she receives; ¹⁰ 

she is the trade center ¹¹  of the nations.

Isaiah 25:3

25:3 So a strong nation will extol you;

the towns of ¹²  powerful nations will fear you.

Isaiah 34:1

The Lord Will Judge Edom

34:1 Come near, you nations, and listen!

Pay attention, you people!

The earth and everything it contains must listen,

the world and everything that lives in it. ¹³ 

Isaiah 40:15

40:15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;

they are regarded as dust on the scales.

He lifts ¹⁴  the coastlands ¹⁵  as if they were dust.

Isaiah 42:6

42:6 “I, the Lord, officially commission you; ¹⁶ 

I take hold of your hand.

I protect you ¹⁷  and make you a covenant mediator for people, ¹⁸ 

and a light ¹⁹  to the nations, ²⁰ 

Isaiah 54:3

54:3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left;

your children will conquer ²¹  nations

and will resettle desolate cities.

[14:6]  ¹ tn Or perhaps, “he” (cf. KJV; NCV “the king of Babylon”). The present translation understands the referent of the pronoun (“it”) to be the “club/scepter” of the preceding line.

[14:6]  ² tn Heb “it was striking down nations in fury [with] a blow without ceasing.” The participle (“striking down”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.

[14:6]  ³ tn Heb “it was ruling in anger nations [with] oppression without restraint.” The participle (“ruling”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.

[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.

[23:3]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text (23:2b-3a) reads literally, “merchant of Sidon, the one who crosses the sea, they filled you, and on the deep waters.” Instead of מִלְאוּךְ (mil’ukh, “they filled you”) the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a reads מלאכיך (“your messengers”). The translation assumes an emendation of מִלְאוּךְ to מַלְאָכָו (mal’akhav, “his messengers”), taking the vav (ו) on וּבְמַיִם (uvÿmayim) as improperly placed; instead it should be the final letter of the preceding word.

[23:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “seed of Shihor.” “Shihor” probably refers to the east branch of the Nile. See Jer 2:18 and BDB 1009 s.v. שִׁיחוֹר.

[23:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “the harvest of the Nile.”

[23:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[is] her revenue.”

[23:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “merchandise”; KJV, ASV “a mart of nations”; NLT “the merchandise mart of the world.”

[25:3]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text has a singular form, but it should be emended to a plural or eliminated altogether. The noun may have been accidentally copied from the preceding verse.

[34:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “the world and its offspring”; NASB “the world and all that springs from it.”

[40:15]  ¹⁶ tn Or “weighs” (NIV); NLT “picks up.”

[40:15]  ¹⁷ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV, NLT).

[42:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “call you in righteousness.” The pronoun “you” is masculine singular, referring to the servant. See the note at 41:2.

[42:6]  ²⁰ tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצַר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצַר (yatsar, “form”).

[42:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (bÿrit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. The precise identity of עָם (’am, “people”) is uncertain. In v. 5 עָם refers to mankind, and the following reference to “nations” also favors this. But in 49:8, where the phrase בְּרִית עָם occurs again, Israel seems to be in view.

[42:6]  ²² sn Light here symbolizes deliverance from bondage and oppression; note the parallelism in 49:6b and in 51:4-6.

[42:6]  ²³ tn Or “the Gentiles” (so KJV, ASV, NIV); the same Hebrew word can be translated “nations” or “Gentiles” depending on the context.

[54:3]  ²² tn Or “take possession of”; NAB “shall dispossess.”