Isaiah 3:16

Washing Away Impurity

3:16 The Lord says,

“The women ¹  of Zion are proud.

They walk with their heads high ² 

and flirt with their eyes.

They skip along ³ 

and the jewelry on their ankles jingles. ⁴ 

Isaiah 4:4

4:4 At that time ⁵  the sovereign master ⁶  will wash the excrement ⁷  from Zion’s women,

he will rinse the bloodstains from Jerusalem’s midst, ⁸ 

as he comes to judge

and to bring devastation. ⁹ 

Isaiah 8:18

8:18 Look, I and the sons whom the Lord has given me ¹⁰  are reminders and object lessons ¹¹  in Israel, sent from the Lord who commands armies, who lives on Mount Zion.

Isaiah 24:23

24:23 The full moon will be covered up, ¹² 

the bright sun ¹³  will be darkened; ¹⁴ 

for the Lord who commands armies will rule ¹⁵ 

on Mount Zion in Jerusalem ¹⁶ 

in the presence of his assembly, in majestic splendor. ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 28:16

28:16 Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord, says:

“Look, I am laying ¹⁸  a stone in Zion,

an approved ¹⁹  stone,

set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. ²⁰ 

The one who maintains his faith will not panic. ²¹ 

Isaiah 30:19

30:19 For people will live in Zion;

in Jerusalem ²²  you will weep no more. ²³ 

When he hears your cry of despair, he will indeed show you mercy;

when he hears it, he will respond to you. ²⁴ 

Isaiah 31:9

31:9 They will surrender their stronghold ²⁵  because of fear; ²⁶ 

their officers will be afraid of the Lord’s battle flag.” ²⁷ 

This is what the Lord says –

the one whose fire is in Zion,

whose firepot is in Jerusalem. ²⁸ 

Isaiah 33:14

33:14 Sinners are afraid in Zion;

panic ²⁹  grips the godless. ³⁰ 

They say, ³¹  ‘Who among us can coexist with destructive fire?

Who among us can coexist with unquenchable ³²  fire?’

Isaiah 35:10

35:10 those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way. ³³ 

They will enter Zion with a happy shout.

Unending joy will crown them, ³⁴ 

happiness and joy will overwhelm ³⁵  them;

grief and suffering will disappear. ³⁶ 

Isaiah 37:22

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

“The virgin daughter Zion ³⁸ 

despises you – she makes fun of you;

daughter Jerusalem

shakes her head after you. ³⁹ 

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, ⁴⁰ 

happiness and joy will overwhelm ⁴¹  them;

grief and suffering will disappear. ⁴² 

Isaiah 51:16

Zion’s Time to Celebrate

51:16 I commission you ⁴³  as my spokesman; ⁴⁴ 

I cover you with the palm of my hand, ⁴⁵ 

to establish ⁴⁶  the sky and to found the earth,

to say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’” ⁴⁷ 

Isaiah 52:7-8

52:7 How delightful it is to see approaching over the mountains ⁴⁸ 

the feet of a messenger who announces peace,

a messenger who brings good news, who announces deliverance,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” ⁴⁹ 

52:8 Listen, ⁵⁰  your watchmen shout;

in unison they shout for joy,

for they see with their very own eyes ⁵¹ 

the Lord’s return to Zion.

Isaiah 60:14

60:14 The children of your oppressors will come bowing to you;

all who treated you with disrespect will bow down at your feet.

They will call you, ‘The City of the Lord,

Zion of the Holy One of Israel.’ ⁵² 

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 ⁵³  I will not be quiet,

until her vindication shines brightly ⁵⁴ 

and her deliverance burns like a torch.”

Isaiah 62:11

62:11 Look, the Lord announces to the entire earth: ⁵⁵ 

“Say to Daughter Zion,

‘Look, your deliverer comes!

Look, his reward is with him

and his reward goes before him!’” ⁵⁶ 

[3:16]  ¹ tn Heb “daughters” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV).

[3:16]  ² tn Heb “with an outstretched neck.” They proudly hold their heads high so that others can see the jewelry around their necks.

[3:16]  ³ tn Heb “walking and skipping, they walk.”

[3:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “and with their feet they jingle.”

[4:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “when” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); CEV “after”; NRSV “once.”

[4:4]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).

[4:4]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ sn See 1:21 for a related concept.

[4:4]  ⁹ 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.”

[8:18]  ⁹ sn This refers to Shear-jashub (7:3) and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (8:1, 3).

[8:18]  ¹⁰ tn Or “signs and portents” (NAB, NRSV). The names of all three individuals has symbolic value. Isaiah’s name (which meant “the Lord delivers”) was a reminder that the Lord was the nation’s only source of protection; Shear-jashub’s name was meant, at least originally, to encourage Ahaz (see the note at 7:3), and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz’s name was a guarantee that God would defeat Israel and Syria (see the note at 8:4). The word מוֹפֶת (mofet, “portent”) can often refer to some miraculous event, but in 20:3 it is used, along with its synonym אוֹת (’ot, “sign”) of Isaiah’s walking around half-naked as an object lesson of what would soon happen to the Egyptians.

[24:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “will be ashamed.”

[24:23]  ¹⁴ tn Or “glow of the sun.”

[24:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “will be ashamed” (so NCV).

[24:23]  ¹⁶ tn Or “take his throne,” “become king.”

[24:23]  ¹⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[24:23]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and before his elders [in] splendor.”

