Isaiah 2:3

2:3 many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain,

to the temple of the God of Jacob,

so ¹  he can teach us his requirements, ² 

and ³  we can follow his standards.” ⁴ 

For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; ⁵ 

the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem. ⁶ 

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, ⁷ 

to a people that are feared far and wide, ⁸ 

to a nation strong and victorious, ⁹ 

whose land rivers divide. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 36:4

36:4 The chief adviser said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is your source of confidence? ¹¹ 

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 36:12

36:12 But the chief adviser said, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. ¹²  His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you!” ¹³ 

Isaiah 36:16

36:16 Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. ¹⁴  Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,

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. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 37:33

37:33 So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:

‘He will not enter this city,

nor will he shoot an arrow here. ¹⁶ 

He will not attack it with his shielded warriors, ¹⁷ 

nor will he build siege works against it.

Isaiah 38:1

The Lord Hears Hezekiah’s Prayer

38:1 In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness. ¹⁸  The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Give instructions to your household, for you are about to die; you will not get well.’”

Isaiah 45:14

The Lord is the Nations’ Only Hope

45:14 This is what the Lord says:

“The profit ¹⁹  of Egypt and the revenue ²⁰  of Ethiopia,

along with the Sabeans, those tall men,

will be brought to you ²¹  and become yours.

They will walk behind you, coming along in chains. ²² 

They will bow down to you

and pray to you: ²³ 

‘Truly God is with ²⁴  you; he has no peer; ²⁵ 

there is no other God!’”

Isaiah 49:22

49:22 This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“Look I will raise my hand to the nations;

I will raise my signal flag to the peoples.

They will bring your sons in their arms

and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

Isaiah 66:2

66:2 My hand made them; ²⁶ 

that is how they came to be,” ²⁷  says the Lord.

I show special favor ²⁸  to the humble and contrite,

who respect what I have to say. ²⁹ 

[2:3]  ¹ tn The prefixed verb form with simple vav (ו) introduces a purpose/result clause after the preceding prefixed verb form (probably to be taken as a cohortative; see IBHS 650 §39.2.2a).

[2:3]  ² tn Heb “his ways.” In this context God’s “ways” are the standards of moral conduct he decrees that people should live by.

[2:3]  ³ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) after the prefixed verb form indicates the ultimate purpose/goal of their action.

[2:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “walk in his ways.”

[2:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “for out of Zion will go instruction.”

[2:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

[18:2]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “from it and onwards.” HALOT 245 s.v. הָלְאָה suggests the translation “far and wide.”

[18:2]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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.”

[36:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “What is this object of trust in which you are trusting?”

[36:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “To your master and to you did my master send me to speak these words?” The rhetorical question expects a negative answer.

[36:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “[Is it] not [also] to the men…?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Yes, it is.”

[36:16]  ²⁵ tn Heb “make with me a blessing and come out to me.”

[37:6]  ³¹ tn Heb “by which the servants of the king of Assyria have insulted me.”

[37:33]  ³⁷ tn Heb “there” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). In terms of English style “here” is expected in collocation with “this” in the previous line.

[37:33]  ³⁸ tn Heb “[with] a shield” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[38:1]  ⁴³ tn Heb “was sick to the point of dying”; NRSV “became sick and was at the point of death.”

[45:14]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “labor,” which stands metonymically for the fruits of labor, either “monetary profit,” or “products.”

[45:14]  ⁵⁰ tn Or perhaps, “merchandise” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “the gain of Ethiopia”; CEV “the treasures of Ethiopia.”

[45:14]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “they will pass over to you”; NASB, NIV “will come over to you”; CEV “will belong to you.”

[45:14]  ⁵² sn Restored Israel is depicted here in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion as an imperial power that receives riches and slaves as tribute.

[45:14]  ⁵³ sn Israel’s vassals are portrayed as so intimidated and awed that they treat Israel as an intermediary to God or sub-deity.

[45:14]  ⁵⁴ tn Or perhaps, “among.” Cf. KJV, ASV “Surely God is in thee.”

[45:14]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “there is no other” (so NIV, NRSV). The same phrase occurs at the end of v. 18, in v. 21, and at the end of v. 22.

[66:2]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “all these.” The phrase refers to the heavens and earth, mentioned in the previous verse.

[66:2]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “and all these were.” Some prefer to emend וַיִּהְיוּ (vayyihyu, “and they were”) to וְלִי הָיוּ (vÿli hayu, “and to me they were”), i.e., “and they belong to me.”

[66:2]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “and to this one I look” (KJV and NASB both similar).

[66:2]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “to the humble and the lowly in spirit and the one who trembles at my words.”