Discovery BoxIsaiah 4:2
Contextthe crops given by the Lord will bring admiration and honor; 2
the produce of the land will be a source of pride and delight
to those who remain in Israel. 3
Isaiah 13:19
Context13:19 Babylon, the most admired 4 of kingdoms,
the Chaldeans’ source of honor and pride, 5
will be destroyed by God
just as Sodom and Gomorrah were. 6
Isaiah 28:1
Context28:1 The splendid crown of Ephraim’s drunkards is doomed, 7
the withering flower, its beautiful splendor, 8
situated 9 at the head of a rich valley,
the crown of those overcome with wine. 10
Isaiah 44:13
Context44:13 A carpenter takes measurements; 11
he marks out an outline of its form; 12
he scrapes 13 it with chisels,
and marks it with a compass.
He patterns it after the human form, 14
like a well-built human being,
and puts it in a shrine. 15
Isaiah 60:7
Context60:7 All the sheep of Kedar will be gathered to you;
the rams of Nebaioth will be available to you as sacrifices. 16
They will go up on my altar acceptably, 17
and I will bestow honor on my majestic temple.
Isaiah 63:14-15
Context63:14 Like an animal that goes down into a valley to graze, 18
so the Spirit of the Lord granted them rest.
In this way 19 you guided your people,
gaining for yourself an honored reputation. 20
63:15 Look down from heaven and take notice,
from your holy, majestic palace!
Where are your zeal 21 and power?
Do not hold back your tender compassion! 22
Isaiah 64:11
Context64:11 Our holy temple, our pride and joy, 23
the place where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned with fire;
all our prized possessions have been destroyed. 24
[4:2] 1 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).
[4:2] 2 tn Heb “and the vegetation of the Lord will become beauty and honor.” Many English versions understand the phrase צֶמַח יְהוָה (tsemakh yÿhvah) as a messianic reference and render it, “the Branch of the Lord” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT, and others). Though צֶמַח (tsemakh) is used by later prophets of a royal descendant (Jer 23;5; 33:15; Zech 3:8; 6:12), those passages contain clear contextual indicators that a human ruler is in view and that the word is being used in a metaphorical way of offspring. However, in Isa 4:2 there are no such contextual indicators. To the contrary, in the parallel structure of the verse צֶמַח יְהוָה corresponds to “produce of the land,” a phrase that refers elsewhere exclusively to literal agricultural produce (see Num 13:20, 26; Deut 1:25). In the majority of its uses צֶמַח refers to literal crops or vegetation (in Ps 65:10 the Lord is the source of this vegetation). A reference to the Lord restoring crops would make excellent sense in Isa 4 and the prophets frequently included this theme in their visions of the future age (see Isa 30:23-24; 32:20; Jer 31:12; Ezek 34:26-29; and Amos 9:13-14).
[4:2] 3 tn Heb “and the fruit of the land will become pride and beauty for the remnant of Israel.”
[13:19] 4 tn Or “most beautiful” (NCV, TEV).
[13:19] 5 tn Heb “the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans.”
[13:19] 6 tn Heb “and Babylon…will be like the overthrow by God of Sodom and Gomorrah.” On מַהְפֵּכַת (mahpekhat, “overthrow”) see the note on the word “destruction” in 1:7.
[28:1] 7 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] 8 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] 10 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.
[44:13] 10 tn Heb “stretches out a line” (ASV similar); NIV “measures with a line.”
[44:13] 11 tn Heb “he makes an outline with the [?].” The noun שֶׂרֶד (shered) occurs only here; it apparently refers to some type of tool or marker. Cf. KJV “with a line”; ASV “with a pencil”; NAB, NRSV “with a stylus”; NASB “with red chalk”; NIV “with a marker.”
[44:13] 12 tn Heb “works” (so NASB) or “fashions” (so NRSV); NIV “he roughs it out.”
[44:13] 13 tn Heb “he makes it like the pattern of a man”; NAB “like a man in appearance.”
[44:13] 14 tn Heb “like the glory of man to sit [in] a house”; NIV “that it may dwell in a shrine.”
[60:7] 13 tn Heb “will serve you,” i.e., be available as sacrifices (see the next line). Another option is to understood these “rams” as symbolic of leaders who will be subject to the people of Zion. See v. 10.
[60:7] 14 tc Heb “they will go up on acceptance [on] my altar.” Some have suggested that the preposition עַל (’al) is dittographic (note the preceding יַעֲלוּ [ya’alu]). Consequently, the form should be emended to לְרָצוֹן (lÿratson, “acceptably”; see BDB 953 s.v. רָצוֹן). However, the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has both לרצון followed by the preposition על, which would argue against deleted the preposition. As the above translation seeks to demonstrate, the preposition עַל (’al) indicates a norm (“in accordance with acceptance” or “acceptably”; IBHS 218 §11.2.13e, n. 111) and the “altar” functions as an objective accusative with a verb of motion (cf. Gen 49:4; Lev 2:2; Num 13:17; J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 2:534, n. 14).
[63:14] 16 tn The words “to graze” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[63:14] 17 tn Or “so” (KJV, ASV), or “thus” (NAB, NRSV).
[63:14] 18 tn Heb “making for yourself a majestic name.”
[63:15] 19 tn This probably refers to his zeal for his people, which motivates him to angrily strike out against their enemies.
[63:15] 20 tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “the agitation of your intestines and your compassion to me they are held back.” The phrase “agitation of your intestines” is metonymic, referring to the way in which one’s nervous system reacts when one feels pity and compassion toward another. אֵלַי (’elay, “to me”) is awkward in this context, where the speaker represents the nation and, following the introduction (see v. 7), utilizes first person plural forms. The translation assumes an emendation to the negative particle אַל (’al). This also necessitates emending the following verb form (which is a plural perfect) to a singular jussive (תִתְאַפָּק, tit’appaq). The Hitpael of אָפַק (’afaq) also occurs in 42:14.
