Isaiah 4:1

4:1 Seven women will grab hold of

one man at that time. ¹ 

They will say, “We will provide ²  our own food,

we will provide ³  our own clothes;

but let us belong to you ⁴  –

take away our shame!” ⁵ 

Isaiah 22:21

22:21 I will put your robe on him, tie your belt around him, and transfer your authority to him. ⁶  He will become a protector of ⁷  the residents of Jerusalem and of the people ⁸  of Judah.

Isaiah 49:18

49:18 Look all around you! ⁹ 

All of them gather to you.

As surely as I live,” says the Lord,

“you will certainly wear all of them like jewelry;

you will put them on as if you were a bride.

Isaiah 51:9

51:9 Wake up! Wake up!

Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord! ¹⁰ 

Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity!

Did you not smash ¹¹  the Proud One? ¹² 

Did you not ¹³  wound the sea monster? ¹⁴ 

[4:1]  ¹ tn Or “in that day” (ASV).

[4:1]  ² tn Heb “eat” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “buy.”

[4:1]  ³ tn Heb “wear” (so NASB, NRSV); NCV “make.”

[4:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “only let your name be called over us.” The Hebrew idiom “call the name over” indicates ownership. See 2 Sam 12:28, and BDB 896 s.v. I ָקרָא Niph. 2.d.(4). The language reflects the cultural reality of ancient Israel, where women were legally the property of their husbands.

[4:1]  ⁵ sn This refers to the humiliation of being unmarried and childless. The women’s words reflect the cultural standards of ancient Israel, where a woman’s primary duties were to be a wife and mother.

[22:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “and your dominion I will place in his hand.”

[22:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “a father to.” The Hebrew term אָב (’av, “father”) is here used metaphorically of one who protects and supports those under his care and authority, like a father does his family. For another example of this metaphorical use of the word, see Job 29:16.

[22:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “house.”

[49:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Lift up around your eyes and see.”

[51:9]  ¹⁶ tn The arm of the Lord is a symbol of divine military power. Here it is personified and told to arouse itself from sleep and prepare for action.

[51:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Are you not the one who smashed?” The feminine singular forms agree grammatically with the feminine noun “arm.” The Hebrew text has ַהמַּחְצֶבֶת (hammakhtsevet), from the verbal root חָצַב (khatsav, “hew, chop”). The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has, probably correctly, המחצת, from the verbal root מָחַץ (makhats, “smash”) which is used in Job 26:12 to describe God’s victory over “the Proud One.”

[51:9]  ¹⁸ tn This title (רַהַב, rahav, “proud one”) is sometimes translated as a proper name: “Rahab” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). It is used here of a symbolic sea monster, known elsewhere in the Bible and in Ugaritic myth as Leviathan. This sea creature symbolizes the forces of chaos that seek to destroy the created order. In the Bible “the Proud One” opposes God’s creative work, but is defeated (see Job 26:12; Ps 89:10). Here the title refers to Pharaoh’s Egyptian army that opposed Israel at the Red Sea (see v. 10, and note also Isa 30:7 and Ps 87:4, where the title is used of Egypt).

[51:9]  ¹⁹ tn The words “did you not” are understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line). The rhetorical questions here and in v. 10 expect the answer, “Yes, you certainly did!”

[51:9]  ²⁰ tn Hebrew תַּנִּין (tannin) is another name for the symbolic sea monster. See the note at 27:1. In this context the sea creature represents Egypt. See the note on the title “Proud One” earlier in this verse.