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 35:10

35:10 those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way. ¹⁸ 

They will enter Zion with a happy shout.

Unending joy will crown them, ¹⁹ 

happiness and joy will overwhelm ²⁰  them;

grief and suffering will disappear. ²¹ 

Isaiah 37:22

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

“The virgin daughter Zion ²³ 

despises you – she makes fun of you;

daughter Jerusalem

shakes her head after you. ²⁴ 

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, ²⁵ 

happiness and joy will overwhelm ²⁶  them;

grief and suffering will disappear. ²⁷ 

Isaiah 52:8

52:8 Listen, ²⁸  your watchmen shout;

in unison they shout for joy,

for they see with their very own eyes ²⁹ 

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.’ ³⁰ 

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 ³¹  I will not be quiet,

until her vindication shines brightly ³² 

and her deliverance burns like a torch.”

Isaiah 62:11

62:11 Look, the Lord announces to the entire earth: ³³ 

“Say to Daughter Zion,

‘Look, your deliverer comes!

Look, his reward is with him

and his reward goes before him!’” ³⁴ 

[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.”

[35:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and the redeemed will walk, the ransomed of the Lord will return.”

[35:10]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “will overtake” (NIV); NLT “they will be overcome with.”

[35:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee”; KJV “sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

[37:22]  ²¹ tn Heb “this is the word which the Lord has spoken about him.”

[37:22]  ²² 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]  ²³ sn Shaking the head was a mocking gesture of derision.

[51:11]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Heb “overtake” (so NIV); NASB “they will obtain.”

[51:11]  ²⁷ tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee.”

[52:8]  ²⁹ tn קוֹל (qol, “voice”) is used at the beginning of the verse as an interjection.

[52:8]  ³⁰ tn Heb “eye in eye”; KJV, ASV “eye to eye”; NAB “directly, before their eyes.”

[60:14]  ³³ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[62:1]  ³⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[62:1]  ³⁸ tn Heb “goes forth like brightness.”

[62:11]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “to the end of the earth” (so NASB, NRSV).

[62:11]  ⁴² sn As v. 12 indicates, the returning exiles are the Lord’s reward/prize. See also 40:10 and the note there.