Isaiah 40:24

40:24 Indeed, they are barely planted;

yes, they are barely sown;

yes, they barely take root in the earth,

and then he blows on them, causing them to dry up,

and the wind carries them away like straw.

Isaiah 26:14

26:14 The dead do not come back to life,

the spirits of the dead do not rise. ¹ 

That is because ²  you came in judgment ³  and destroyed them,

you wiped out all memory of them.

Isaiah 33:23

33:23 Though at this time your ropes are slack, ⁴ 

the mast is not secured, ⁵ 

and the sail ⁶  is not unfurled,

at that time you will divide up a great quantity of loot; ⁷ 

even the lame will drag off plunder. ⁸ 

Isaiah 44:9

44:9 All who form idols are nothing;

the things in which they delight are worthless.

Their witnesses cannot see;

they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.

Isaiah 33:20

33:20 Look at Zion, the city where we hold religious festivals!

You ⁹  will see Jerusalem, ¹⁰ 

a peaceful settlement,

a tent that stays put; ¹¹ 

its stakes will never be pulled up;

none of its ropes will snap in two.

Isaiah 26:10

26:10 If the wicked are shown mercy,

they do not learn about justice. ¹² 

Even in a land where right is rewarded, they act unjustly; ¹³ 

they do not see the Lord’s majesty revealed.

Isaiah 43:17

43:17 the one who led chariots and horses to destruction, ¹⁴ 

together with a mighty army.

They fell down, ¹⁵  never to rise again;

they were extinguished, put out like a burning wick:

Isaiah 46:1

The Lord Carries His People

46:1 Bel ¹⁶  kneels down,

Nebo ¹⁷  bends low.

Their images weigh down animals and beasts. ¹⁸ 

Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals. ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 14:21

14:21 Prepare to execute ²⁰  his sons

for the sins their ancestors have committed. ²¹ 

They must not rise up and take possession of the earth,

or fill the surface of the world with cities.” ²² 

Isaiah 26:11

26:11 O Lord, you are ready to act, ²³ 

but they don’t even notice.

They will see and be put to shame by your angry judgment against humankind, ²⁴ 

yes, fire will consume your enemies. ²⁵ 

Isaiah 26:18

26:18 We were pregnant, we strained,

we gave birth, as it were, to wind. ²⁶ 

We cannot produce deliverance on the earth;

people to populate the world are not born. ²⁷ 

Isaiah 35:9

35:9 No lions will be there,

no ferocious wild animals will be on it ²⁸  –

they will not be found there.

Those delivered from bondage will travel on it,

Isaiah 44:8

44:8 Don’t panic! Don’t be afraid! ²⁹ 

Did I not tell you beforehand and decree it?

You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me?

There is no other sheltering rock; ³⁰  I know of none.

Isaiah 33:21

33:21 Instead the Lord will rule there as our mighty king. ³¹ 

Rivers and wide streams will flow through it; ³² 

no war galley will enter; ³³ 

no large ships will sail through. ³⁴ 

[26:14]  ¹ sn In light of what is said in verse 14b, the “dead” here may be the “masters” mentioned in verse 13.

[26:14]  ² tn The Hebrew term לָכֵן (lakhen) normally indicates a cause-effect relationship between what precedes and follows and is translated, “therefore.” Here, however, it infers the cause from the effect and brings out what is implicit in the previous statement. See BDB 487 s.v.

[26:14]  ³ tn Heb “visited [for harm]” (cf. KJV, ASV); NAB, NRSV “you have punished.”

[33:23]  ¹ tn The words “though at this time” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The first half of the verse is addressed to Judah and contrasts the nation’s present weakness with its future prosperity. Judah is compared to a ship that is incapable of sailing.

[33:23]  ² tn Heb “they do not fasten the base of their mast.” On כֵּן (ken, “base”) see BDB 487 s.v. III כֵּן and HALOT 483 s.v. III כֵּן.

[33:23]  ³ tn Or perhaps, “flag.”

[33:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “then there will be divided up loot of plunder [in] abundance.”

[33:23]  ⁵ sn Judah’s victory over its enemies will be so thorough there will be more than enough plunder for everyone, even slow-moving lame men who would normally get left out in the rush to gather the loot.

[33:20]  ¹ tn Heb “your eyes” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[33:20]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[33:20]  ³ tn Or “that does not travel”; NASB “which shall not be folded.”

[26:10]  ¹ tn As in verse 9b, the translation understands צֶדֶק (tsedeq) in the sense of “justice,” but it is possible that it carries the nuance “righteousness,” in which case one might translate, “they do not learn to live in a righteous manner.”

[26:10]  ² tn Heb “in a land of uprightness they act unjustly”; NRSV “they deal perversely.”

[43:17]  ¹ tn Heb “led out chariots and horses.” The words “to destruction” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The verse refers to the destruction of the Egyptians at the Red Sea.

[43:17]  ² tn Heb “lay down”; NAB “lie prostrate together”; CEV “lie dead”; NRSV “they lie down.”

[46:1]  ¹ sn Bel was the name of a Babylonian god. The name was originally associated with Enlil, but later was applied to Marduk. See HALOT 132 s.v. בֵּל.

[46:1]  ² sn Nebo is a variation of the name of the Babylonian god Nabu.

[46:1]  ³ tn Heb “their images belong to animals and beasts”; NIV “their idols are borne by beasts of burden”; NLT “are being hauled away.”

[46:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “your loads are carried [as] a burden by a weary [animal].”

[14:21]  ¹ tn Or “the place of slaughter for.”

[14:21]  ² tn Heb “for the sin of their fathers.”

[14:21]  ³ sn J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:320, n. 10) suggests that the garrison cities of the mighty empire are in view here.

[26:11]  ¹ tn Heb “O Lord, your hand is lifted up.”

[26:11]  ² tn Heb “They will see and be ashamed of zeal of people.” Some take the prefixed verbs as jussives and translate the statement as a prayer, “Let them see and be put to shame.” The meaning of the phrase קִנְאַת־עָם (qin’at-’am, “zeal of people”) is unclear. The translation assumes that this refers to God’s angry judgment upon people. Another option is to understand the phrase as referring to God’s zealous, protective love of his covenant people. In this case one might translate, “by your zealous devotion to your people.”

[26:11]  ³ tn Heb “yes, fire, your enemies, will consume them.” Many understand the prefixed verb form to be jussive and translate, “let [fire] consume” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV). The mem suffixed to the verb may be enclitic; if a pronominal suffix, it refers back to “your enemies.”

[26:18]  ¹ 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]  ² 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.

[35:9]  ¹ tn Heb “will go up on it”; TEV “will pass that way.”

[44:8]  ¹ tn BDB 923 s.v. רָהָה derives this verb from an otherwise unattested root, while HALOT 403 s.v. יָרָה defines it as “be stupefied” on the basis of an Arabic cognate. The form is likely a corruption of תיראו, the reading attested in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a.

[44:8]  ² tn Heb “rock” or “rocky cliff,” a title that depicts God as a protective refuge in his role as sovereign king; thus the translation “sheltering rock.”

[33:21]  ¹ tn Heb “But there [as] a mighty one [will be] the Lord for us.”

[33:21]  ² tn Heb “a place of rivers, streams wide of hands [i.e., on both sides].”

[33:21]  ³ tn Heb “a ship of rowing will not go into it.”

[33:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “and a mighty ship will not pass through it.”