Isaiah 28:25

28:25 Once he has leveled its surface,

does he not scatter the seed of the caraway plant,

sow the seed of the cumin plant,

and plant the wheat, barley, and grain in their designated places? ¹ 

Isaiah 37:26

37:26 ² Certainly you must have heard! ³ 

Long ago I worked it out,

in ancient times I planned ⁴  it,

and now I am bringing it to pass.

The plan is this:

Fortified cities will crash

into heaps of ruins. ⁵ 

Isaiah 40:28

40:28 Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is an eternal God,

the creator of the whole earth. ⁶ 

He does not get tired or weary;

there is no limit to his wisdom. ⁷ 

Isaiah 42:24

42:24 Who handed Jacob over to the robber?

Who handed Israel over to the looters? ⁸ 

Was it not the Lord, against whom we sinned?

They refused to follow his commands;

they disobeyed his law. ⁹ 

Isaiah 43:19

43:19 “Look, I am about to do something new.

Now it begins to happen! ¹⁰  Do you not recognize ¹¹  it?

Yes, I will make a road in the desert

and paths ¹²  in the wilderness.

Isaiah 44:20

44:20 He feeds on ashes; ¹³ 

his deceived mind misleads him.

He cannot rescue himself,

nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’ ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 51:9-10

51:9 Wake up! Wake up!

Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord! ¹⁵ 

Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity!

Did you not smash ¹⁶  the Proud One? ¹⁷ 

Did you not ¹⁸  wound the sea monster? ¹⁹ 

51:10 Did you not dry up the sea,

the waters of the great deep?

Did you not make ²⁰  a path through the depths of the sea,

so those delivered from bondage ²¹  could cross over?

Isaiah 57:4

57:4 At whom are you laughing?

At whom are you opening your mouth

and sticking out your tongue?

You are the children of rebels,

the offspring of liars, ²² 

Isaiah 58:6-7

58:6 No, this is the kind of fast I want. ²³ 

I want you ²⁴  to remove the sinful chains,

to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke,

to set free the oppressed, ²⁵ 

and to break every burdensome yoke.

58:7 I want you ²⁶  to share your food with the hungry

and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. ²⁷ 

When you see someone naked, clothe him!

Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood! ²⁸ 

[28:25]  ¹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “place wheat [?], and barley [?], and grain in its territory.” The term שׂוֹרָה (shorah) is sometimes translated “[in] its place,” but the word is unattested elsewhere. It is probably due to dittography of the immediately following שְׂעֹרָה (sÿo’rah, “barley”). The meaning of נִסְמָן (nisman) is also uncertain. It may be due to dittography of the immediately following כֻסֶּמֶת (kussemet, “grain”).

[37:26]  ² tn Having quoted the Assyrian king’s arrogant words in vv. 23-24, the Lord now speaks to the king.

[37:26]  ³ tn Heb “Have you not heard?” The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s amazement that anyone might be ignorant of what he is about to say.

[37:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “formed” (so KJV, ASV).

[37:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “and it is to cause to crash into heaps of ruins fortified cities.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb תְהִי (tÿhi) is the implied plan, referred to in the preceding lines with third feminine singular pronominal suffixes.

[40:28]  ³ tn Heb “the ends of the earth,” but this is a merism, where the earth’s extremities stand for its entirety, i.e., the extremities and everything in between them.

[40:28]  ⁴ sn Exiled Israel’s complaint (v. 27) implies that God might be limited in some way. Perhaps he, like so many of the pagan gods, has died. Or perhaps his jurisdiction is limited to Judah and does not include Babylon. Maybe he is unable to devise an adequate plan to rescue his people, or is unable to execute it. But v. 28 affirms that he is not limited temporally or spatially nor is his power and wisdom restricted in any way. He can and will deliver his people, if they respond in hopeful faith (v. 31a).

[42:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “Who gave to the robber Jacob, and Israel to the looters?” In the first line the consonantal text (Kethib) has מְשׁוֹסֶה (mÿshoseh), a Polel participle from שָׁסָה (shasah, “plunder”). The marginal reading (Qere) is מְשִׁיסָּה (mÿshissah), a noun meaning “plunder.” In this case one could translate “Who handed Jacob over as plunder?”

[42:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “they were not willing in his ways to walk, and they did not listen to his law.”

[43:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “sprouts up”; NASB “will spring forth.”

[43:19]  ⁶ tn Or “know” (KJV, ASV); NASB “be aware of”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “perceive.”

[43:19]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew texts has “streams,” probably under the influence of v. 20. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has נתיבות (“paths”).

[44:20]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”

[44:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”

[51:9]  ⁷ tn The arm of the Lord is a symbol of divine military power. Here it is personified and told to arouse itself from sleep and prepare for action.

[51:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “Are you not the one who smashed?” The feminine singular forms agree grammatically with the feminine noun “arm.” The Hebrew text has ַהמַּחְצֶבֶת (hammakhtsevet), from the verbal root חָצַב (khatsav, “hew, chop”). The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has, probably correctly, המחצת, from the verbal root מָחַץ (makhats, “smash”) which is used in Job 26:12 to describe God’s victory over “the Proud One.”

[51:9]  ⁹ tn This title (רַהַב, rahav, “proud one”) is sometimes translated as a proper name: “Rahab” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). It is used here of a symbolic sea monster, known elsewhere in the Bible and in Ugaritic myth as Leviathan. This sea creature symbolizes the forces of chaos that seek to destroy the created order. In the Bible “the Proud One” opposes God’s creative work, but is defeated (see Job 26:12; Ps 89:10). Here the title refers to Pharaoh’s Egyptian army that opposed Israel at the Red Sea (see v. 10, and note also Isa 30:7 and Ps 87:4, where the title is used of Egypt).

[51:9]  ¹⁰ tn The words “did you not” are understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line). The rhetorical questions here and in v. 10 expect the answer, “Yes, you certainly did!”

[51:9]  ¹¹ tn Hebrew תַּנִּין (tannin) is another name for the symbolic sea monster. See the note at 27:1. In this context the sea creature represents Egypt. See the note on the title “Proud One” earlier in this verse.

[51:10]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “Are you not the one who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made…?”

[51:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “the redeemed” (so ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); KJV “the ransomed.”

[57:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “Are you not children of rebellion, offspring of a lie?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “Of course you are!”

[58:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Is this not a fast I choose?” “No” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[58:6]  ¹¹ tn The words “I want you” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[58:6]  ¹² tn Heb “crushed.”

[58:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Is it not?” The rhetorical question here expects a positive answer, “It is!”

[58:7]  ¹² tn Heb “and afflicted [ones], homeless [ones] you should bring [into] a house.” On the meaning of מְרוּדִים (mÿrudim, “homeless”) see HALOT 633 s.v. *מָרוּד.

[58:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “and from your flesh do not hide yourself.”