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 30:29

30:29 You will sing

as you do in the evening when you are celebrating a festival.

You will be happy like one who plays a flute

as he goes to the mountain of the Lord, the Rock who shelters Israel. ⁶ 

Isaiah 60:16

60:16 You will drink the milk of nations;

you will nurse at the breasts of kings. ⁷ 

Then you will recognize that I, the Lord, am your deliverer,

your protector, ⁸  the powerful ruler of Jacob. ⁹ 

Isaiah 64:7

64:7 No one invokes ¹⁰  your name,

or makes an effort ¹¹  to take hold of you.

For you have rejected us ¹² 

and handed us over to our own sins. ¹³ 

[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.

[30:29]  ⁶ tn Heb “[you will have] joy of heart, like the one going with a flute to enter the mountain of the Lord to the Rock of Israel.” The image here is not a foundational rock, but a rocky cliff where people could hide for protection (for example, the fortress of Masada).

[60:16]  ¹¹ sn The nations and kings are depicted as a mother nursing her children. Restored Zion will be nourished by them as she receives their wealth as tribute.

[60:16]  ¹² tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[60:16]  ¹³ sn See 1:24 and 49:26.

[64:7]  ¹⁶ tn Or “calls out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “calls on.”

[64:7]  ¹⁷ tn Or “rouses himself”; NASB “arouses himself.”

[64:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “for you have hidden your face from us.”

[64:7]  ¹⁹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and you caused us to melt in the hand of our sin.” The verb וַתְּמוּגֵנוּ (vattÿmugenu) is a Qal preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the root מוּג (mug, “melt”). However, elsewhere the Qal of this verb is intransitive. If the verbal root מוּג (mug) is retained here, the form should be emended to a Polel pattern (וַתְּמֹגְגֵנוּ, vattÿmogÿgenu). The translation assumes an emendation to וַתְּמַגְּנֵנוּ (vattÿmaggÿnenu, “and you handed us over”). This form is a Piel preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the verbal root מִגֵּן (miggen, “hand over, surrender”; see HALOT 545 s.v. מגן and BDB 171 s.v. מָגָן). The point is that God has abandoned them to their sinful ways and no longer seeks reconciliation.