Isaiah 25:12

25:12 The fortified city (along with the very tops of your ¹  walls) ²  he will knock down,

he will bring it down, he will throw it down to the dusty ground. ³ 

Isaiah 2:19

2:19 They ⁴  will go into caves in the rocky cliffs

and into holes in the ground, ⁵ 

trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord ⁶ 

and his royal splendor,

when he rises up to terrify the earth. ⁷ 

Isaiah 26:5

26:5 Indeed, ⁸  the Lord knocks down those who live in a high place,

he brings down an elevated town;

he brings it down to the ground, ⁹ 

he throws it down to the dust.

Isaiah 26:19

26:19 ¹⁰ Your dead will come back to life;

your corpses will rise up.

Wake up and shout joyfully, you who live in the ground! ¹¹ 

For you will grow like plants drenched with the morning dew, ¹² 

and the earth will bring forth its dead spirits. ¹³ 

Isaiah 40:12

The Lord is Incomparable

40:12 Who has measured out the waters ¹⁴  in the hollow of his hand,

or carefully ¹⁵  measured the sky, ¹⁶ 

or carefully weighed ¹⁷  the soil of the earth,

or weighed the mountains in a balance,

or the hills on scales? ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 47:1

Babylon Will Fall

47:1 “Fall down! Sit in the dirt,

O virgin ¹⁹  daughter Babylon!

Sit on the ground, not on a throne,

O daughter of the Babylonians!

Indeed, ²⁰  you will no longer be called delicate and pampered.

Isaiah 65:25

65:25 A wolf and a lamb will graze together; ²¹ 

a lion, like an ox, will eat straw, ²² 

and a snake’s food will be dirt. ²³ 

They will no longer injure or destroy

on my entire royal mountain,” ²⁴  says the Lord.

[25:12]  ¹ sn Moab is addressed.

[25:12]  ² tn Heb “a fortification, the high point of your walls.”

[25:12]  ³ tn Heb “he will bring [it] down, he will make [it] touch the ground, even to the dust.”

[2:19]  ⁴ tn The identity of the grammatical subject is unclear. The “idols” could be the subject; they will “go” into the caves and holes when the idolaters throw them there in their haste to escape God’s judgment (see vv. 20-21). The picture of the idols, which represent the foreign deities worshiped by the people, fleeing from the Lord would be highly polemical and fit the overall mood of the chapter. However it seems more likely that the idolaters themselves are the subject, for v. 10 uses similar language in sarcastically urging them to run from judgment.

[2:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “dust”; ASV “into the holes of the earth.”

[2:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “from the dread of the Lord,” that is, from the dread that he produces in the objects of his judgment.” The words “trying to escape” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:19]  ⁷ tn Or “land.” It is not certain if these verses are describing the judgment of Judah (see vv. 6-9) or a more universal judgment on all proud men.

[26:5]  ⁷ tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[26:5]  ⁸ tn The translation assumes that יַשְׁפִּילֶנָּה (yashpilennah) goes with the preceding words “an elevated town,” and that יַשְׁפִּילָהּ (yashpilah) belongs with the following words, “to the ground.” See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:469, n. 7.

[26:19]  ¹⁰ sn At this point the Lord (or prophet) gives the people an encouraging oracle.

[26:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “dust” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[26:19]  ¹² tn Heb “for the dew of lights [is] your dew.” The pronominal suffix on “dew” is masculine singular, like the suffixes on “your dead” and “your corpses” in the first half of the verse. The statement, then, is addressed to collective Israel, the speaker in verse 18. The plural form אוֹרֹת (’orot) is probably a plural of respect or magnitude, meaning “bright light” (i.e., morning’s light). Dew is a symbol of fertility and life. Here Israel’s “dew,” as it were, will soak the dust of the ground and cause the corpses of the dead to spring up to new life, like plants sprouting up from well-watered soil.

[26:19]  ¹³ sn It is not certain whether the resurrection envisioned here is intended to be literal or figurative. A comparison with 25:8 and Dan 12:2 suggests a literal interpretation, but Ezek 37:1-14 uses resurrection as a metaphor for deliverance from exile and the restoration of the nation (see Isa 27:12-13).

[40:12]  ¹³ tn The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has מי ים (“waters of the sea”), a reading followed by NAB.

[40:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “with a span.” A “span” was the distance between the ends of the thumb and the little finger of the spread hand” (BDB 285 s.v. זֶרֶת).

[40:12]  ¹⁵ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[40:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “or weighed by a third part [of a measure].”

[40:12]  ¹⁷ sn The implied answer to the rhetorical questions of v. 12 is “no one but the Lord. The Lord, and no other, created the world. Like a merchant weighing out silver or commodities on a scale, the Lord established the various components of the physical universe in precise proportions.

[47:1]  ¹⁶ tn בְּתוּלַה (bÿtulah) often refers to a virgin, but the phrase “virgin daughter” is apparently stylized (see also 23:12; 37:22). In the extended metaphor of this chapter, where Babylon is personified as a queen (vv. 5, 7), she is depicted as being both a wife and mother (vv. 8-9).

[47:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “For” (NASB, NRSV).

[65:25]  ¹⁹ sn A similar statement appears in 11:6.

[65:25]  ²⁰ sn These words also appear in 11:7.

[65:25]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Heb “in all my holy mountain.” These same words appear in 11:9. See the note there.