Isaiah 17:10

17:10 For you ignore ¹  the God who rescues you;

you pay no attention to your strong protector. ² 

So this is what happens:

You cultivate beautiful plants

and plant exotic vines. ³ 

Isaiah 28:21

28:21 For the Lord will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim, ⁴ 

he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon, ⁵ 

to accomplish his work,

his peculiar work,

to perform his task,

his strange task. ⁶ 

Isaiah 43:12

43:12 I decreed and delivered and proclaimed,

and there was no other god among you.

You are my witnesses,” says the Lord, “that I am God.

[17:10]  ¹ tn Heb “you have forgotten” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[17:10]  ² tn Heb “and the rocky cliff of your strength you do not remember.”

[17:10]  ³ tn Heb “a vine, a strange one.” The substantival adjective זָר (zar) functions here as an appositional genitive. It could refer to a cultic plant of some type, associated with a pagan rite. But it is more likely that it refers to an exotic, or imported, type of vine, one that is foreign (i.e., “strange”) to Israel.

[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.