[28:16]  ¹⁷ tc The Hebrew text has a third person verb form, which does not agree with the first person suffix that precedes. The form should be emended to יֹסֵד (yosed), a Qal active participle used in a present progressive or imminent future sense.

[28:16]  ¹⁸ tn Traditionally “tested,” but the implication is that it has passed the test and stands approved.

[28:16]  ¹⁹ sn The reality behind the metaphor is not entirely clear from the context. The stone appears to represent someone or something that gives Zion stability. Perhaps the ideal Davidic ruler is in view (see 32:1). Another option is that the image of beginning a building project by laying a precious cornerstone suggests that God is about to transform Zion through judgment and begin a new covenant community that will experience his protection (see 4:3-6; 31:5; 33:20-24; 35:10).

[28:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “will not hurry,” i.e., act in panic.

[30:19]  ²¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[30:19]  ²² tn Heb “For people in Zion will live, in Jerusalem, you will weep no more.” The phrase “in Jerusalem” could be taken with what precedes. Some prefer to emend יֵשֵׁב (yeshev, “will live,” a Qal imperfect) to יֹשֵׁב (yoshev, a Qal active participle) and translate “For [you] people in Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more.”

[30:19]  ²³ tn Heb “he will indeed show you mercy at the sound of your crying out; when he hears, he will answer you.”

[31:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “rocky cliff” (cf. ASV, NASB “rock”), viewed metaphorically as a place of defense and security.

[31:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “His rocky cliff, because of fear, will pass away [i.e., “perish”].”

[31:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and they will be afraid of the flag, his officers.”

[31:9]  ²⁸ sn The “fire” and “firepot” here symbolize divine judgment, which is heating up like a fire in Jerusalem, waiting to be used against the Assyrians when they attack the city.

[33:14]  ²⁹ tn Or “trembling” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “shake with fear.”

[33:14]  ³⁰ tn Or “the defiled”; TEV “The sinful people of Zion”; NLT “The sinners in Jerusalem.”

[33:14]  ³¹ tn The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[33:14]  ³² tn Or “perpetual”; or “everlasting” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[35:10]  ³³ tn Heb “and the redeemed will walk, the ransomed of the Lord will return.”

[35:10]  ³⁴ 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.

[35:10]  ³⁵ tn Heb “will overtake” (NIV); NLT “they will be overcome with.”

[35:10]  ³⁶ tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee”; KJV “sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

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

[37:22]  ³⁸ 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]  ³⁹ sn Shaking the head was a mocking gesture of derision.

[51:11]  ⁴¹ 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]  ⁴² tn Heb “overtake” (so NIV); NASB “they will obtain.”

[51:11]  ⁴³ tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee.”

[51:16]  ⁴⁵ tn The addressee (second masculine singular, as in vv. 13, 15) in this verse is unclear. The exiles are addressed in the immediately preceding verses (note the critical tone of vv. 12-13 and the reference to the exiles in v. 14). However, it seems unlikely that they are addressed in v. 16, for the addressee appears to be commissioned to tell Zion, who here represents the restored exiles, “you are my people.” The addressee is distinct from the exiles. The language of v. 16a is reminiscent of 49:2 and 50:4, where the Lord’s special servant says he is God’s spokesman and effective instrument. Perhaps the Lord, having spoken to the exiles in vv. 1-15, now responds to this servant, who spoke just prior to this in 50:4-11.

[51:16]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “I place my words in your mouth.”

[51:16]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “with the shadow of my hand.”

[51:16]  ⁴⁸ tc The Hebrew text has לִנְטֹעַ (lintoa’, “to plant”). Several scholars prefer to emend this form to לִנְטֹת (lintot) from נָטָה (natah, “to stretch out”); see v. 13, as well as 40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; cf. NAB, NCV, NRSV. However, since the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, LXX (and Aquila and Symmachus), and Vulgate support the MT reading, there is no need to emend the form. The interpretation is clear enough: Yahweh fixed the sky in its place.

[51:16]  ⁴⁹ tn The infinitives in v. 16b are most naturally understood as indicating the purpose of the divine actions described in v. 16a. The relationship of the third infinitive to the commission is clear enough – the Lord has made the addressee (his special servant?) his spokesman so that the latter might speak encouraging words to those in Zion. But how do the first two infinitives relate? The text seems to indicate that the Lord has commissioned the addressee so that the latter might create the universe! Perhaps creation imagery is employed metaphorically here to refer to the transformation that Jerusalem will experience (see 65:17-18).

[52:7]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “How delightful on the mountains.”

[52:7]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “has become king.” When a new king was enthroned, his followers would give this shout. For other examples of this enthronement formula (Qal perfect 3rd person masculine singular מָלַךְ [malakh], followed by the name of the king), see 2 Sam 15:10; 1 Kgs 1:11, 13, 18; 2 Kgs 9:13. The Lord is an eternal king, but here he is pictured as a victorious warrior who establishes his rule from Zion.

[52:8]  ⁵³ tn קוֹל (qol, “voice”) is used at the beginning of the verse as an interjection.

[52:8]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “eye in eye”; KJV, ASV “eye to eye”; NAB “directly, before their eyes.”

[60:14]  ⁵⁷ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[62:1]  ⁶¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

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

[62:11]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “to the end of the earth” (so NASB, NRSV).

[62:11]  ⁶⁶ sn As v. 12 indicates, the returning exiles are the Lord’s reward/prize. See also 40:10 and the note there.