Isaiah 26:2

26:2 Open the gates so a righteous nation can enter –

one that remains trustworthy.

Isaiah 14:32

14:32 How will they respond to the messengers of this nation? ¹ 

Indeed, the Lord has made Zion secure;

the oppressed among his people will find safety in her.

Isaiah 50:6

50:6 I offered my back to those who attacked, ² 

my jaws to those who tore out my beard;

I did not hide my face

from insults and spitting.

Isaiah 2:4

2:4 He will judge disputes between nations;

he will settle cases for many peoples.

They will beat their swords into plowshares, ³ 

and their spears into pruning hooks. ⁴ 

Nations will not take up the sword against other nations,

and they will no longer train for war.

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, ⁵ 

to a people that are feared far and wide, ⁶ 

to a nation strong and victorious, ⁷ 

whose land rivers divide. ⁸ 

Isaiah 55:5

55:5 Look, you will summon nations ⁹  you did not previously know;

nations ¹⁰  that did not previously know you will run to you,

because of the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, ¹¹ 

for he bestows honor on you.

Isaiah 65:1

The Lord Will Distinguish Between Sinners and the Godly

65:1 “I made myself available to those who did not ask for me; ¹² 

I appeared to those who did not look for me. ¹³ 

I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’

to a nation that did not invoke ¹⁴  my name.

Isaiah 1:4

1:4 ¹⁵ The sinful nation is as good as dead, ¹⁶ 

the people weighed down by evil deeds.

They are offspring who do wrong,

children ¹⁷  who do wicked things.

They have abandoned the Lord,

and rejected the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁸ 

They are alienated from him. ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 18:7

18:7 At that time

tribute will be brought to the Lord who commands armies,

by a people that are tall and smooth-skinned,

a people that are feared far and wide,

a nation strong and victorious,

whose land rivers divide. ²⁰ 

The tribute ²¹  will be brought to the place where the Lord who commands armies has chosen to reside, on Mount Zion. ²² 

Isaiah 49:7

49:7 This is what the Lord,

the protector ²³  of Israel, their Holy One, ²⁴  says

to the one who is despised ²⁵  and rejected ²⁶  by nations, ²⁷ 

a servant of rulers:

“Kings will see and rise in respect, ²⁸ 

princes will bow down,

because of the faithful Lord,

the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”

Isaiah 66:8

66:8 Who has ever heard of such a thing?

Who has ever seen this?

Can a country ²⁹  be brought forth in one day?

Can a nation be born in a single moment?

Yet as soon as Zion goes into labor she gives birth to sons!

[14:32]  ¹ sn The question forces the Philistines to consider the dilemma they will face – surrender and oppression, or battle and death.

[50:6]  ¹ tn Or perhaps, “who beat [me].”

[2:4]  ¹ sn Instead of referring to the large plow as a whole, the plowshare is simply the metal tip which actually breaks the earth and cuts the furrow.

[2:4]  ² sn This implement was used to prune the vines, i.e., to cut off extra leaves and young shoots (H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:93; M. Klingbeil, NIDOTTE 1:1117-18). It was a short knife with a curved hook at the end sharpened on the inside like a sickle. Breaking weapons and fashioning agricultural implements indicates a transition from fear and stress to peace and security.

[18:2]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “from it and onwards.” HALOT 245 s.v. הָלְאָה suggests the translation “far and wide.”

[18:2]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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.”

[55:5]  ¹ tn Heb “a nation,” but the singular is collective here, as the plural verbs in the next line indicate (note that both “know” and “run” are third plural forms).

[55:5]  ² tn Heb “a nation,” but the singular is collective here, as the plural verbs that follow indicate.

[55:5]  ³ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[65:1]  ¹ tn Heb “I allowed myself to be sought by those who did not ask.”

[65:1]  ² tn Heb “I allowed myself to be found by those who did not seek.”

[65:1]  ³ tn Heb “call out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “call on.”

[1:4]  ¹ sn Having summoned the witnesses and announced the Lord’s accusation against Israel, Isaiah mourns the nation’s impending doom. The third person references to the Lord in the second half of the verse suggest that the quotation from the Lord (cf. vv. 2-3) has concluded.

[1:4]  ² tn Heb “Woe [to the] sinful nation.” The Hebrew term הוֹי, (hoy, “woe, ah”) was used in funeral laments (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5) and carries the connotation of death. In highly dramatic fashion the prophet acts out Israel’s funeral in advance, emphasizing that their demise is inevitable if they do not repent soon.

[1:4]  ³ tn Or “sons” (NASB). The prophet contrasts four terms of privilege – nation, people, offspring, children – with four terms that depict Israel’s sinful condition in Isaiah’s day – sinful, evil, wrong, wicked (see J. A. Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, 43).

[1:4]  ⁴ sn Holy One of Israel is one of Isaiah’s favorite divine titles for God. It pictures the Lord as the sovereign king who rules over his covenant people and exercises moral authority over them.

[1:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “they are estranged backward.” The LXX omits this statement, which presents syntactical problems and seems to be outside the synonymous parallelistic structure of the verse.

[18:7]  ¹ tn On the interpretive difficulties of this verse, see the notes at v. 2, where the same terminology is used.

[18:7]  ² tn The words “the tribute” are repeated here in the translation for clarity.

[18:7]  ³ tn Heb “to the place of the name of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts], Mount Zion.”

[49:7]  ¹ tn Heb “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[49:7]  ² sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[49:7]  ³ tc The Hebrew text reads literally “to [one who] despises life.” It is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a לבזוי, which should be vocalized as a passive participle, לִבְזוּי (livzuy, “to the one despised with respect to life” [נֶפֶשׁ is a genitive of specification]). The consonantal sequence וי was probably misread as ה in the MT tradition. The contextual argument favors the 1QIsa^a reading. As J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:294) points out, the three terse phrases “convey a picture of lowliness, worthlessness, and helplessness.”

[49:7]  ⁴ tn MT’s Piel participle (“to the one who rejects”) does not fit contextually. The form should be revocalized as a Pual, “to the one rejected.”

[49:7]  ⁵ tn Parallelism (see “rulers,” “kings,” “princes”) suggests that the singular גּוֹי (goy) be emended to a plural or understood in a collective sense (see 55:5).

[49:7]  ⁶ tn For this sense of קוּם (qum), see Gen 19:1; 23:7; 33:10; Lev 19:32; 1 Sam 20:41; 25:41; 1 Kgs 2:19; Job 29:8.

[66:8]  ¹ tn Heb “land,” but here אֶרֶץ (’erets) stands metonymically for an organized nation (see the following line).