Isaiah 28:29

28:29 This also comes from the Lord who commands armies,

who gives supernatural guidance and imparts great wisdom. ¹ 

Isaiah 37:32

37:32 “For a remnant will leave Jerusalem;

survivors will come out of Mount Zion.

The intense devotion of the Lord who commands armies ²  will accomplish this.

Isaiah 39:7

39:7 ‘Some of your very own descendants whom you father ³  will be taken away and will be made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

Isaiah 42:3

42:3 A crushed reed he will not break,

a dim wick he will not extinguish; ⁴ 

he will faithfully make just decrees. ⁵ 

Isaiah 42:7

42:7 to open blind eyes, ⁶ 

to release prisoners ⁷  from dungeons,

those who live in darkness from prisons.

Isaiah 43:17

43:17 the one who led chariots and horses to destruction, ⁸ 

together with a mighty army.

They fell down, ⁹  never to rise again;

they were extinguished, put out like a burning wick:

Isaiah 48:3

48:3 “I announced events beforehand, ¹⁰ 

I issued the decrees and made the predictions; ¹¹ 

suddenly I acted and they came to pass.

Isaiah 49:9

49:9 You will say ¹²  to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’

and to those who are in dark dungeons, ¹³  ‘Emerge.’ ¹⁴ 

They will graze beside the roads;

on all the slopes they will find pasture.

Isaiah 65:9

65:9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,

and from Judah people to take possession of my mountains.

My chosen ones will take possession of the land; ¹⁵ 

my servants will live there.

[28:29]  ¹ sn Verses 23-29 emphasize that God possesses great wisdom and has established a natural order. Evidence of this can be seen in the way farmers utilize divinely imparted wisdom to grow and harvest crops. God’s dealings with his people will exhibit this same kind of wisdom and order. Judgment will be accomplished according to a divinely ordered timetable and, while severe enough, will not be excessive. Judgment must come, just as planting inevitably follows plowing. God will, as it were, thresh his people, but he will not crush them to the point where they will be of no use to him.

[37:32]  ² tn Heb “the zeal of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].” In this context the Lord’s “zeal” refers to his intense devotion to and love for his people which prompts him to protect and restore them.

[39:7]  ³ tn Heb “Some of your sons, who go out from you, whom you father.”

[42:3]  ⁴ sn The “crushed reed” and “dim wick” symbolize the weak and oppressed who are on the verge of extinction.

[42:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “faithfully he will bring out justice” (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[42:7]  ⁵ sn This does not refer to literal physical healing of the blind. As the next two lines suggest, this refers metonymically to freeing captives from their dark prisons where their eyes have grown unaccustomed to light.

[42:7]  ⁶ sn This does not refer to hardened, dangerous criminals, who would have been executed for their crimes in ancient Near Eastern society. This verse refers to political prisoners or victims of social injustice.

[43:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “led out chariots and horses.” The words “to destruction” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The verse refers to the destruction of the Egyptians at the Red Sea.

[43:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “lay down”; NAB “lie prostrate together”; CEV “lie dead”; NRSV “they lie down.”

[48:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “the former things beforehand I declared.”

[48:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “and from my mouth they came forth and I caused them to be heard.”

[49:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “to say.” In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct is subordinated to what precedes.

[49:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “in darkness” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “the prisoners of darkness.”

[49:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “show yourselves” (so ASV, NAB, NASB).

[65:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “it.” The third feminine singular pronominal suffix probably refers to the land which contains the aforementioned mountains.