Isaiah 2:17
Context2:17 Proud men will be humiliated,
arrogant men will be brought low; 1
the Lord alone will be exalted 2
in that day.
Isaiah 5:14
Context5:14 So Death 3 will open up its throat,
and open wide its mouth; 4
Zion’s dignitaries and masses will descend into it,
including those who revel and celebrate within her. 5
Isaiah 13:20
Context13:20 No one will live there again;
no one will ever reside there again. 6
No bedouin 7 will camp 8 there,
no shepherds will rest their flocks 9 there.
Isaiah 34:7
Context34:7 Wild oxen will be slaughtered 10 along with them,
as well as strong bulls. 11
Their land is drenched with blood,
their soil is covered with fat.
Isaiah 57:9
Context57:9 You take olive oil as tribute 12 to your king, 13
along with many perfumes. 14
You send your messengers to a distant place;
you go all the way to Sheol. 15


[2:17] 1 tn Heb “and the pride of men will be brought down, and the arrogance of men will be brought low.” As in v. 11, the repetition of the verbs שָׁפַל (shafal) and שָׁחָח (shakhakh) from v. 9 draws attention to the appropriate nature of the judgment. Those proud men who “bow low” before idols will be forced to “bow low” before God when he judges their sin.
[2:17] 2 tn Or “elevated”; NCV “praised”; CEV “honored.”
[5:14] 3 tn Heb “Sheol” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV); the underworld, the land of the dead, according to the OT world view. Cf. NAB “the nether world”; TEV, CEV “the world of the dead”; NLT “the grave.”
[5:14] 4 tn Heb “so Sheol will make wide its throat, and open its mouth without limit.”
[5:14] 5 tn Heb “and her splendor and her masses will go down, and her tumult and the one who exults in her.” The antecedent of the four feminine singular pronominal suffixes used in v. 14b is unclear. The likely referent is personified Zion/Jerusalem (see 3:25-26; 4:4-5).
[13:20] 5 tn Heb “she will not be inhabited forever, and she will not be dwelt in to generation and generation (i.e., forever).” The Lord declares that Babylon, personified as a woman, will not be inhabited. In other words, her people will be destroyed and the Chaldean empire will come to a permanent end.
[13:20] 6 tn Or “Arab” (NAB, NASB, NIV); cf. CEV, NLT “nomads.”
[13:20] 7 tn יַהֵל (yahel) is probably a corrupted form of יֶאֱהַל (ye’ehal). See GKC 186 §68.k.
[13:20] 8 tn The words “their flocks” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Hebrew text does not supply the object here, but see Jer 33:12.
[34:7] 7 tn Heb “will go down”; NAB “shall be struck down.”
[34:7] 8 tn Heb “and bulls along with strong ones.” Perhaps this refers to the leaders.
[57:9] 9 tn Heb “you journey with oil.”
[57:9] 10 tn Heb “the king.” Since the context refers to idolatry and child sacrifice (see v. 5), some emend מֶלֶך (melekh, “king”) to “Molech.” Perhaps Israel’s devotion to her idols is likened here to a subject taking tribute to a ruler.
[57:9] 11 tn Heb “and you multiply your perfumes.”
[57:9] 12 sn Israel’s devotion to her idols is inordinate, irrational, and self-destructive.