Isaiah 3:13

3:13 The Lord takes his position to judge;

he stands up to pass sentence on his people. ¹ 

Isaiah 33:3

33:3 The nations run away when they hear a loud noise; ² 

the nations scatter when you spring into action! ³ 

Isaiah 33:12

33:12 The nations will be burned to ashes; ⁴ 

like thorn bushes that have been cut down, they will be set on fire.

Isaiah 63:6

63:6 I trampled nations in my anger,

I made them drunk ⁵  in my rage,

I splashed their blood on the ground.” ⁶ 

Isaiah 8:9

8:9 You will be broken, ⁷  O nations;

you will be shattered! ⁸ 

Pay attention, all you distant lands of the earth!

Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered!

Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered! ⁹ 

Isaiah 14:6

14:6 It ¹⁰  furiously struck down nations

with unceasing blows. ¹¹ 

It angrily ruled over nations,

oppressing them without restraint. ¹² 

Isaiah 10:13

10:13 For he says:

“By my strong hand I have accomplished this,

by my strategy that I devised.

I invaded the territory of nations, ¹³ 

and looted their storehouses.

Like a mighty conqueror, ¹⁴  I brought down rulers. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 11:10

Israel is Reclaimed and Reunited

11:10 At that time ¹⁶  a root from Jesse ¹⁷  will stand like a signal flag for the nations. Nations will look to him for guidance, ¹⁸  and his residence will be majestic.

Isaiah 14:2

14:2 Nations will take them and bring them back to their own place. Then the family of Jacob will make foreigners their servants as they settle in the Lord’s land. ¹⁹  They will make their captors captives and rule over the ones who oppressed them.

Isaiah 17:12

17:12 The many nations massing together are as good as dead, ²⁰ 

those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea’s waves. ²¹ 

The people making such an uproar are as good as dead, ²² 

those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves. ²³ 

Isaiah 30:28

30:28 His battle cry overwhelms like a flooding river ²⁴ 

that reaches one’s neck.

He shakes the nations in a sieve that isolates the chaff; ²⁵ 

he puts a bit into the mouth of the nations and leads them to destruction. ²⁶ 

Isaiah 51:4-5

51:4 Pay attention to me, my people!

Listen to me, my people!

For ²⁷  I will issue a decree, ²⁸ 

I will make my justice a light to the nations. ²⁹ 

51:5 I am ready to vindicate, ³⁰ 

I am ready to deliver, ³¹ 

I will establish justice among the nations. ³² 

The coastlands ³³  wait patiently for me;

they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power. ³⁴ 

Isaiah 2:3

2:3 many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain,

to the temple of the God of Jacob,

so ³⁵  he can teach us his requirements, ³⁶ 

and ³⁷  we can follow his standards.” ³⁸ 

For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; ³⁹ 

the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem. ⁴⁰ 

Isaiah 49:22

49:22 This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“Look I will raise my hand to the nations;

I will raise my signal flag to the peoples.

They will bring your sons in their arms

and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

[3:13]  ¹ tc The Hebrew text has “nations,” but the preceding and following contexts make it clear that the Lord is judging his covenant people. עָמִים (’amim) should be changed (with support from the LXX) to עמו. The final mem (ם) on the form in the Hebrew is either dittographic or enclitic. When the mem was added or read as a plural ending, the vav (ו) was then misread as a yod (י).

[33:3]  ² tn Heb “at the sound of tumult the nations run away.”

[33:3]  ³ tn Heb “because of your exaltation the nations scatter.”

[33:12]  ³ tn Heb “will be a burning to lime.” See Amos 2:1.

[63:6]  ⁴ sn See Isa 49:26 and 51:23 for similar imagery.

[63:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “and I brought down to the ground their juice.” “Juice” refers to their blood (see v. 3).

[8:9]  ⁵ tn The verb רֹעוּ (ro’u) is a Qal imperative, masculine plural from רָעַע (ra’a’, “break”). Elsewhere both transitive (Job 34:24; Ps 2:9; Jer 15:12) and intransitive (Prov 25:19; Jer 11:16) senses are attested for the Qal of this verb. Because no object appears here, the form is likely intransitive: “be broken.” In this case the imperative is rhetorical (like “be shattered” later in the verse) and equivalent to a prediction, “you will be broken.” On the rhetorical use of the imperative in general, see IBHS 572 §34.4c; GKC 324 §110.c.

[8:9]  ⁶ tn The imperatival form (Heb “be shattered”) is rhetorical and expresses the speaker’s firm conviction of the outcome of the nations’ attack. See the note on “be broken.”

