Isaiah 19:15

19:15 Egypt will not be able to do a thing,

head or tail, shoots and stalk. ¹ 

Isaiah 32:17

32:17 Fairness will produce peace ² 

and result in lasting security. ³ 

Isaiah 60:21

60:21 All of your people will be godly; ⁴ 

they will possess the land permanently.

I will plant them like a shoot;

they will be the product of my labor,

through whom I reveal my splendor. ⁵ 

Isaiah 17:8

17:8 They will no longer trust in ⁶  the altars their hands made,

or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made. ⁷ 

Isaiah 29:16

29:16 Your thinking is perverse! ⁸ 

Should the potter be regarded as clay? ⁹ 

Should the thing made say ¹⁰  about its maker, “He didn’t make me”?

Or should the pottery say about the potter, “He doesn’t understand”?

Isaiah 29:23

29:23 For when they see their children,

whom I will produce among them, ¹¹ 

they will honor ¹²  my name.

They will honor the Holy One of Jacob; ¹³ 

they will respect ¹⁴  the God of Israel.

Isaiah 37:19

37:19 They have burned the gods of the nations, ¹⁵  for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them. ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 3:24

3:24 A putrid stench will replace the smell of spices, ¹⁷ 

a rope will replace a belt,

baldness will replace braided locks of hair,

a sackcloth garment will replace a fine robe,

and a prisoner’s brand will replace beauty.

[19:15]  ¹ tn Heb “And there will not be for Egypt a deed, which head and tail, shoot and stalk can do.” In 9:14-15 the phrase “head or tail” refers to leaders and prophets, respectively. This interpretation makes good sense in this context, where both leaders and advisers (probably including prophets and diviners) are mentioned (vv. 11-14). Here, as in 9:14, “shoots and stalk” picture a reed, which symbolizes the leadership of the nation in its entirety.

[32:17]  ² tn Heb “and the product of fairness will be peace.”

[32:17]  ³ tn Heb “and the work of fairness [will be] calmness and security forever.”

[60:21]  ³ tn Or “righteous” (NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “just.”

[60:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “a shoot of his planting, the work of my hands, to reveal splendor.”

[17:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “he will not gaze toward.”

[17:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “and that which his fingers made he will not see, the Asherah poles and the incense altars.”

[29:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “your overturning.” The predicate is suppressed in this exclamation. The idea is, “O your perversity! How great it is!” See GKC 470 §147.c. The people “overturn” all logic by thinking their authority supersedes God’s.

[29:16]  ⁶ tn The expected answer to this rhetorical question is “of course not.” On the interrogative use of אִם (’im), see BDB 50 s.v.

[29:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “that the thing made should say.”

[29:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “for when he sees his children, the work of my hands in his midst.”

[29:23]  ⁷ tn Or “treat as holy” (also in the following line); NASB, NRSV “will sanctify.”

[29:23]  ⁸ sn Holy One of Jacob is similar to the phrase “Holy One of Israel” common throughout Isaiah; see the sn at Isa 1:4.

[29:23]  ⁹ tn Or “fear,” in the sense of “stand in awe of.”

[37:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “and they put their gods in the fire.”

[37:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “so they destroyed them” (NASB similar).

[3:24]  ⁸ tn Heb “and it will be in place of spices there will be a stench.” The nouns for “spices” and “stench” are right next to each other in the MT for emphatic contrast. The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.