Isaiah 39:4

39:4 Isaiah ¹  asked, “What have they seen in your palace?” Hezekiah replied, “They have seen everything in my palace. I showed them everything in my treasuries.”

Isaiah 41:5

41:5 The coastlands ²  see and are afraid;

the whole earth ³  trembles;

they approach and come.

Isaiah 5:12

5:12 They have stringed instruments, ⁴  tambourines, flutes,

and wine at their parties.

So they do not recognize what the Lord is doing,

they do not perceive what he is bringing about. ⁵ 

Isaiah 6:9

6:9 He said, “Go and tell these people:

‘Listen continually, but don’t understand!

Look continually, but don’t perceive!’

Isaiah 9:2

9:2 (9:1) The people walking in darkness

see a bright light; ⁶ 

light shines

on those who live in a land of deep darkness. ⁷ 

Isaiah 52:15

52:15 his form was so marred he no longer looked human ⁸  –

so now ⁹  he will startle ¹⁰  many nations.

Kings will be shocked by his exaltation, ¹¹ 

for they will witness something unannounced to them,

and they will understand something they had not heard about.

Isaiah 6:5

6:5 I said, “Too bad for me! I am destroyed, ¹²  for my lips are contaminated by sin, ¹³  and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. ¹⁴  My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies.” ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 66:19

66:19 I will perform a mighty act among them ¹⁶  and then send some of those who remain to the nations – to Tarshish, Pul, ¹⁷  Lud ¹⁸  (known for its archers ¹⁹ ), Tubal, Javan, ²⁰  and to the distant coastlands ²¹  that have not heard about me or seen my splendor. They will tell the nations of my splendor.

[39:4]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Isaiah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[41:5]  ² tn Or “islands” (NIV, CEV); NCV “faraway places”; NLT “lands beyond the sea.”

[41:5]  ³ tn Heb “the ends of the earth,” but this is a merism, where the earth’s extremities stand for its entirety, i.e., the extremities and everything in between them.

[5:12]  ³ tn Two types of stringed instruments are specifically mentioned in the Hebrew text, the כִּנּוֹר (kinnor, “zither”) and נֶבֶל (nevel, “harp”).

[5:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “the work of the Lord they do not look at, and the work of his hands they do not see.” God’s “work” can sometimes be his creative deeds, but in this context it is the judgment that he is planning to bring upon his people (cf. vv. 19, 26; 10:12; 28:21).

[9:2]  ⁴ sn The darkness symbolizes judgment and its effects (see 8:22); the light represents deliverance and its effects, brought about by the emergence of a conquering Davidic king (see vv. 3-6).

[9:2]  ⁵ tn Traditionally צַלְמָוֶת (tsalmavet) has been interpreted as a compound noun, meaning “shadow of death” (so KJV, ASV, NIV), but usage indicates that the word, though it sometimes refers to death, means “darkness.” The term should probably be repointed as an abstract noun צַלְמוּת (tsalmut). See the note at Ps 23:4.

[52:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “and his form from the sons of men.” The preposition מִן (min) here carries the sense “away from,” i.e., “so as not to be.”

[52:15]  ⁶ tn This statement completes the sentence begun in v. 14a. The introductory כֵּן (ken) answers to the introductory כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher) of v. 14a. Verses 14b-15a are parenthetical, explaining why many were horrified.

[52:15]  ⁷ tn Traditionally the verb יַזֶּה (yazzeh, a Hiphil stem) has been understood as a causative of נָזָה (nazah, “spurt, spatter”) and translated “sprinkle.” In this case the passage pictures the servant as a priest who “sprinkles” (or spiritually cleanses) the nations. Though the verb נָזָה does occur in the Hiphil with the meaning “sprinkle,” the usual interpretation is problematic. In all other instances where the object or person sprinkled is indicated, the verb is combined with a preposition. This is not the case in Isaiah 52:15, unless one takes the following עָלָיו (’alayv, “on him”) with the preceding line. But then one would have to emend the verb to a plural, make the nations the subject of the verb “sprinkle,” and take the servant as the object. Consequently some interpreters doubt the cultic idea of “sprinkling” is present here. Some emend the text; others propose a homonymic root meaning “spring, leap,” which in the Hiphil could mean “cause to leap, startle” and would fit the parallelism of the verse nicely.

[52:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “Because of him kings will shut their mouths,” i.e., be speechless.

[6:5]  ⁶ tn Isaiah uses the suffixed (perfect) form of the verb for rhetorical purposes. In this way his destruction is described as occurring or as already completed. Rather than understanding the verb as derived from דָּמַה (damah, “be destroyed”), some take it from a proposed homonymic root דמה, which would mean “be silent.” In this case, one might translate, “I must be silent.”

[6:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “a man unclean of lips am I.” Isaiah is not qualified to praise the king. His lips (the instruments of praise) are “unclean” because he has been contaminated by sin.

[6:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “and among a nation unclean of lips I live.”

[6:5]  ⁹ tn Perhaps in this context, the title has a less militaristic connotation and pictures the Lord as the ruler of the heavenly assembly. See the note at 1:9.

[66:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “and I will set a sign among them.” The precise meaning of this statement is unclear. Elsewhere “to set a sign” means “perform a mighty act” (Ps 78:43; Jer 32:20), “make [someone] an object lesson” (Ezek 14:8), and “erect a [literal] standard” (Ps 74:4).

[66:19]  ⁸ tn Some prefer to read “Put” (i.e., Libya).

[66:19]  ⁹ sn That is, Lydia (in Asia Minor).

[66:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “drawers of the bow” (KJV and ASV both similar).

[66:19]  ¹¹ sn Javan is generally identified today as Greece (so NIV, NCV, NLT).

[66:19]  ¹² tn Or “islands” (NIV).