Isaiah 23:15

23:15 At that time ¹  Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, ²  the typical life span of a king. ³  At the end of seventy years Tyre will try to attract attention again, like the prostitute in the popular song: ⁴ 

Isaiah 28:7

28:7 Even these men ⁵  stagger because of wine,

they stumble around because of beer –

priests and prophets stagger because of beer,

they are confused ⁶  because of wine,

they stumble around because of beer;

they stagger while seeing prophetic visions, ⁷ 

they totter while making legal decisions. ⁸ 

Isaiah 28:19

28:19 Whenever it sweeps by, it will overtake you;

indeed, ⁹  every morning it will sweep by,

it will come through during the day and the night.” ¹⁰ 

When this announcement is understood,

it will cause nothing but terror.

Isaiah 47:11

47:11 Disaster will overtake you;

you will not know how to charm it away. ¹¹ 

Destruction will fall on you;

you will not be able to appease it.

Calamity will strike you suddenly,

before you recognize it. ¹² 

Isaiah 53:8

53:8 He was led away after an unjust trial ¹³  –

but who even cared? ¹⁴ 

Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living; ¹⁵ 

because of the rebellion of his own ¹⁶  people he was wounded.

Isaiah 64:5-6

64:5 You assist ¹⁷  those who delight in doing what is right, ¹⁸ 

who observe your commandments. ¹⁹ 

Look, you were angry because we violated them continually.

How then can we be saved? ²⁰ 

64:6 We are all like one who is unclean,

all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. ²¹ 

We all wither like a leaf;

our sins carry us away like the wind.

Isaiah 65:25

65:25 A wolf and a lamb will graze together; ²² 

a lion, like an ox, will eat straw, ²³ 

and a snake’s food will be dirt. ²⁴ 

They will no longer injure or destroy

on my entire royal mountain,” ²⁵  says the Lord.

Isaiah 66:14

66:14 When you see this, you will be happy, ²⁶ 

and you will be revived. ²⁷ 

The Lord will reveal his power to his servants

and his anger to his enemies. ²⁸ 

[23:15]  ¹ tn Or “in that day” (KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[23:15]  ² sn The number seventy is probably used in a stereotypical, nonliteral sense here to indicate a long period of time that satisfies completely the demands of God’s judgment.

[23:15]  ³ tn Heb “like the days of a king.”

[23:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “At the end of seventy years it will be for Tyre like the song of the prostitute.”

[28:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “these.” The demonstrative pronoun anticipates “priests and prophets” two lines later.

[28:7]  ⁶ tn According to HALOT 135 s.v. III בלע, the verb form is derived from בָּלַע (bala’, “confuse”), not the more common בָּלַע (“swallow”). See earlier notes at 3:12 and 9:16.

[28:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the seeing.”

[28:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “[in] giving a decision.”

[28:19]  ⁹ tn Or “for” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[28:19]  ¹⁰ tn The words “it will come through” are supplied in the translation. The verb “will sweep by” does double duty in the parallel structure.

[47:11]  ¹³ tc The Hebrew text has שַׁחְרָהּ (shakhrah), which is either a suffixed noun (“its dawning,” i.e., origin) or infinitive (“to look early for it”). Some have suggested an emendation to שַׁחֲדָהּ (shakhadah), a suffixed infinitive from שָׁחַד (shakhad, “[how] to buy it off”; see BDB 1005 s.v. שָׁחַד). This forms a nice parallel with the following couplet. The above translation is based on a different etymology of the verb in question. HALOT 1466 s.v. III שׁחר references a verbal root with these letters (שׁחד) that refers to magical activity.

[47:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “you will not know”; NIV “you cannot foresee.”

[53:8]  ¹⁷ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The present translation assumes that מִן (min) here has an instrumental sense (“by, through”) and understands עֹצֶר וּמִמִּשְׁפָּט (’otser umimmishpat, “coercion and legal decision”) as a hendiadys meaning “coercive legal decision,” thus “an unjust trial.” Other interpretive options include: (1) “without [for this sense of מִן, see BDB 578 s.v. 1.b] hindrance and proper judicial process,” i.e., “unfairly and with no one to defend him,” (2) “from [in the sense of “after,” see BDB 581 s.v. 4.b] arrest and judgment.”

[53:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and his generation, who considers?” (NASB similar). Some understand “his generation” as a reference to descendants. In this case the question would suggest that he will have none. However, אֶת (’et) may be taken here as specifying a new subject (see BDB 85 s.v. I אֵת 3). If “his generation” refers to the servant’s contemporary generation, one may then translate, “As for his contemporary generation, who took note?” The point would be that few were concerned about the harsh treatment he received.

[53:8]  ¹⁹ sn The “land of the living” is an idiom for the sphere where people live, in contrast to the underworld realm of the dead. See, for example, Ezek 32:23-27.

[53:8]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew text reads “my people,” a reading followed by most English versions, but this is problematic in a context where the first person plural predominates, and where God does not appear to speak again until v. 11b. Therefore, it is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a עמו (“his people”). In this case, the group speaking in these verses is identified as the servant’s people (compare פְּשָׁעֵנוּ [pÿsha’enu, “our rebellious deeds”] in v. 5 with פֶּשַׁע עַמִּי [pesha’ ’ammi, “the rebellion of his people”] in v. 8).

[64:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “meet [with kindness].”

[64:5]  ²² tn Heb “the one who rejoices and does righteousness.”

[64:5]  ²³ tn Heb “in your ways they remember you.”

[64:5]  ²⁴ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “look, you were angry and we sinned against them continually [or perhaps, “in ancient times”] and we were delivered.” The statement makes little sense as it stands. The first vav [ו] consecutive (“and we sinned”) must introduce an explanatory clause here (see Num 1:48 and Isa 39:1 for other examples of this relatively rare use of the vav [ו] consecutive). The final verb (if rendered positively) makes no sense in this context – God’s anger at their sin resulted in judgment, not deliverance. One of the alternatives involves an emendation to וַנִּרְשָׁע (vannirsha’, “and we were evil”; LXX, NRSV, TEV). The Vulgate and the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a support the MT reading. One can either accept an emendation or cast the statement as a question (as above).

[64:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and like a garment of menstruation [are] all our righteous acts”; KJV, NIV “filthy rags”; ASV “a polluted garment.”

[65:25]  ²⁹ sn A similar statement appears in 11:6.

[65:25]  ³⁰ sn These words also appear in 11:7.

[65:25]  ³¹ sn Some see an allusion to Gen 3:14 (note “you will eat dirt”). The point would be that even in this new era the snake (often taken as a symbol of Satan) remains under God’s curse. However, it is unlikely that such an allusion exists. Even if there is an echo of Gen 3:14, the primary allusion is to 11:8, where snakes are pictured as no longer dangerous. They will no longer attack other living creatures, but will be content to crawl along the ground. (The statement “you will eat dirt” in Gen 3:14 means “you will crawl on the ground.” In the same way the statement “dirt will be its food” in Isa 65:25 means “it will crawl on the ground.”)

[65:25]  ³² tn Heb “in all my holy mountain.” These same words appear in 11:9. See the note there.

[66:14]  ³³ tn “and you will see and your heart will be happy.”

[66:14]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and your bones like grass will sprout.”

[66:14]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, and anger to his enemies.”