Isaiah 3:14

3:14 The Lord comes to pronounce judgment

on the leaders of his people and their officials.

He says, ¹  “It is you ²  who have ruined ³  the vineyard! ⁴ 

You have stashed in your houses what you have stolen from the poor. ⁵ 

Isaiah 4:4

4:4 At that time ⁶  the sovereign master ⁷  will wash the excrement ⁸  from Zion’s women,

he will rinse the bloodstains from Jerusalem’s midst, ⁹ 

as he comes to judge

and to bring devastation. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 5:5

5:5 Now I will inform you

what I am about to do to my vineyard:

I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture, ¹¹ 

I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there. ¹² 

Isaiah 6:13

6:13 Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, ¹³  like one of the large sacred trees ¹⁴  or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. ¹⁵  That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family.” ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 9:18

9:18 For ¹⁷  evil burned like a fire, ¹⁸ 

it consumed thorns and briers;

it burned up the thickets of the forest,

and they went up in smoke. ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 30:27

30:27 Look, the name ²⁰  of the Lord comes from a distant place

in raging anger and awesome splendor. ²¹ 

He speaks angrily

and his word is like destructive fire. ²² 

Isaiah 42:25

42:25 So he poured out his fierce anger on them,

along with the devastation ²³  of war.

Its flames encircled them, but they did not realize it; ²⁴ 

it burned against them, but they did notice. ²⁵ 

Isaiah 43:2

43:2 When you pass through the waters, I am with you;

when you pass ²⁶  through the streams, they will not overwhelm you.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;

the flames will not harm ²⁷  you.

Isaiah 44:15

44:15 A man uses it to make a fire; ²⁸ 

he takes some of it and warms himself.

Yes, he kindles a fire and bakes bread.

Then he makes a god and worships it;

he makes an idol and bows down to it. ²⁹ 

Isaiah 50:11

50:11 Look, all of you who start a fire

and who equip yourselves with ³⁰  flaming arrows, ³¹ 

walk ³²  in the light ³³  of the fire you started

and among the flaming arrows you ignited! ³⁴ 

This is what you will receive from me: ³⁵ 

you will lie down in a place of pain. ³⁶ 

Isaiah 62:1

The Lord Takes Delight in Zion

62:1 “For the sake of Zion I will not be silent;

for the sake of Jerusalem ³⁷  I will not be quiet,

until her vindication shines brightly ³⁸ 

and her deliverance burns like a torch.”

[3:14]  ¹ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[3:14]  ² tn The pronominal element is masculine plural; the leaders are addressed.

[3:14]  ³ tn The verb בָּעַר (ba’ar, “graze, ruin”; HALOT 146 s.v. II בער) is a homonym of the more common בָּעַר (ba’ar, “burn”; see HALOT 145 s.v. I בער).

[3:14]  ⁴ sn The vineyard is a metaphor for the nation here. See 5:1-7.

[3:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “the plunder of the poor [is] in your houses” (so NASB).

[4:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “when” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); CEV “after”; NRSV “once.”

[4:4]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).

[4:4]  ⁸ tn The word refers elsewhere to vomit (Isa 28:8) and fecal material (Isa 36:12). Many English versions render this somewhat euphemistically as “filth” (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV). Ironically in God’s sight the beautiful jewelry described earlier is nothing but vomit and feces, for it symbolizes the moral decay of the city’s residents (cf. NLT “moral filth”).

[4:4]  ⁹ sn See 1:21 for a related concept.

[4:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.” The precise meaning of the second half of the verse is uncertain. רוּחַ (ruakh) can be understood as “wind” in which case the passage pictures the Lord using a destructive wind as an instrument of judgment. However, this would create a mixed metaphor, for the first half of the verse uses the imagery of washing and rinsing to depict judgment. Perhaps the image would be that of a windstorm accompanied by heavy rain. רוּחַ can also mean “spirit,” in which case the verse may be referring to the Lord’s Spirit or, more likely, to a disposition that the Lord brings to the task of judgment. It is also uncertain if בָּעַר (ba’ar) here means “burning” or “sweeping away, devastating.”

