Isaiah 4:2

The Branch of the Lord

4:2 At that time ¹ 

the 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 23:18

23:18 Her profits and earnings will be set apart for the Lord. They will not be stored up or accumulated, for her profits will be given to those who live in the Lord’s presence and will be used to purchase large quantities of food and beautiful clothes. ⁴ 

Isaiah 26:18

26:18 We were pregnant, we strained,

we gave birth, as it were, to wind. ⁵ 

We cannot produce deliverance on the earth;

people to populate the world are not born. ⁶ 

Isaiah 29:23

29:23 For when they see their children,

whom I will produce among them, ⁷ 

they will honor ⁸  my name.

They will honor the Holy One of Jacob; ⁹ 

they will respect ¹⁰  the God of Israel.

Isaiah 41:18

41:18 I will make streams flow down the slopes

and produce springs in the middle of the valleys.

I will turn the desert into a pool of water

and the arid land into springs.

Isaiah 41:22

41:22 “Let them produce evidence! Let them tell us what will happen!

Tell us about your earlier predictive oracles, ¹¹ 

so we may examine them ¹²  and see how they were fulfilled. ¹³ 

Or decree for us some future events!

Isaiah 42:5

42:5 This is what the true God, ¹⁴  the Lord, says –

the one who created the sky and stretched it out,

the one who fashioned the earth and everything that lives on it, ¹⁵ 

the one who gives breath to the people on it,

and life to those who live on it: ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 55:10

55:10 ¹⁷ The rain and snow fall from the sky

and do not return,

but instead water the earth

and make it produce and yield crops,

and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat.

Isaiah 60:5

60:5 Then you will look and smile, ¹⁸ 

you will be excited and your heart will swell with pride. ¹⁹ 

For the riches of distant lands ²⁰  will belong to you

and the wealth of nations will come to you.

Isaiah 61:11

61:11 For just as the ground produces its crops

and a garden yields its produce,

so the sovereign Lord will cause deliverance ²¹  to grow,

and give his people reason to praise him in the sight of all the nations. ²² 

Isaiah 62:8

62:8 The Lord swears an oath by his right hand,

by his strong arm: ²³ 

“I will never again give your grain

to your enemies as food,

and foreigners will not drink your wine,

which you worked hard to produce.

[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.”

[23:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “for eating to fullness and for beautiful covering[s].”

[26:18]  ⁷ tn On the use of כְּמוֹ (kÿmo, “like, as”) here, see BDB 455 s.v. Israel’s distress and suffering, likened here to the pains of childbirth, seemed to be for no purpose. A woman in labor endures pain with the hope that a child will be born; in Israel’s case no such positive outcome was apparent. The nation was like a woman who strains to bring forth a child, but can’t push the baby through to daylight. All her effort produces nothing.

[26:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “and the inhabitants of the world do not fall.” The term נָפַל (nafal) apparently means here, “be born,” though the Qal form of the verb is not used with this nuance anywhere else in the OT. (The Hiphil appears to be used in the sense of “give birth” in v. 19, however.) The implication of verse 18b seems to be that Israel hoped its suffering would somehow end in deliverance and an increase in population. The phrase “inhabitants of the world” seems to refer to the human race in general, but the next verse, which focuses on Israel’s dead, suggests the referent may be more limited.

[29:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for when he sees his children, the work of my hands in his midst.”

[29:23]  ¹¹ tn Or “treat as holy” (also in the following line); NASB, NRSV “will sanctify.”

[29:23]  ¹² sn Holy One of Jacob is similar to the phrase “Holy One of Israel” common throughout Isaiah; see the sn at Isa 1:4.

[29:23]  ¹³ tn Or “fear,” in the sense of “stand in awe of.”

[41:22]  ¹³ tn Heb “As for the former things, tell us what they are!”

[41:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “so we might set [them to] our heart.”

[41:22]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and might know their outcome.”

[42:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the God.” The definite article here indicates distinctiveness or uniqueness.

[42:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and its offspring” (so NASB); NIV “all that comes out of it.”

[42:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and spirit [i.e., “breath”] to the ones walking in it” (NAB, NASB, and NRSV all similar).

[55:10]  ¹⁹ tn This verse begins in the Hebrew text with כִּי כַּאֲשֶׁר (ki ka’asher, “for, just as”), which is completed by כֵּן (ken, “so, in the same way”) at the beginning of v. 11. For stylistic reasons, this lengthy sentence is divided up into separate sentences in the translation.

[60:5]  ²² tn Or “shine,” or “be radiant” (NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[60:5]  ²³ tn Heb “and it will tremble and be wide, your heart.”

[60:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the wealth of the sea,” i.e., wealth that is transported from distant lands via the sea.

[61:11]  ²⁵ tn Or perhaps, “righteousness,” but the context seems to emphasize deliverance and restoration (see v. 10 and 62:1).

[61:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and praise before all the nations.”

[62:8]  ²⁸ tn The Lord’s right hand and strong arm here symbolize his power and remind the audience that his might guarantees the fulfillment of the following promise.