Isaiah 45:13

45:13 It is me – I stir him up and commission him; ¹ 

I will make all his ways level.

He will rebuild my city;

he will send my exiled people home,

but not for a price or a bribe,”

says the Lord who commands armies.

Isaiah 58:6

58:6 No, this is the kind of fast I want. ² 

I want you ³  to remove the sinful chains,

to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke,

to set free the oppressed, ⁴ 

and to break every burdensome yoke.

Isaiah 58:2

58:2 They seek me day after day;

they want to know my requirements, ⁵ 

like a nation that does what is right

and does not reject the law of their God.

They ask me for just decrees;

they want to be near God.

Isaiah 28:8-15

28:8 Indeed, all the tables are covered with vomit;

no place is untouched. ⁶ 

28:9 Who is the Lord ⁷  trying to teach?

To whom is he explaining a message? ⁸ 

Those just weaned from milk!

Those just taken from their mother’s breast! ⁹ 

28:10 Indeed, they will hear meaningless gibberish,

senseless babbling,

a syllable here, a syllable there. ¹⁰ 

28:11 For with mocking lips and a foreign tongue

he will speak to these people. ¹¹ 

28:12 In the past he said to them, ¹² 

“This is where security can be found.

Provide security for the one who is exhausted!

This is where rest can be found.” ¹³ 

But they refused to listen.

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 

The Lord Will Judge Jerusalem

28:14 Therefore, listen to the Lord’s word,

you who mock,

you rulers of these people

who reside in Jerusalem! ¹⁷ 

28:15 For you say,

“We have made a treaty with death,

with Sheol ¹⁸  we have made an agreement. ¹⁹ 

When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by ²⁰ 

it will not reach us.

For we have made a lie our refuge,

we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.” ²¹ 

Ezra 1:2-4

1:2 “Thus says King Cyrus of Persia:

“‘The Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has instructed me to build a temple ²²  for him in Jerusalem, ²³  which is in Judah. 1:3 Anyone from ²⁴  his people among you (may his God be with him!) may go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and may build the temple of the Lord God of Israel – he is the God who is in Jerusalem. 1:4 Anyone who survives in any of those places where he is a resident foreigner must be helped by his neighbors ²⁵  with silver, gold, equipment, and animals, along with voluntary offerings for the temple of God which is in Jerusalem.’”

[45:13]  ¹ tn Heb “I stir him up in righteousness”; NASB “I have aroused him.” See the note at 41:2. Cyrus (cf. 44:28) is in view here.

[58:6]  ² tn Heb “Is this not a fast I choose?” “No” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[58:6]  ³ tn The words “I want you” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[58:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “crushed.”

[58:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “ways” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV); NLT “my laws.”

[28:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “vomit, without a place.” For the meaning of the phrase בְּלִי מָקוֹם (bÿli maqom, “without a place”), see HALOT 133 s.v. בְּלִי.

[28:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “Who is he teaching knowledge? For whom is he explaining a message?” The translation assumes that the Lord is the subject of the verbs “teaching” and “explaining,” and that the prophet is asking the questions. See v. 12. According to some vv. 9-10 record the people’s sarcastic response to the Lord’s message through Isaiah.

[28:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “from the breasts.” The words “their mother’s” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The translation assumes that this is the prophet’s answer to the questions asked in the first half of the verse. The Lord is trying to instruct people who are “infants” morally and ethically.

[28:10]  ¹⁰ tn The meaning of this verse has been debated. The text has literally “indeed [or “for”] a little there, a little there” ( כִּי צַו לָצָו צַו לָצָו קַו לָקָו קַו, ki tsav latsav, tsav latsav, qav laqav, qav laqav). The present translation assumes that the repetitive syllables are gibberish that resembles baby talk (cf v. 9b) and mimics what the people will hear when foreign invaders conquer the land (v. 11). In this case זְעֵיר (zÿ’er, “a little”) refers to the short syllabic structure of the babbling (cf. CEV). Some take צַו (tsav) as a derivative of צָוָה (tsavah, “command”) and translate the first part of the statement as “command after command, command after command.” Proponents of this position (followed by many English versions) also take קַו (qav) as a noun meaning “measuring line” (see v. 17), understood here in the abstract sense of “standard” or “rule.”

[28:11]  ¹¹ sn This verse alludes to the coming Assyrian invasion, when the people will hear a foreign language that sounds like gibberish to them. The Lord is the subject of the verb “will speak,” as v. 12 makes clear. He once spoke in meaningful terms, but in the coming judgment he will speak to them, as it were, through the mouth of foreign oppressors. The apparent gibberish they hear will be an outward reminder that God has decreed their defeat.

[28:12]  ¹² tn Heb “who said to them.”

[28:12]  ¹³ sn This message encapsulates the Lord’s invitation to his people to find security in his protection and blessing.

[28:13]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ sn When divine warnings and appeals become gibberish to the spiritually insensitive, they have no guidance and are doomed to destruction.

[28:14]  ¹⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[28:15]  ¹⁸ sn Sheol is the underworld, land of the dead, according to the OT world view.

[28:15]  ¹⁹ tn Elsewhere the noun חֹזֶה (khozeh) refers to a prophet who sees visions. In v. 18 the related term חָזוּת (khazut, “vision”) is used. The parallelism in both verses (note “treaty”) seems to demand a meaning “agreement” for both nouns. Perhaps חֹזֶה and חזוּת are used in a metonymic sense in vv. 15 and 18. Another option is to propose a homonymic root. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:514, and HALOT 301 s.v. II חֹזֶה.

[28:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the overwhelming scourge, when it passes by” (NRSV similar).

[28:15]  ²¹ sn “Lie” and “deceitful word” would not be the terms used by the people. They would likely use the words “promise” and “reliable word,” but the prophet substitutes “lie” and “deceitful word” to emphasize that this treaty with death will really prove to be disappointing.

[1:2]  ²² tn Heb “house.” The Hebrew noun בַּיִת (bayit, “house”) is often used in reference to the temple of Yahweh (BDB 108 s.v. 1.a). This is also frequent elsewhere in Ezra and Nehemiah (e.g., Ezra 1:3, 4, 5, 7; 2:68; 3:8, 9, 11, 12; 4:3; 6:22; 7:27; 8:17, 25, 29, 30, 33, 36; 9:9; 10:1, 6, 9).

[1:2]  ²³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:3]  ²⁴ tn Heb “from all.”

[1:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the men of his place.”