Isaiah 19:6

19:6 The canals ¹  will stink; ² 

the streams of Egypt will trickle and then dry up;

the bulrushes and reeds will decay,

Isaiah 42:3

42:3 A crushed reed he will not break,

a dim wick he will not extinguish; ³ 

he will faithfully make just decrees. ⁴ 

Isaiah 43:24

43:24 You did not buy me aromatic reeds; ⁵ 

you did not present to me ⁶  the fat of your sacrifices.

Yet you burdened me with your sins;

you made me weary with your evil deeds. ⁷ 

[19:6]  ¹ tn Heb “rivers” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, CEV “streams”; TEV “channels.”

[19:6]  ² tn The verb form appears as a Hiphil in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a; the form in MT may be a so-called “mixed form,” reflecting the Hebrew Hiphil stem and the functionally corresponding Aramaic Aphel stem. See HALOT 276 s.v. I זנח.

[42:3]  ³ sn The “crushed reed” and “dim wick” symbolize the weak and oppressed who are on the verge of extinction.

[42:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “faithfully he will bring out justice” (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[43:24]  ⁵ tn That is, “calamus” (so NIV); NCV, TEV, NLT “incense”; CEV “spices.”

[43:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “you did not saturate me”; NASB “Neither have you filled Me.”

[43:24]  ⁷ sn In vv. 22-24 the Lord appears to be condemning his people for failure to bring the proper sacrifices. However, this is problematic. If this refers to the nation’s behavior while in exile, such cultic service was impossible and could hardly be expected by the Lord. If this refers to the nation’s conduct before the exile, it contradicts other passages that depict Israel as bringing excessive sacrifices (see, e.g., Isa 1:11-14; Jer 6:20; Amos 4:4-5, 5:21-23). Rather than being a condemnation of Israel’s failure to bring sacrifices, these verses are better taken as a highly rhetorical comment on the worthlessness of Israel’s religious ritual. They may have brought sacrifices, but not to the Lord, for he did not accept them or even want them. See C. R. North, Second Isaiah, 127, and R. Whybray, Isaiah 40-66 (NCBC), 91.