Isaiah 28:15

28:15 For you say,

“We have made a treaty with death,

with Sheol ¹  we have made an agreement. ² 

When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by ³ 

it will not reach us.

For we have made a lie our refuge,

we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.” ⁴ 

Isaiah 29:16

29:16 Your thinking is perverse! ⁵ 

Should the potter be regarded as clay? ⁶ 

Should the thing made say ⁷  about its maker, “He didn’t make me”?

Or should the pottery say about the potter, “He doesn’t understand”?

Isaiah 47:8

47:8 So now, listen to this,

O one who lives so lavishly, ⁸ 

who lives securely,

who says to herself, ⁹ 

‘I am unique! No one can compare to me! ¹⁰ 

I will never have to live as a widow;

I will never lose my children.’ ¹¹ 

[28:15]  ¹ sn Sheol is the underworld, land of the dead, according to the OT world view.

[28:15]  ² tn Elsewhere the noun חֹזֶה (khozeh) refers to a prophet who sees visions. In v. 18 the related term חָזוּת (khazut, “vision”) is used. The parallelism in both verses (note “treaty”) seems to demand a meaning “agreement” for both nouns. Perhaps חֹזֶה and חזוּת are used in a metonymic sense in vv. 15 and 18. Another option is to propose a homonymic root. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:514, and HALOT 301 s.v. II חֹזֶה.

[28:15]  ³ tn Heb “the overwhelming scourge, when it passes by” (NRSV similar).

[28:15]  ⁴ sn “Lie” and “deceitful word” would not be the terms used by the people. They would likely use the words “promise” and “reliable word,” but the prophet substitutes “lie” and “deceitful word” to emphasize that this treaty with death will really prove to be disappointing.

[29:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “your overturning.” The predicate is suppressed in this exclamation. The idea is, “O your perversity! How great it is!” See GKC 470 §147.c. The people “overturn” all logic by thinking their authority supersedes God’s.

[29:16]  ⁶ tn The expected answer to this rhetorical question is “of course not.” On the interrogative use of אִם (’im), see BDB 50 s.v.

[29:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “that the thing made should say.”

[47:8]  ⁹ tn Or perhaps, “voluptuous one” (NAB); NAB “you sensual one”; NLT “You are a pleasure-crazy kingdom.”

[47:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”

[47:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.” See Zeph 2:15.

[47:8]  ¹² tn Heb “I will not live [as] a widow, and I will not know loss of children.”