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 7:9

7:9 Ephraim’s leader is Samaria,

and Samaria’s leader is the son of Remaliah.

If your faith does not remain firm,

then you will not remain secure.” ⁶ 

Isaiah 18:4

18:4 For this is what the Lord has told me:

“I will wait ⁷  and watch from my place,

like scorching heat produced by the sunlight, ⁸ 

like a cloud of mist ⁹  in the heat ¹⁰  of harvest.” ¹¹ 

Isaiah 21:2

21:2 I have received a distressing message: ¹² 

“The deceiver deceives,

the destroyer destroys.

Attack, you Elamites!

Lay siege, you Medes!

I will put an end to all the groaning!” ¹³ 

Isaiah 29:14

29:14 Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people –

an absolutely extraordinary deed. ¹⁴ 

Wise men will have nothing to say,

the sages will have no explanations.” ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 37:22

37:22 this is what the Lord says about him: ¹⁶ 

“The virgin daughter Zion ¹⁷ 

despises you – she makes fun of you;

daughter Jerusalem

shakes her head after you. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 37:26

37:26 ¹⁹ Certainly you must have heard! ²⁰ 

Long ago I worked it out,

in ancient times I planned ²¹  it,

and now I am bringing it to pass.

The plan is this:

Fortified cities will crash

into heaps of ruins. ²² 

Isaiah 40:2

40:2 “Speak kindly to ²³  Jerusalem, ²⁴  and tell her

that her time of warfare is over, ²⁵ 

that her punishment is completed. ²⁶ 

For the Lord has made her pay double ²⁷  for all her sins.”

Isaiah 44:7

44:7 Who is like me? Let him make his claim! ²⁸ 

Let him announce it and explain it to me –

since I established an ancient people – ²⁹ 

let them announce future events! ³⁰ 

Isaiah 47:13

47:13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice. ³¹ 

Let them take their stand –

the ones who see omens in the sky,

who gaze at the stars,

who make monthly predictions –

let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! ³² 

Isaiah 48:6

48:6 You have heard; now look at all the evidence! ³³ 

Will you not admit that what I say is true? ³⁴ 

From this point on I am announcing to you new events

that are previously unrevealed and you do not know about. ³⁵ 

Isaiah 51:11

51:11 Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return;

they will enter Zion with a happy shout.

Unending joy will crown them, ³⁶ 

happiness and joy will overwhelm ³⁷  them;

grief and suffering will disappear. ³⁸ 

Isaiah 53:11

53:11 Having suffered, he will reflect on his work,

he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done. ³⁹ 

“My servant ⁴⁰  will acquit many, ⁴¹ 

for he carried their sins. ⁴² 

Isaiah 54:9

54:9 “As far as I am concerned, this is like in Noah’s time, ⁴³ 

when I vowed that the waters of Noah’s flood ⁴⁴  would never again cover the earth.

In the same way I have vowed that I will not be angry at you or shout at you.

[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).

[7:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “if you do not believe, you will not endure.” The verb forms are second plural; the Lord here addresses the entire Davidic family and court. (Verse 4 was addressed to the king.) There is a wordplay in the Hebrew text, designed to draw attention to the alternatives set before the king (cf. 1:20). “Believe” (תַאֳמִינוּ, ta’aminu) is a Hiphil form of the verb אָמָן (’aman); “endure” (תֵאָמֵנוּ, te’amenu) is a Niphal form of this same verb.

[18:4]  ¹¹ tn Or “be quiet, inactive”; NIV “will remain quiet.”

[18:4]  ¹² tn Heb “like the glowing heat because of light.” The precise meaning of the line is uncertain.

[18:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “a cloud of dew,” or “a cloud of light rain.”

[18:4]  ¹⁴ tc Some medieval Hebrew mss, with support from the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Latin Vulgate, read “the day.”

[18:4]  ¹⁵ sn It is unclear how the comparisons in v. 4b relate to the preceding statement. How is waiting and watching similar to heat or a cloud? For a discussion of interpretive options, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:362.

[21:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a severe revelation has been related to me.”

[21:2]  ¹⁷ sn This is often interpreted to mean “all the groaning” that Babylon has caused others.

[29:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “Therefore I will again do something amazing with these people, an amazing deed, an amazing thing.” This probably refers to the amazing transformation predicted in vv. 17-24, which will follow the purifying judgment implied in vv. 15-16.

[29:14]  ²² tn Heb “the wisdom of their wise ones will perish, the discernment of their discerning ones will keep hidden.”

[37:22]  ²⁶ tn Heb “this is the word which the Lord has spoken about him.”

[37:22]  ²⁷ sn Zion (Jerusalem) is pictured here as a young, vulnerable daughter whose purity is being threatened by the would-be Assyrian rapist. The personification hints at the reality which the young girls of the city would face if the Assyrians conquer it.

[37:22]  ²⁸ sn Shaking the head was a mocking gesture of derision.

