Isaiah 29:4

29:4 You will fall;

while lying on the ground ¹  you will speak;

from the dust where you lie, your words will be heard. ² 

Your voice will sound like a spirit speaking from the underworld; ³ 

from the dust you will chirp as if muttering an incantation. ⁴ 

Isaiah 13:5

13:5 They come from a distant land,

from the horizon. ⁵ 

It is the Lord with his instruments of judgment, ⁶ 

coming to destroy the whole earth. ⁷ 

Isaiah 21:1

The Lord Will Judge Babylon

21:1 Here is a message about the Desert by the Sea: ⁸ 

Like strong winds blowing in the south, ⁹ 

one invades from the desert,

from a land that is feared.

Isaiah 49:12

49:12 Look, they come from far away!

Look, some come from the north and west,

and others from the land of Sinim! ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 55:9

55:9 for just as the sky ¹¹  is higher than the earth,

so my deeds ¹²  are superior to ¹³  your deeds

and my plans ¹⁴  superior to your plans.

Isaiah 11:16

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

for the remnant of his people, ¹⁵ 

just as there was for Israel,

when ¹⁶  they went up from the land of Egypt.

Isaiah 23:1

The Lord Will Judge Tyre

23:1 Here is a message about Tyre:

Wail, you large ships, ¹⁷ 

for the port is too devastated to enter! ¹⁸ 

From the land of Cyprus ¹⁹  this news is announced to them.

Isaiah 46:11

46:11 who summons an eagle ²⁰  from the east,

from a distant land, one who carries out my plan.

Yes, I have decreed, ²¹ 

yes, I will bring it to pass;

I have formulated a plan,

yes, I will carry it out.

Isaiah 53:2

53:2 He sprouted up like a twig before God, ²² 

like a root out of parched soil; ²³ 

he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention, ²⁴ 

no special appearance that we should want to follow him. ²⁵ 

Isaiah 53:8

53:8 He was led away after an unjust trial ²⁶  –

but who even cared? ²⁷ 

Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living; ²⁸ 

because of the rebellion of his own ²⁹  people he was wounded.

Isaiah 39:3

39:3 Isaiah the prophet visited King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say? Where do they come from?” Hezekiah replied, “They come from the distant land of Babylon.”

[29:4]  ¹ tn Heb “from the ground” (so NIV, NCV).

[29:4]  ² tn Heb “and from the dust your word will be low.”

[29:4]  ³ tn Heb “and your voice will be like a ritual pit from the earth.” The Hebrew אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. See the note on “incantations” in 8:19. Here the word is used metonymically for the voice that emerges from such a pit.

[29:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “and from the dust your word will chirp.” The words “as if muttering an incantation” are supplied in the translation for clarification. See the parallelism and 8:19.

[13:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the end of the sky.”

[13:5]  ⁶ tn Or “anger”; cf. KJV, ASV “the weapons of his indignation.”

[13:5]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps, “land” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NLT). Even though the heading and subsequent context (see v. 17) indicate Babylon’s judgment is in view, the chapter has a cosmic flavor that suggests that the coming judgment is universal in scope. Perhaps Babylon’s downfall occurs in conjunction with a wider judgment, or the cosmic style is poetic hyperbole used to emphasize the magnitude and importance of the coming event.

[21:1]  ⁹ sn The phrase is quite cryptic, at least to the modern reader. Verse 9 seems to indicate that this message pertains to Babylon. Southern Mesopotamia was known as the Sealand in ancient times, because of its proximity to the Persian Gulf. Perhaps the reference to Babylon as a “desert” foreshadows the destruction that would overtake the city, making it like a desolate desert.

[21:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “in the Negev” (NASB).

[49:12]  ¹³ tc The MT reads “Sinim” here; the Dead Sea Scrolls read “Syene,” a location in Egypt associated with modern Aswan. A number of recent translations adopt this reading: “Syene” (NAB, NRSV); “Aswan” (NIV); “Egypt” (NLT).

[55:9]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[55:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “ways” (so many English versions).

[55:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “are higher than.”

[55:9]  ²⁰ tn Or “thoughts” (so many English versions).

[11:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “and there will be a highway for the remnant of his people who remain, from Assyria.”

[11:16]  ²² tn Heb “in the day” (so KJV).

[23:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “ships of Tarshish.” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to the distant western port of Tarshish.

[23:1]  ²⁶ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “for it is destroyed, from a house, from entering.” The translation assumes that the mem (מ) on בַּיִת (bayit) was originally an enclitic mem suffixed to the preceding verb. This assumption allows one to take בַּיִת as the subject of the preceding verb. It is used in a metaphorical sense for the port city of Tyre. The preposition min (מִן) prefixed to בּוֹא (bo’) indicates negative consequence: “so that no one can enter.” See BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7.b.

[23:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the Kittim,” a designation for the people of Cyprus. See HALOT 504-05 s.v. כִּתִּיִּים.

[46:11]  ²⁹ tn Or, more generally, “a bird of prey” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV; see 18:6).

[46:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “spoken”; KJV “I have spoken it.”

[53:2]  ³³ tn Heb “before him.” Some suggest an emendation to “before us.” If the third singular suffix of the Hebrew text is retained, it probably refers to the Lord (see v. 1b). For a defense of this reading, see R. Whybray, Isaiah 40-66 (NCBC), 173-74.

[53:2]  ³⁴ sn The metaphor in this verse suggests insignificance.

[53:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “that we might see him.” The vav conjunctive prefixed to the imperfect introduces a result clause here. See GKC 504-5 §166.a.

[53:2]  ³⁶ tn Heb “that we should desire him.” The vav conjunctive prefixed to the imperfect introduces a result clause here. See GKC 504-5 §166.a.

[53:8]  ³⁷ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The present translation assumes that מִן (min) here has an instrumental sense (“by, through”) and understands עֹצֶר וּמִמִּשְׁפָּט (’otser umimmishpat, “coercion and legal decision”) as a hendiadys meaning “coercive legal decision,” thus “an unjust trial.” Other interpretive options include: (1) “without [for this sense of מִן, see BDB 578 s.v. 1.b] hindrance and proper judicial process,” i.e., “unfairly and with no one to defend him,” (2) “from [in the sense of “after,” see BDB 581 s.v. 4.b] arrest and judgment.”

[53:8]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and his generation, who considers?” (NASB similar). Some understand “his generation” as a reference to descendants. In this case the question would suggest that he will have none. However, אֶת (’et) may be taken here as specifying a new subject (see BDB 85 s.v. I אֵת 3). If “his generation” refers to the servant’s contemporary generation, one may then translate, “As for his contemporary generation, who took note?” The point would be that few were concerned about the harsh treatment he received.

[53:8]  ³⁹ sn The “land of the living” is an idiom for the sphere where people live, in contrast to the underworld realm of the dead. See, for example, Ezek 32:23-27.

[53:8]  ⁴⁰ tn The Hebrew text reads “my people,” a reading followed by most English versions, but this is problematic in a context where the first person plural predominates, and where God does not appear to speak again until v. 11b. Therefore, it is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a עמו (“his people”). In this case, the group speaking in these verses is identified as the servant’s people (compare פְּשָׁעֵנוּ [pÿsha’enu, “our rebellious deeds”] in v. 5 with פֶּשַׁע עַמִּי [pesha’ ’ammi, “the rebellion of his people”] in v. 8).