Isaiah 28:12

28:12 In the past he said to them, ¹ 

“This is where security can be found.

Provide security for the one who is exhausted!

This is where rest can be found.” ² 

But they refused to listen.

Isaiah 48:13

48:13 Yes, my hand founded the earth;

my right hand spread out the sky.

I summon them;

they stand together.

Isaiah 1:23

1:23 Your officials are rebels, ³ 

they associate with ⁴  thieves.

All of them love bribery,

and look for ⁵  payoffs. ⁶ 

They do not take up the cause of the orphan, ⁷ 

or defend the rights of the widow. ⁸ 

Isaiah 36:4

36:4 The chief adviser said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is your source of confidence? ⁹ 

Isaiah 37:6

37:6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘This is what the Lord says: “Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard – these insults the king of Assyria’s servants have hurled against me. ¹⁰ 

[28:12]  ¹ tn Heb “who said to them.”

[28:12]  ² sn This message encapsulates the Lord’s invitation to his people to find security in his protection and blessing.

[1:23]  ³ tn Or “stubborn”; CEV “have rejected me.”

[1:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “and companions of” (so KJV, NASB); CEV “friends of crooks.”

[1:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “pursue”; NIV “chase after gifts.”

[1:23]  ⁶ sn Isaiah may have chosen the word for gifts (שַׁלְמוֹנִים, shalmonim; a hapax legomena here), as a sarcastic pun on what these rulers should have been doing. Instead of attending to peace and wholeness (שָׁלוֹם, shalom), they sought after payoffs (שַׁלְמוֹנִים).

[1:23]  ⁷ sn See the note at v. 17.

[1:23]  ⁸ sn The rich oppressors referred to in Isaiah and the other eighth century prophets were not rich capitalists in the modern sense of the word. They were members of the royal military and judicial bureaucracies in Israel and Judah. As these bureaucracies grew, they acquired more and more land and gradually commandeered the economy and legal system. At various administrative levels bribery and graft become commonplace. The common people outside the urban administrative centers were vulnerable to exploitation in such a system, especially those, like widows and orphans, who had lost their family provider through death. Through confiscatory taxation, conscription, excessive interest rates, and other oppressive governmental measures and policies, they were gradually disenfranchised and lost their landed property, and with it, their rights as citizens. The socio-economic equilibrium envisioned in the law of Moses was radically disturbed.

[36:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “What is this object of trust in which you are trusting?”

[37:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “by which the servants of the king of Assyria have insulted me.”