Isaiah 40:30

40:30 Even youths get tired and weary;

even strong young men clumsily stumble. ¹ 

Isaiah 35:3

35:3 Strengthen the hands that have gone limp,

steady the knees that shake! ² 

Isaiah 63:13

63:13 who led them through the deep water?

Like a horse running on flat land ³  they did not stumble.

Isaiah 8:15

8:15 Many will stumble over the stone and the rock, ⁴ 

and will fall and be seriously injured,

and will be ensnared and captured.”

Isaiah 59:10

59:10 We grope along the wall like the blind,

we grope like those who cannot see; ⁵ 

we stumble at noontime as if it were evening.

Though others are strong, we are like dead men. ⁶ 

Isaiah 3:8

3:8 Jerusalem certainly stumbles,

Judah falls,

for their words and their actions offend the Lord; ⁷ 

they rebel against his royal authority. ⁸ 

Isaiah 5:27

5:27 None tire or stumble,

they don’t stop to nap or sleep.

They don’t loosen their belts,

or unstrap their sandals to rest. ⁹ 

Isaiah 31:3

31:3 The Egyptians are mere humans, not God;

their horses are made of flesh, not spirit.

The Lord will strike with ¹⁰  his hand;

the one who helps will stumble

and the one being helped will fall.

Together they will perish. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 59:14

59:14 Justice is driven back;

godliness ¹²  stands far off.

Indeed, ¹³  honesty stumbles in the city square

and morality is not even able to enter.

Isaiah 28:13

28:13 So the Lord’s word to them will sound like

meaningless gibberish,

senseless babbling,

a syllable here, a syllable there. ¹⁴ 

As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk, ¹⁵ 

and be injured, ensnared, and captured. ¹⁶ 

[40:30]  ¹ tn Heb “stumbling they stumble.” The verbal idea is emphasized by the infinitive absolute.

[35:3]  ² tn Heb “staggering knees”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “feeble knees”; NIV “knees that give way.”

[63:13]  ³ tn Heb “in the desert [or “steppe”].”

[8:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “over them” (so NASB); NCV “over this rock.”

[59:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “like there are no eyes.”

[59:10]  ⁶ tn Heb among the strong, like dead men.”

[3:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “for their tongue and their deeds [are] to the Lord.”

[3:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “to rebel [against] the eyes of his majesty.” The word כָּבוֹד (kavod) frequently refers to the Lord’s royal splendor that is an outward manifestation of his authority as king.

[5:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the belt on his waist is not opened, and the thong of his sandals is not torn in two.”

[31:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “will extend”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV “stretch out.”

[31:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “together all of them will come to an end.”

[59:14]  ⁹ tn Or “righteousness” (ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); KJV, NAB “justice.”

[59:14]  ¹⁰ tn Or “for” (KJV, NRSV).

[28:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “And the word of the Lord will be to them, ‘tsahv latsahv,’ etc.” See the note at v. 10. In this case the “Lord’s word” is not the foreigner’s strange sounding words (as in v. 10), but the Lord’s repeated appeals to them (like the one quoted in v. 12). As time goes on, the Lord’s appeals through the prophets will have no impact on the people; they will regard prophetic preaching as gibberish.

[28:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “as a result they will go and stumble backward.” Perhaps an infant falling as it attempts to learn to walk is the background image here (cf. v. 9b). The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) could be taken as indicating purpose (“in order that”), rather than simple result. In this case the people’s insensitivity to the message is caused by the Lord as a means of expediting their downfall.

[28:13]  ¹² sn When divine warnings and appeals become gibberish to the spiritually insensitive, they have no guidance and are doomed to destruction.