Isaiah 41:5

41:5 The coastlands ¹  see and are afraid;

the whole earth ²  trembles;

they approach and come.

Isaiah 57:3

57:3 But approach, you sons of omen readers,

you offspring of adulteresses and prostitutes! ³ 

Isaiah 34:1

The Lord Will Judge Edom

34:1 Come near, you nations, and listen!

Pay attention, you people!

The earth and everything it contains must listen,

the world and everything that lives in it. ⁴ 

Isaiah 41:21

The Lord Challenges the Pagan Gods

41:21 “Present your argument,” says the Lord.

“Produce your evidence,” ⁵  says Jacob’s king. ⁶ 

Isaiah 48:16

48:16 Approach me! Listen to this!

From the very first I have not spoken in secret;

when it happens, ⁷  I am there.”

So now, the sovereign Lord has sent me, accompanied by his spirit. ⁸ 

[41:5]  ¹ tn Or “islands” (NIV, CEV); NCV “faraway places”; NLT “lands beyond the sea.”

[41:5]  ² tn Heb “the ends of the earth,” but this is a merism, where the earth’s extremities stand for its entirety, i.e., the extremities and everything in between them.

[57:3]  ³ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “offspring of an adulterer [masculine] and [one who] has committed adultery.” Perhaps the text has suffered from transposition of vav (ו) and tav (ת) and מְנָאֵף וַתִּזְנֶה (mÿna’ef vattizneh) should be emended to מְנָאֶפֶת וְזֹנָה (mÿna’efet vÿzonah, “an adulteress and a prostitute”). Both singular nouns would be understood in a collective sense. Most modern English versions render both forms as nouns.

[34:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “the world and its offspring”; NASB “the world and all that springs from it.”

[41:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “strong [words],” see HALOT 870 s.v. *עֲצֻמוֹת.

[41:21]  ⁸ sn Apparently this challenge is addressed to the pagan idol gods, see vv. 23-24.

[48:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “from the time of its occurring.”

[48:16]  ¹⁰ sn The speaker here is not identified specifically, but he is probably Cyrus, the Lord’s “ally” mentioned in vv. 14-15.