Isaiah 3:15

3:15 Why do you crush my people

and grind the faces of the poor?” ¹ 

The sovereign Lord who commands armies ²  has spoken.

Isaiah 5:16

5:16 The Lord who commands armies will be exalted ³  when he punishes, ⁴ 

the sovereign God’s authority will be recognized when he judges. ⁵ 

Isaiah 9:13

9:13 The people did not return to the one who struck them,

they did not seek reconciliation ⁶  with the Lord who commands armies.

Isaiah 10:23

10:23 The sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, is certainly ready to carry out the decreed destruction throughout the land. ⁷ 

Isaiah 21:5

21:5 Arrange the table,

lay out ⁸  the carpet,

eat and drink! ⁹ 

Get up, you officers,

smear oil on the shields! ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 28:5

28:5 At that time ¹¹  the Lord who commands armies will become a beautiful crown

and a splendid diadem for the remnant of his people.

Isaiah 28:29

28:29 This also comes from the Lord who commands armies,

who gives supernatural guidance and imparts great wisdom. ¹² 

Isaiah 30:31

30:31 Indeed, the Lord’s shout will shatter Assyria; ¹³ 

he will beat them with a club.

Isaiah 33:22

33:22 For the Lord, our ruler,

the Lord, our commander,

the Lord, our king –

he will deliver us.

Isaiah 47:2

47:2 Pick up millstones and grind flour!

Remove your veil,

strip off your skirt,

expose your legs,

cross the streams!

Isaiah 47:4

47:4 says our protector –

the Lord who commands armies is his name,

the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 48:2

48:2 Indeed, they live in the holy city; ¹⁵ 

they trust in ¹⁶  the God of Israel,

whose name is the Lord who commands armies.

Isaiah 64:12

64:12 In light of all this, ¹⁷  how can you still hold back, Lord?

How can you be silent and continue to humiliate us?

[3:15]  ¹ sn The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s outrage at what the leaders have done to the poor. He finds it almost unbelievable that they would have the audacity to treat his people in this manner.

[3:15]  ² tn Heb “the master, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].” On the title “the Lord who commands armies,” see the note at 1:9.

[5:16]  ³ tn Or “elevated”; TEV “the Lord Almighty shows his greatness.”

[5:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “by judgment/justice.” When God justly punishes the evildoers denounced in the preceding verses, he will be recognized as a mighty warrior.

[5:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “The holy God will be set apart by fairness.” In this context God’s holiness is his sovereign royal authority, which implies a commitment to justice (see the note on the phrase “the sovereign king of Israel” in 1:4). When God judges evildoers as they deserve, his sovereignty will be acknowledged.

[9:13]  ⁵ tn This verse describes the people’s response to the judgment described in vv. 11-12. The perfects are understood as indicating simple past.

[10:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “Indeed (or perhaps “for”) destruction and what is decreed the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, is about to accomplish in the middle of all the land.” The phrase כָלָא וְנֶחֱרָצָה (khala’ venekheratsah, “destruction and what is decreed”) is a hendiadys; the two terms express one idea, with the second qualifying the first.

[21:5]  ⁹ tn The precise meaning of the verb in this line is debated. Some prefer to derive the form from the homonymic צָפֹה (tsafoh, “keep watch”) and translate “post a guard” (cf. KJV “watch in the watchtower”; ASV “set the watch”).

[21:5]  ¹⁰ tn The verbal forms in the first three lines are infinitives absolute, which are functioning here as finite verbs. It is uncertain if the forms should have an imperatival or indicative/descriptive force here.

[21:5]  ¹¹ sn Smearing the shields with oil would make them more flexible and effective in battle. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:394.

[28:5]  ¹¹ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[28:29]  ¹³ sn Verses 23-29 emphasize that God possesses great wisdom and has established a natural order. Evidence of this can be seen in the way farmers utilize divinely imparted wisdom to grow and harvest crops. God’s dealings with his people will exhibit this same kind of wisdom and order. Judgment will be accomplished according to a divinely ordered timetable and, while severe enough, will not be excessive. Judgment must come, just as planting inevitably follows plowing. God will, as it were, thresh his people, but he will not crush them to the point where they will be of no use to him.

[30:31]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Indeed by the voice of the Lord Assyria will be shattered.”

[47:4]  ¹⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads, “Our redeemer – the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] is his name, the Holy One of Israel.” The ancient Greek version adds “says” before “our redeemer.” אָמַר (’amar) may have accidentally dropped from the text by virtual haplography. Note that the preceding word אָדָם (’adam) is graphically similar.

[48:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “they call themselves [or “are called”] from the holy city.” The precise meaning of the statement is uncertain. The Niphal of קָרָא (qara’) is combined with the preposition מִן (min) only here. When the Qal of קָרָא is used with מִן, the preposition often indicates the place from which one is summoned (see 46:11). So one could translate, “from the holy city they are summoned,” meaning that they reside there.

[48:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “lean on” (so NASB, NRSV); NAB, NIV “rely on.”

[64:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “because of these”; KJV, ASV “for these things.”