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 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. ⁵ 

Isaiah 20:6

20:6 At that time ⁶  those who live on this coast ⁷  will say, ‘Look what has happened to our source of hope to whom we fled for help, expecting to be rescued from the king of Assyria! How can we escape now?’”

Isaiah 23:18

23:18 Her profits and earnings will be set apart for the Lord. They will not be stored up or accumulated, for her profits will be given to those who live in the Lord’s presence and will be used to purchase large quantities of food and beautiful clothes. ⁸ 

Isaiah 25:8

25:8 he will swallow up death permanently. ⁹ 

The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from every face,

and remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.

Indeed, the Lord has announced it! ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 29:22

29:22 So this is what the Lord, the one who delivered Abraham, says to the family of Jacob: ¹¹ 

“Jacob will no longer be ashamed;

their faces will no longer show their embarrassment. ¹² 

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 37:6

37:6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘This is what the Lord says: “Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard – these insults the king of Assyria’s servants have hurled against me. ¹³ 

Isaiah 38:3

38:3 “Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you ¹⁴  faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, ¹⁵  and how I have carried out your will.” ¹⁶  Then Hezekiah wept bitterly. ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 42:16

42:16 I will lead the blind along an unfamiliar way; ¹⁸ 

I will guide them down paths they have never traveled. ¹⁹ 

I will turn the darkness in front of them into light,

and level out the rough ground. ²⁰ 

This is what I will do for them.

I will not abandon them.

Isaiah 43:10

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

“my servant whom I have chosen,

so that you may consider ²¹  and believe in me,

and understand that I am he.

No god was formed before me,

and none will outlive me. ²² 

Isaiah 51:13

51:13 Why do you forget ²³  the Lord, who made you,

who stretched out the sky ²⁴ 

and founded the earth?

Why do you constantly tremble all day long ²⁵ 

at the anger of the oppressor,

when he makes plans to destroy?

Where is the anger of the oppressor? ²⁶ 

[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.”

[19:17]  ⁵ 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.”

[20:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).

[20:6]  ¹⁰ sn This probably refers to the coastal region of Philistia (cf. TEV).

[23:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “for eating to fullness and for beautiful covering[s].”

[25:8]  ¹⁷ sn The image of the Lord “swallowing” death would be especially powerful, for death was viewed in Canaanite mythology and culture as a hungry enemy that swallows its victims. See the note at 5:14.

[25:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “has spoken” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[29:22]  ²¹ tn Heb “So this is what the Lord says to the house of Jacob, the one who ransomed Abraham.” The relative pronoun must refer back to “the Lord,” not to the immediately preceding “Jacob.” It is uncertain to what event in Abraham’s experience this refers. Perhaps the name “Abraham” stands here by metonymy for his descendants through Jacob. If so, the Exodus is in view.

[29:22]  ²² tn Heb “and his face will no longer be pale.”

[37:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “by which the servants of the king of Assyria have insulted me.”

[38:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “walked before you.” For a helpful discussion of the background and meaning of this Hebrew idiom, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 254.

[38:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and with a complete heart”; KJV, ASV “with a perfect heart.”

[38:3]  ³¹ tn Heb “and that which is good in your eyes I have done.”

[38:3]  ³² tn Heb “wept with great weeping”; NCV “cried loudly”; TEV “began to cry bitterly.”

[42:16]  ³³ tn Heb “a way they do not know” (so NASB); NRSV “a road they do not know.”

[42:16]  ³⁴ tn Heb “in paths they do not know I will make them walk.”

[42:16]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and the rough ground into a level place.”

[43:10]  ³⁷ tn Or “know” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[43:10]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and after me, there will not be”; NASB “there will be none after Me.”

[51:13]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and that you forget.”

[51:13]  ⁴² tn Or “the heavens” (also in v. 16). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[51:13]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and that you tremble constantly all the day.”

[51:13]  ⁴⁴ tn The question anticipates the answer, “Ready to disappear!” See v. 14.