Isaiah 18:2

18:2 that sends messengers by sea,

who glide over the water’s surface in boats made of papyrus.

Go, you swift messengers,

to a nation of tall, smooth-skinned people, ¹ 

to a people that are feared far and wide, ² 

to a nation strong and victorious, ³ 

whose land rivers divide. ⁴ 

Isaiah 18:7

18:7 At that time

tribute will be brought to the Lord who commands armies,

by a people that are tall and smooth-skinned,

a people that are feared far and wide,

a nation strong and victorious,

whose land rivers divide. ⁵ 

The tribute ⁶  will be brought to the place where the Lord who commands armies has chosen to reside, on Mount Zion. ⁷ 

Isaiah 19:17

19:17 The land of Judah will humiliate Egypt. Everyone who hears about Judah will be afraid because of what the Lord who commands armies is planning to do to them. ⁸ 

Isaiah 27:11

27:11 When its branches get brittle, ⁹  they break;

women come and use them for kindling. ¹⁰ 

For these people lack understanding, ¹¹ 

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

Isaiah 29:11

29:11 To you this entire prophetic revelation ¹²  is like words in a sealed scroll. When they hand it to one who can read ¹³  and say, “Read this,” he responds, “I can’t, because it is sealed.”

Isaiah 30:33

30:33 For ¹⁴  the burial place is already prepared; ¹⁵ 

it has been made deep and wide for the king. ¹⁶ 

The firewood is piled high on it. ¹⁷ 

The Lord’s breath, like a stream flowing with brimstone,

will ignite it.

Isaiah 36:7

36:7 Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar.’

Isaiah 37:16

37:16 “O Lord who commands armies, O God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubim! ¹⁸  You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky ¹⁹  and the earth.

Isaiah 37:38

37:38 One day, ²⁰  as he was worshiping ²¹  in the temple of his god Nisroch, ²²  his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. ²³  They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

Isaiah 43:10

43:10 You are my witnesses,” says the Lord,

“my servant whom I have chosen,

so that you may consider ²⁴  and believe in me,

and understand that I am he.

No god was formed before me,

and none will outlive me. ²⁵ 

[18:2]  ¹ tn The precise meaning of the qualifying terms is uncertain. מְמֻשָּׁךְ (mÿmushakh) appears to be a Pual participle from the verb מָשַׁךְ (mashakh, “to draw, extend”). Lexicographers theorize that it here refers to people who “stretch out,” as it were, or are tall. See BDB 604 s.v. מָשַׁךְ, and HALOT 645-46 s.v. משׁךְ. מוֹרָט (morat) is taken as a Pual participle from מָרַט (marat), which can mean “to pull out [hair],” in the Qal, “become bald” in the Niphal, and “be wiped clean” in the Pual. Lexicographers theorize that the word here refers to people with bare, or smooth, skin. See BDB 598-99 s.v. מָרַט, and HALOT 634-35 s.v. מרט. These proposed meanings, which are based on etymological speculation, must be regarded as tentative.

[18:2]  ² tn Heb “from it and onwards.” HALOT 245 s.v. הָלְאָה suggests the translation “far and wide.”

[18:2]  ³ tn Once more the precise meaning of the qualifying terms is uncertain. The expression קַו־קָו (qav-qav) is sometimes related to a proposed Arabic cognate and taken to mean “strength” (see BDB 876 II קַו). Others, on the basis of Isa 28:10, 13, understand the form as gibberish (literally, “kav, kav”) and take it to be a reference to this nation’s strange, unknown language. The form מְבוּסָה (mÿvusah) appears to be derived from בּוּס (bus, “to trample”), so lexicographers suggest the meaning “trampling” or “subjugation,” i.e., a nation that subdues others. See BDB 101 s.v. בּוּס and HALOT 541 s.v. מְבוּסָה. These proposals, which are based on etymological speculation, must be regarded as tentative.

[18:2]  ⁴ tn The precise meaning of the verb בָּזָא (baza’), which occurs only in this oracle (see also v. 7) in the OT, is uncertain. BDB 102 s.v. suggests “divide” on the basis of alleged Aramaic and Arabic cognates; HALOT 117 s.v., citing an alleged Arabic cognate, suggests “wash away.”

[18:7]  ⁵ tn On the interpretive difficulties of this verse, see the notes at v. 2, where the same terminology is used.

[18:7]  ⁶ tn The words “the tribute” are repeated here in the translation for clarity.

[18:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “to the place of the name of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts], Mount Zion.”

[19:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “and the land of Judah will become [a source of] shame to Egypt, everyone to whom one mentions it [i.e., the land of Judah] will fear because of the plan of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] which he is planning against him.”

[27:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[27:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.

[27:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”

[29:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “vision” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[29:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “one who knows a/the scroll.”

[30:33]  ²¹ tn Or “indeed.”

[30:33]  ²² tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “for arranged from before [or “yesterday”] is [?].” The meaning of תָּפְתֶּה (tafÿteh), which occurs only here, is unknown. The translation above (as with most English versions) assumes an emendation to תֹּפֶת (tofet, “Topheth”; cf. NASB, NIV, NLT) and places the final hey (ה) on the beginning of the next word as an interrogative particle. Topheth was a place near Jerusalem used as a burial ground (see Jer 7:32; 19:11).

[30:33]  ²³ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “Also it is made ready for the king, one makes it deep and wide.” If one takes the final hey (ה) on תָּפְתֶּה (tafÿteh) and prefixes it to גָּם (gam) as an interrogative particle (see the preceding note), one can translate, “Is it also made ready for the king?” In this case the question is rhetorical and expects an emphatic affirmative answer, “Of course it is!”

[30:33]  ²⁴ tn Heb “its pile of wood, fire and wood one makes abundant.”

[37:16]  ²⁵ sn Cherubim (singular “cherub”) refers to the images of winged angelic creatures that were above the ark of the covenant.

[37:16]  ²⁶ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[37:38]  ²⁹ sn The assassination of King Sennacherib probably took place in 681 b.c.

[37:38]  ³⁰ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[37:38]  ³¹ sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name Nisroch is a corruption of Nusku.

[37:38]  ³² sn Extra-biblical sources also mention the assassination of Sennacherib, though they refer to only one assassin. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 239-40.

[43:10]  ³³ tn Or “know” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[43:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and after me, there will not be”; NASB “there will be none after Me.”