Isaiah 29:2

29:2 I will threaten Ariel,

and she will mourn intensely

and become like an altar hearth ¹  before me.

Isaiah 17:1

The Lord Will Judge Damascus

17:1 Here is a message about Damascus:

“Look, Damascus is no longer a city,

it is a heap of ruins!

Isaiah 34:9

34:9 Edom’s ²  streams will be turned into pitch

and her soil into brimstone;

her land will become burning pitch.

Isaiah 34:13

34:13 Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns;

thickets and weeds will grow ³  in her fortified cities.

Jackals will settle there;

ostriches will live there. ⁴ 

Isaiah 6:13

6:13 Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, ⁵  like one of the large sacred trees ⁶  or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. ⁷  That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family.” ⁸ 

Isaiah 9:5

9:5 Indeed every boot that marches and shakes the earth ⁹ 

and every garment dragged through blood

is used as fuel for the fire.

Isaiah 11:10

Israel is Reclaimed and Reunited

11:10 At that time ¹⁰  a root from Jesse ¹¹  will stand like a signal flag for the nations. Nations will look to him for guidance, ¹²  and his residence will be majestic.

Isaiah 11:16

11:16 There will be a highway leading out of Assyria

for the remnant of his people, ¹³ 

just as there was for Israel,

when ¹⁴  they went up from the land of Egypt.

Isaiah 13:19

13:19 Babylon, the most admired ¹⁵  of kingdoms,

the Chaldeans’ source of honor and pride, ¹⁶ 

will be destroyed by God

just as Sodom and Gomorrah were. ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 17:9

17:9 At that time ¹⁸  their fortified cities will be

like the abandoned summits of the Amorites, ¹⁹ 

which they abandoned because of the Israelites;

there will be desolation.

Isaiah 19:17

19:17 The land of Judah will humiliate Egypt. Everyone who hears about Judah will be afraid because of what the Lord who commands armies is planning to do to them. ²⁰ 

Isaiah 28:4

28:4 The withering flower, its beautiful splendor,

situated at the head of a rich valley,

will be like an early fig before harvest –

as soon as someone notices it,

he grabs it and swallows it. ²¹ 

[29:2]  ¹ tn The term אֲרִיאֵל (’ari’el, “Ariel”) is the word translated “altar hearth” here. The point of the simile is not entirely clear. Perhaps the image likens Jerusalem’s coming crisis to a sacrificial fire.

[34:9]  ² tn Heb “her”; the referent (Edom) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:13]  ³ tn The words “will grow” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[34:13]  ⁴ tc Heb “and she will be a settlement for wild dogs, a dwelling place for ostriches.” The translation assumes an emendation of חָצִיר (khatsir, “grass”) to חָצֵר (khatser, “settlement”). One of the Qumran scrolls of Isaiah (1QIsa^a) supports this emendation (cf. HALOT 344 s.v. II חָצִיר)

[6:13]  ⁴ tn Or “be burned” (NRSV); NIV “laid waste.”

[6:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “like a massive tree or like a big tree” (perhaps, “like a terebinth or like an oak”).

[6:13]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text has “which in the felling, a sacred pillar in them.” Some take מַצֶּבֶת (matsevet) as “stump,” and translate, “which, when chopped down, have a stump remaining in them.” But elsewhere מַצֶּבֶת refers to a memorial pillar (2 Sam 18:18) and the word resembles מַצֶּבָה (matsevah, “sacred pillar”). בָּם (bam, “in them”) may be a corruption of בָּמָה (bamah, “high place”; the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has במה). אֳשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) becomes a problem in this case, but one might emend the form to וּכְּאֲשֵׁרָה (ukÿ’asherah, “or like an Asherah pole”) and translate, “like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole.” Though the text is difficult, the references to sacred trees and a sacred pillar suggest that the destruction of a high place is in view, an apt metaphor for the judgment of idolatrous Judah.

[6:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “a holy offspring [is] its sacred pillar.” If מַצֶּבֶת (matsevet) is taken as “stump,” one can see in this statement a brief glimpse of hope. The tree (the nation) is chopped down, but the stump (a righteous remnant) remains from which God can restore the nation. However, if מַצֶּבֶת is taken as “sacred pillar” (מַצֶּבָה, matsevah; see the previous note), it is much more difficult to take the final statement in a positive sense. In this case “holy offspring” alludes to God’s ideal for his covenant people, the offspring of the patriarchs. Ironically that “holy” nation is more like a “sacred pillar” and it will be thrown down like a sacred pillar from a high place and its land destroyed like the sacred trees located at such shrines. Understood in this way, the ironic statement is entirely negative in tone, just like the rest of the preceding announcement of judgment. It also reminds the people of their failure; they did not oppose pagan religion, instead they embraced it. Now they will be destroyed in the same way they should have destroyed paganism.

[9:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “Indeed every boot marching with shaking.” On the meaning of סְאוֹן (sÿ’on, “boot”) and the related denominative verb, both of which occur only here, see HALOT 738 s.v. סְאוֹן.

[11:10]  ⁶ tn Or “in that day” (KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[11:10]  ⁷ sn See the note at v. 1.

[11:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “ a root from Jesse, which stands for a signal flag of the nations, of him nations will inquire” [or “seek”].

[11:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “and there will be a highway for the remnant of his people who remain, from Assyria.”

[11:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the day” (so KJV).

[13:19]  ⁸ tn Or “most beautiful” (NCV, TEV).

[13:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans.”

[13:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and Babylon…will be like the overthrow by God of Sodom and Gomorrah.” On מַהְפֵּכַת (mahpekhat, “overthrow”) see the note on the word “destruction” in 1:7.

[17:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).

[17:9]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “like the abandonment of the wooded height and the top one.” The following relative clause appears to allude back to the Israelite conquest of the land, so it seems preferable to emend הַחֹרֶשׁ וְהָאָמִיר (hakhoresh vÿha’amir, “the wooded height and the top one”) to חֹרֵשֵׁי הָאֱמֹרִי (khoreshe ha’emori, “[like the abandonment] of the wooded heights of the Amorites”).

[19:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the land of Judah will become [a source of] shame to Egypt, everyone to whom one mentions it [i.e., the land of Judah] will fear because of the plan of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] which he is planning against him.”

[28:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “which the one seeing sees, while still it is in his hand he swallows it.”