Isaiah 24:2

24:2 Everyone will suffer – the priest as well as the people, ¹ 

the master as well as the servant, ² 

the elegant lady as well as the female attendant, ³ 

the seller as well as the buyer, ⁴ 

the borrower as well as the lender, ⁵ 

the creditor as well as the debtor. ⁶ 

Isaiah 43:24

43:24 You did not buy me aromatic reeds; ⁷ 

you did not present to me ⁸  the fat of your sacrifices.

Yet you burdened me with your sins;

you made me weary with your evil deeds. ⁹ 

[24:2]  ¹ tn Heb “and it will be like the people, like the priest.”

[24:2]  ² tn Heb “like the servant, like his master.”

[24:2]  ³ tn Heb “like the female servant, like her mistress.”

[24:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “like the buyer, like the seller.”

[24:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “like the lender, like the borrower.”

[24:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “like the creditor, just as the one to whom he lends.”

[43:24]  ⁷ tn That is, “calamus” (so NIV); NCV, TEV, NLT “incense”; CEV “spices.”

[43:24]  ⁸ tn Heb “you did not saturate me”; NASB “Neither have you filled Me.”

[43:24]  ⁹ 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.