[5:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and it will become [a place for] grazing.” בָּעַר (ba’ar, “grazing”) is a homonym of the more often used verb “to burn.”

[5:5]  ¹² tn Heb “and it will become a trampled place” (NASB “trampled ground”).

[6:13]  ¹⁶ tn Or “be burned” (NRSV); NIV “laid waste.”

[6:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “like a massive tree or like a big tree” (perhaps, “like a terebinth or like an oak”).

[6:13]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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.

[9:18]  ²¹ tn Or “Indeed” (cf. NIV “Surely”). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[9:18]  ²² sn Evil was uncontrollable and destructive, and so can be compared to a forest fire.

[9:18]  ²³ tn Heb “and they swirled [with] the rising of the smoke” (cf. NRSV).

[30:27]  ²⁶ sn The “name” of the Lord sometimes stands by metonymy for the Lord himself, see Exod 23:21; Lev 24:11; Pss 54:1 (54:3 HT); 124:8. In Isa 30:27 the point is that he reveals that aspect of his character which his name suggests – he comes as Yahweh (“he is present”), the ever present helper of his people who annihilates their enemies and delivers them. The name “Yahweh” originated in a context where God assured a fearful Moses that he would be with him as he confronted Pharaoh and delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt. See Exod 3.

[30:27]  ²⁷ tn Heb “his anger burns, and heaviness of elevation.” The meaning of the phrase “heaviness of elevation” is unclear, for מַשָּׂאָה (masa’ah, “elevation”) occurs only here. Some understand the term as referring to a cloud (elevated above the earth’s surface), in which case one might translate, “and in heavy clouds” (cf. NAB “with lowering clouds”). Others relate the noun to מָשָׂא (masa’, “burden”) and interpret it as a reference to judgment. In this case one might translate, “and with severe judgment.” The present translation assumes that the noun refers to his glory and that “heaviness” emphasizes its degree.

[30:27]  ²⁸ tn Heb “his lips are full of anger, and his tongue is like consuming fire.” The Lord’s lips and tongue are used metonymically for his word (or perhaps his battle cry; see v. 31).

[42:25]  ³¹ tn Heb “strength” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “fury”; NASB “fierceness”; NIV “violence.”

[42:25]  ³² tn Heb “and it blazed against him all around, but he did not know.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb “blazed” is the divine חֵמָה (khemah, “anger”) mentioned in the previous line.

[42:25]  ³³ tn Heb “and it burned against him, but he did not set [it] upon [the] heart.”

[43:2]  ³⁶ tn The verb is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[43:2]  ³⁷ tn Heb “burn” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV, NLT “consume”; NIV “set you ablaze.”

[44:15]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and it becomes burning [i.e., firewood] for a man”; NAB “to serve man for fuel.”

[44:15]  ⁴² tn Or perhaps, “them.”

[50:11]  ⁴⁶ tc Several more recent commentators have proposed an emendation of מְאַזְּרֵי (mÿ’azzÿre, “who put on”) to מְאִירִי (mÿ’iri, “who light”). However, both Qumran scrolls of Isaiah and the Vulgate support the MT reading (cf. NIV, ESV).

[50:11]  ⁴⁷ tn On the meaning of זִיקוֹת (ziqot, “flaming arrows”), see HALOT 268 s.v. זִיקוֹת.

[50:11]  ⁴⁸ tn The imperative is probably rhetorical and has a predictive force.

[50:11]  ⁴⁹ tn Or perhaps, “flame” (so ASV).

[50:11]  ⁵⁰ sn Perhaps the servant here speaks to his enemies and warns them that they will self-destruct.

[50:11]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “from my hand” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[50:11]  ⁵² sn The imagery may be that of a person who becomes ill and is forced to lie down in pain on a sickbed. Some see this as an allusion to a fiery place of damnation because of the imagery employed earlier in the verse.

[62:1]  ⁵¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[62:1]  ⁵² tn Heb “goes forth like brightness.”