Isaiah 49:26

49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;

they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. ¹ 

Then all humankind ²  will recognize that

I am the Lord, your deliverer,

your protector, ³  the powerful ruler of Jacob.” ⁴ 

Isaiah 10:18

10:18 The splendor of his forest and his orchard

will be completely destroyed, ⁵ 

as when a sick man’s life ebbs away. ⁶ 

Isaiah 17:4

17:4 “At that time ⁷ 

Jacob’s splendor will be greatly diminished, ⁸ 

and he will become skin and bones. ⁹ 

Isaiah 40:5

40:5 The splendor ¹⁰  of the Lord will be revealed,

and all people ¹¹  will see it at the same time.

For ¹²  the Lord has decreed it.” ¹³ 

Isaiah 65:4

65:4 They sit among the tombs ¹⁴ 

and keep watch all night long. ¹⁵ 

They eat pork, ¹⁶ 

and broth ¹⁷  from unclean sacrificial meat is in their pans.

Isaiah 66:16

66:16 For the Lord judges all humanity ¹⁸ 

with fire and his sword;

the Lord will kill many. ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 9:20

9:20 They devoured ²⁰  on the right, but were still hungry,

they ate on the left, but were not satisfied.

People even ate ²¹  the flesh of their own arm! ²² 

Isaiah 22:13

22:13 But look, there is outright celebration! ²³ 

You say, “Kill the ox and slaughter the sheep,

eat meat and drink wine.

Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” ²⁴ 

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 ²⁵  his hand;

the one who helps will stumble

and the one being helped will fall.

Together they will perish. ²⁶ 

Isaiah 40:6

40:6 A voice says, “Cry out!”

Another asks, ²⁷  “What should I cry out?”

The first voice responds: ²⁸  “All people are like grass, ²⁹ 

and all their promises ³⁰  are like the flowers in the field.

Isaiah 44:16

44:16 Half of it he burns in the fire –

over that half he cooks ³¹  meat;

he roasts a meal and fills himself.

Yes, he warms himself and says,

‘Ah! I am warm as I look at the fire.’

Isaiah 58:7

58:7 I want you ³²  to share your food with the hungry

and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. ³³ 

When you see someone naked, clothe him!

Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood! ³⁴ 

Isaiah 66:17

66:17 “As for those who consecrate and ritually purify themselves so they can follow their leader and worship in the sacred orchards, ³⁵  those who eat the flesh of pigs and other disgusting creatures, like mice ³⁶  – they will all be destroyed together,” ³⁷  says the Lord.

Isaiah 66:23-24

66:23 From one month ³⁸  to the next and from one Sabbath to the next, all people ³⁹  will come to worship me,” ⁴⁰  says the Lord. 66:24 “They will go out and observe the corpses of those who rebelled against me, for the maggots that eat them will not die, ⁴¹  and the fire that consumes them will not die out. ⁴²  All people will find the sight abhorrent.” ⁴³ 

Isaiah 44:19

44:19 No one thinks to himself,

nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves:

‘I burned half of it in the fire –

yes, I baked bread over the coals;

I roasted meat and ate it.

With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol?

Should I bow down to dry wood?’ ⁴⁴ 

[49:26]  ¹ sn Verse 26a depicts siege warfare and bloody defeat. The besieged enemy will be so starved they will their own flesh. The bloodstained bodies lying on the blood-soaked battle site will look as if they collapsed in drunkenness.

[49:26]  ² tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).

[49:26]  ³ tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[49:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.” See 1:24.

[10:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “from breath to flesh it will destroy.” The expression “from breath to flesh” refers to the two basic components of a person, the immaterial (life’s breath) and the material (flesh). Here the phrase is used idiomatically to indicate totality.

[10:18]  ⁶ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. מָסַס (masas), which is used elsewhere of substances dissolving or melting, may here mean “waste away” or “despair.” נָסַס (nasas), which appears only here, may mean “be sick” or “stagger, despair.” See BDB 651 s.v. I נָסַס and HALOT 703 s.v. I נסס. One might translate the line literally, “like the wasting away of one who is sick” (cf. NRSV “as when an invalid wastes away”).

[17:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[17:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “will be tiny.”

[17:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and the fatness of his flesh will be made lean.”

[40:5]  ¹³ tn Or “glory.” The Lord’s “glory” is his theophanic radiance and royal splendor (see Isa 6:3; 24:23; 35:2; 60:1; 66:18-19).

[40:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, ASV, NASB); NAB, NIV “mankind”; TEV “the whole human race.”

[40:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “indeed.”