[8:9]  ⁷ tn The initial imperative (“get ready for battle”) acknowledges the reality of the nations’ hostility; the concluding imperative (Heb “be shattered”) is rhetorical and expresses the speakers’ firm conviction of the outcome of the nations’ attack. (See the note on “be broken.”) One could paraphrase, “Okay, go ahead and prepare for battle since that’s what you want to do, but your actions will backfire and you’ll be shattered.” This rhetorical use of the imperatives is comparable to saying to a child who is bent on climbing a high tree, “Okay, go ahead, climb the tree and break your arm!” What this really means is: “Okay, go ahead and climb the tree since that’s what you really want to do, but your actions will backfire and you’ll break your arm.” The repetition of the statement in the final two lines of the verse gives the challenge the flavor of a taunt (ancient Israelite “trash talking,” as it were).

[14:6]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps, “he” (cf. KJV; NCV “the king of Babylon”). The present translation understands the referent of the pronoun (“it”) to be the “club/scepter” of the preceding line.

[14:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “it was striking down nations in fury [with] a blow without ceasing.” The participle (“striking down”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.

[14:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “it was ruling in anger nations [with] oppression without restraint.” The participle (“ruling”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.

[10:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “removed the borders of nations”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV “boundaries.”

[10:13]  ⁸ tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has כְּאַבִּיר (kÿ’abir, “like a strong one”); the marginal reading (Qere) is כַּבִיר (kavir, “mighty one”).

[10:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “and I brought down, like a strong one, ones sitting [or “living”].” The participle יוֹשְׁבִים (yoshÿvim, “ones sitting”) could refer to the inhabitants of the nations, but the translation assumes that it refers to those who sit on thrones, i.e., rulers. See BDB 442 s.v. יָשַׁב and HALOT 444 s.v. ישׁב.

[11:10]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ sn See the note at v. 1.

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

[14:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “and the house of Jacob will take possession of them [i.e., the nations], on the land of the Lord, as male servants and female servants.”

[17:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Woe [to] the massing of the many nations.” The word הוֹי (hoy) could be translated as a simple interjection here (“ah!”), but since the following verses announce the demise of these nations, it is preferable to take הוֹי as a funeral cry. See the note on the first phrase of 1:4.

[17:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “like the loud noise of the seas, they make a loud noise.”

[17:12]  ¹² tn Heb “the uproar of the peoples.” The term הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse; the words “are as good as dead” are supplied in the translation to reflect this.

[17:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “like the uproar of mighty waters they are in an uproar.”

[30:28]  ¹¹ tn Heb “his breath is like a flooding river.” This might picture the Lord breathing heavily as he runs down his enemy, but in light of the preceding verse, which mentions his lips and tongue, “breath” probably stands metonymically for the word or battle cry that he expels from his mouth as he shouts. In Isa 34:16 and Ps 33:6 the Lord’s “breath” is associated with his command.

[30:28]  ¹² tn Heb “shaking nations in a sieve of worthlessness.” It is not certain exactly how שָׁוְא (shavÿ’, “emptiness, worthlessness”) modifies “sieve.” A sieve is used to separate grain from chaff and isolate what is worthless so that it might be discarded. Perhaps the nations are likened to such chaff; God’s judgment will sift them out for destruction.

[30:28]  ¹³ tn Heb “and a bit that leads astray [is] in the jaws of the peoples.” Here the nations are likened to horse that can be controlled by a bit placed in its mouth. In this case the Lord uses his sovereign control over the “horse” to lead it to its demise.

[51:4]  ¹² tn Or “certainly.”

[51:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “instruction [or “a law”] will go out from me.”

[51:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and my justice for a light to the nations I will cause to rest.”

[51:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”] is near.”

[51:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “my deliverance goes forth.”

[51:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and my arms will judge [on behalf of] nations.”

[51:5]  ¹⁶ tn Or “islands” (NIV); TEV “Distant lands.”

[51:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for my arm” (so NIV, NRSV).

[2:3]  ¹⁴ tn The prefixed verb form with simple vav (ו) introduces a purpose/result clause after the preceding prefixed verb form (probably to be taken as a cohortative; see IBHS 650 §39.2.2a).

[2:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his ways.” In this context God’s “ways” are the standards of moral conduct he decrees that people should live by.

[2:3]  ¹⁶ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) after the prefixed verb form indicates the ultimate purpose/goal of their action.

[2:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “walk in his ways.”

[2:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “for out of Zion will go instruction.”

[2:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”