Discovery BoxIsaiah 38:8
Context38:8 Look, I will make the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.” 1 And then the shadow went back ten steps. 2
Isaiah 5:10
Context5:10 Indeed, a large vineyard 3 will produce just a few gallons, 4
and enough seed to yield several bushels 5 will produce less than a bushel.” 6
Isaiah 9:8
Context9:8 7 The sovereign master 8 decreed judgment 9 on Jacob,
and it fell on Israel. 10
Isaiah 36:19
Context36:19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? 11 Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria 12 from my power? 13
Isaiah 7:17
Context7:17 The Lord will bring on you, your people, and your father’s family a time 14 unlike any since Ephraim departed from Judah – the king of Assyria!” 15
Isaiah 28:1
Context28:1 The splendid crown of Ephraim’s drunkards is doomed, 16
the withering flower, its beautiful splendor, 17
situated 18 at the head of a rich valley,
the crown of those overcome with wine. 19
[38:8] 1 tn Heb “the shadow on the steps which [the sun] had gone down, on the steps of Ahaz, with the sun, back ten steps.”
[38:8] 2 tn Heb “and the sun returned ten steps on the steps which it had gone down.”
[5:10] 3 tn Heb “a ten-yoke vineyard.” The Hebrew term צֶמֶד (tsemed, “yoke”) is here a unit of square measure. Apparently a ten-yoke vineyard covered the same amount of land it would take ten teams of oxen to plow in a certain period of time. The exact size is unknown.
[5:10] 4 tn Heb “one bath.” A bath was a liquid measure. Estimates of its modern equivalent range from approximately six to twelve gallons.
[5:10] 5 tn Heb “a homer.” A homer was a dry measure, the exact size of which is debated. Cf. NCV “ten bushels”; CEV “five bushels.”
[5:10] 6 tn Heb “an ephah.” An ephah was a dry measure; there were ten ephahs in a homer. So this verse envisions major crop failure, where only one-tenth of the anticipated harvest is realized.
[9:8] 5 sn The following speech (9:8-10:4) assumes that God has already sent judgment (see v. 9), but it also announces that further judgment is around the corner (10:1-4). The speech seems to describe a series of past judgments on the northern kingdom which is ready to intensify further in the devastation announced in 10:1-4. It may have been written prior to the Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom in 734-733
[9:8] 6 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in v. 17 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
[9:8] 7 tn Heb “sent a word” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NASB “sends a message.”
[9:8] 8 tn The present translation assumes that this verse refers to judgment that had already fallen. Both verbs (perfects) are taken as indicating simple past; the vav (ו) on the second verb is understood as a simple vav conjunctive. Another option is to understand the verse as describing a future judgment (see 10:1-4). In this case the first verb is a perfect of certitude; the vav on the second verb is a vav consecutive.
[36:19] 7 tn The rhetorical questions in v. 34a suggest the answer, “Nowhere, they seem to have disappeared in the face of Assyria’s might.”
[36:19] 8 map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.
[36:19] 9 tn Heb “that they rescued Samaria from my hand?” But this gives the impression that the gods of Sepharvaim were responsible for protecting Samaria, which is obviously not the case. The implied subject of the plural verb “rescued” must be the generic “gods of the nations/lands” (vv. 18, 20).
[7:17] 9 tn Heb “days” (so KJV, NAB); NASB, NRSV “such days.”
[7:17] 10 sn Initially the prophecy appears to be a message of salvation. Immanuel seems to have a positive ring to it, sour milk and honey elsewhere symbolize prosperity and blessing (see Deut 32:13-14; Job 20:17), verse 16 announces the defeat of Judah’s enemies, and verse 17a could be taken as predicting a return to the glorious days of David and Solomon. However, the message turns sour in verses 17b-25. God will be with his people in judgment, as well as salvation. The curds and honey will be signs of deprivation, not prosperity, the relief announced in verse 16 will be short-lived, and the new era will be characterized by unprecedented humiliation, not a return to glory. Because of Ahaz’s refusal to trust the Lord, potential blessing would be transformed into a curse, just as Isaiah turns an apparent prophecy of salvation into a message of judgment. Because the words “the king of Assyria” are rather awkwardly tacked on to the end of the sentence, some regard them as a later addition. However, the very awkwardness facilitates the prophet’s rhetorical strategy here, as he suddenly turns what sounds like a positive message into a judgment speech. Actually, “the king of Assyria,” stands in apposition to the earlier object “days,” and specifies who the main character of these coming “days” will be.
[28:1] 11 tn Heb “Woe [to] the crown [or “wreath”] of the splendor [or “pride”] of the drunkards of Ephraim.” The “crown” is Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom (Ephraim). Priests and prophets are included among these drunkards in v. 7.
[28:1] 12 tn Heb “the beauty of his splendor.” In the translation the masculine pronoun (“his”) has been replaced by “its” because the referent (the “crown”) is the city of Samaria.
[28:1] 13 tn Heb “which [is].”
[28:1] 14 tn Heb “ones overcome with wine.” The words “the crown of” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The syntactical relationship of the final phrase to what precedes is uncertain. הֲלוּמֵי יָיִן (halume yayin, “ones overcome with wine”) seems to correspond to שִׁכֹּרֵי אֶפְרַיִם (shikkore ’efrayim, “drunkards of Ephraim”) in line 1. The translation assumes that the phrase “the splendid crown” is to be understood in the final line as well.