[40:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[65:4]  ¹⁷ sn Perhaps the worship of underworld deities or dead spirits is in view.

[65:4]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “and in the watches they spend the night.” Some understand נְּצוּרִים (nÿtsurim) as referring to “secret places” or “caves,” while others emend the text to וּבֵין צוּרִים (uven tsurim, “between the rocky cliffs”).

[65:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the flesh of the pig”; KJV, NAB, NASB “swine’s flesh.”

[65:4]  ²⁰ tc The marginal reading (Qere), supported by the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, reads מְרַק (mÿraq, “broth”), while the consonantal text (Kethib) has פְרַק (feraq, “fragment”).

[66:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV “upon all men”; TEV “all the people of the world.”

[66:16]  ²² tn Heb “many are the slain of the Lord.”

[9:20]  ²⁵ tn Or “cut.” The verb גָּזַר (gazar) means “to cut.” If it is understood here, then one might paraphrase, “They slice off meat on the right.” However, HALOT 187 s.v. I גזר, proposes here a rare homonym meaning “to devour.”

[9:20]  ²⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite without vav consecutive or an imperfect used in a customary sense, describing continual or repeated behavior in past time.

[9:20]  ²⁷ tn Some suggest that זְרֹעוֹ (zÿro’o, “his arm”) be repointed זַרְעוֹ (zar’o, “his offspring”). In either case, the metaphor is that of a desperately hungry man who resorts to an almost unthinkable act to satisfy his appetite. He eats everything he can find to his right, but still being unsatisfied, then turns to his left and eats everything he can find there. Still being desperate for food, he then resorts to eating his own flesh (or offspring, as this phrase is metaphorically understood by some English versions, e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT). The reality behind the metaphor is the political turmoil of the period, as the next verse explains. There was civil strife within the northern kingdom; even the descendants of Joseph were at each other’s throats. Then the northern kingdom turned on their southern brother, Judah.

[22:13]  ²⁹ tn Heb “happiness and joy.”

[22:13]  ³⁰ tn The prophet here quotes what the fatalistic people are saying. The introductory “you say” is supplied in the translation for clarification; the concluding verb “we die” makes it clear the people are speaking. The six verbs translated as imperatives are actually infinitives absolute, functioning here as finite verbs.

[31:3]  ³³ tn Heb “will extend”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV “stretch out.”

[31:3]  ³⁴ tn Heb “together all of them will come to an end.”

[40:6]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and he says.” Apparently a second “voice” responds to the command of the first “voice.”

[40:6]  ³⁸ tn The words “the first voice responds” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The first voice tells the second one what to declare.

[40:6]  ³⁹ tn Heb “all flesh is grass.” The point of the metaphor is explained in v. 7.

[40:6]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and all his loyalty.” The antecedent of the third masculine suffix is בָּשָׂר (basar, “flesh”), which refers collectively to mankind. The LXX, apparently understanding the antecedent as “grass,” reads “glory,” but חֶסֶד (khesed) rarely, if ever, has this nuance. The normal meaning of חֶסֶד (“faithfulness, loyalty, devotion”) fits very well in the argument. Human beings and their faithfulness (verbal expressions of faithfulness are specifically in view; cf. NRSV “constancy”) are short-lived and unreliable, in stark contrast to the decrees and promises of the eternal God.

[44:16]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “eats” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV “roasts.”

[58:7]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “Is it not?” The rhetorical question here expects a positive answer, “It is!”

[58:7]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and afflicted [ones], homeless [ones] you should bring [into] a house.” On the meaning of מְרוּדִים (mÿrudim, “homeless”) see HALOT 633 s.v. *מָרוּד.

[58:7]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “and from your flesh do not hide yourself.”

[66:17]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “the ones who consecrate themselves and the ones who purify themselves toward the orchards [or “gardens”] after the one in the midst.” The precise meaning of the statement is unclear, though it is obvious that some form of idolatry is in view.

[66:17]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “ones who eat the flesh of the pig and the disgusting thing and the mouse.”

[66:17]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “together they will come to an end.”

[66:23]  ⁵³ tn Heb “new moon.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[66:23]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “all flesh” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NAB, NASB, NIV “all mankind”; NLT “All humanity.”

[66:23]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “bow down before” (NASB).

[66:24]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “for their worm will not die.”

[66:24]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “and their fire will not be extinguished.”

[66:24]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “and they will be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

[44:19]  ⁶¹ tn There is no formal interrogative sign here, but the context seems to indicate these are rhetorical questions. See GKC 473 §150.a.