[37:26]  ³¹ tn Having quoted the Assyrian king’s arrogant words in vv. 23-24, the Lord now speaks to the king.

[37:26]  ³² tn Heb “Have you not heard?” The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s amazement that anyone might be ignorant of what he is about to say.

[37:26]  ³³ tn Heb “formed” (so KJV, ASV).

[37:26]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and it is to cause to crash into heaps of ruins fortified cities.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb תְהִי (tÿhi) is the implied plan, referred to in the preceding lines with third feminine singular pronominal suffixes.

[40:2]  ³⁶ tn Heb “speak to the heart of Jerusalem.” Jerusalem is personified as a woman.

[40:2]  ³⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[40:2]  ³⁸ tn Heb “that she is filled [with] her warfare.” Some understand צָבָא (tsavah, “warfare”) as meaning “hard service” or “compulsory labor” in this context.

[40:2]  ³⁹ tn Heb “that her punishment is accepted [as satisfactory].”

[40:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “for she has received from the hand of the Lord double.” The principle of the double portion in punishment is also seen in Jer 16:18; 17:18 and Rev 18:6. For examples of the double portion in Israelite law, see Exod 22:4, 7, 9 (double restitution by a thief) and Deut 21:17 (double inheritance portion for the firstborn).

[44:7]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “let him call” or “let him proclaim” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “Let him stand up and speak.”

[44:7]  ⁴² tc The Hebrew text reads, “from (the time) I established an ancient people, and the coming things.” Various emendations have been proposed. One of the options assumes the reading מַשְׁמִיעִים מֵעוֹלָם אוֹתִיּוֹת (mashmi’im me’olam ’otiyyot); This literally reads “the ones causing to hear from antiquity coming things,” but more idiomatically would read “as for those who predict from antiquity what will happen” (cf. NAB, NEB, REB). The emendation directs the attention of the reader to those who claim to be able to predict the future, challenging them to actually do what they claim they can do. The MT presents Yahweh as an example to whom these alleged “predictors of the future” can compare themselves. Since the ancient versions are unanimous in their support of the MT, the emendations should be set aside.

[44:7]  ⁴³ tn Heb and those things which are coming let them declare for themselves.”

[47:13]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “you are tired because of the abundance of your advice.”

[47:13]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “let them stand and rescue you – the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make known by months – from those things which are coming upon you.”

[48:6]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “gaze [at] all of it”; KJV “see all this.”

[48:6]  ⁵² tn Heb “[as for] you, will you not declare?”

[48:6]  ⁵³ tn Heb “and hidden things, and you do not know them.”

[51:11]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “[will be] on their head[s].” “Joy” may be likened here to a crown (cf. 2 Sam 1:10). The statement may also be an ironic twist on the idiom “earth/dust on the head” (cf. 2 Sam 1:2; 13:19; 15:32; Job 2:12), referring to a mourning practice.

[51:11]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “overtake” (so NIV); NASB “they will obtain.”

[51:11]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee.”

[53:11]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “he will be satisfied by his knowledge,” i.e., “when he knows.” The preposition is understood as temporal and the suffix as a subjective genitive. Some take בְּדַעְתּוֹ (bÿda’to, “by his knowledge”) with what follows and translate “by knowledge of him,” understanding the preposition as instrumental and the suffix as objective.

[53:11]  ⁶² sn The song ends as it began (cf. 52:13-15), with the Lord announcing the servant’s vindication and exaltation.

[53:11]  ⁶³ tn Heb “he will acquit, a righteous one, my servant, many.” צַדִּיק (tsadiq) may refer to the servant, but more likely it is dittographic (note the preceding verb יַצְדִּיק, yatsdiq). The precise meaning of the verb (the Hiphil of צָדַק, tsadaq) is debated. Elsewhere the Hiphil is used at least six times in the sense of “make righteous” in a legal sense, i.e., “pronounce innocent, acquit” (see Exod 23:7; Deut 25:1; 1 Kgs 8:32 = 2 Chr 6:23; Prov 17:15; Isa 5:23). It can also mean “render justice” (as a royal function, see 2 Sam 15:4; Ps 82:3), “concede” (Job 27:5), “vindicate” (Isa 50:8), and “lead to righteousness” (by teaching and example, Dan 12:3). The preceding context and the next line suggest a legal sense here. Because of his willingness to carry the people’s sins, the servant is able to “acquit” them.

[53:11]  ⁶⁴ tn The circumstantial clause (note the vav [ו] + object + subject + verb pattern) is understood as causal here. The prefixed verb form is either a preterite or an imperfect used in a customary manner.

[54:9]  ⁶⁶ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “For [or “indeed”] the waters of Noah [is] this to me.” כִּי־מֵי (ki-me, “for the waters of”) should be emended to כְּמֵי (kÿmey, “like the days of”), which is supported by the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a and all the ancient versions except LXX.

[54:9]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “the waters of Noah” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).