Isaiah 26:14

26:14 The dead do not come back to life,

the spirits of the dead do not rise. ¹ 

That is because ²  you came in judgment ³  and destroyed them,

you wiped out all memory of them.

Isaiah 38:3

38:3 “Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you ⁴  faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, ⁵  and how I have carried out your will.” ⁶  Then Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁷ 

Isaiah 40:2

40:2 “Speak kindly to ⁸  Jerusalem, ⁹  and tell her

that her time of warfare is over, ¹⁰ 

that her punishment is completed. ¹¹ 

For the Lord has made her pay double ¹²  for all her sins.”

[26:14]  ¹ sn In light of what is said in verse 14b, the “dead” here may be the “masters” mentioned in verse 13.

[26:14]  ² tn The Hebrew term לָכֵן (lakhen) normally indicates a cause-effect relationship between what precedes and follows and is translated, “therefore.” Here, however, it infers the cause from the effect and brings out what is implicit in the previous statement. See BDB 487 s.v.

[26:14]  ³ tn Heb “visited [for harm]” (cf. KJV, ASV); NAB, NRSV “you have punished.”

[38:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “walked before you.” For a helpful discussion of the background and meaning of this Hebrew idiom, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 254.

[38:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “and with a complete heart”; KJV, ASV “with a perfect heart.”

[38:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “and that which is good in your eyes I have done.”

[38:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “wept with great weeping”; NCV “cried loudly”; TEV “began to cry bitterly.”

[40:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “speak to the heart of Jerusalem.” Jerusalem is personified as a woman.

[40:2]  ⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[40:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “that she is filled [with] her warfare.” Some understand צָבָא (tsavah, “warfare”) as meaning “hard service” or “compulsory labor” in this context.

[40:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “that her punishment is accepted [as satisfactory].”

[40:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for she has received from the hand of the Lord double.” The principle of the double portion in punishment is also seen in Jer 16:18; 17:18 and Rev 18:6. For examples of the double portion in Israelite law, see Exod 22:4, 7, 9 (double restitution by a thief) and Deut 21:17 (double inheritance portion for the firstborn).