Isaiah 5:10

5:10 Indeed, a large vineyard ¹  will produce just a few gallons, ² 

and enough seed to yield several bushels ³  will produce less than a bushel.” ⁴ 

Isaiah 6:6

6:6 But then one of the seraphs flew toward me. In his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs.

Isaiah 9:14

9:14 So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail,

both the shoots and stalk ⁵  in one day.

Isaiah 10:17

10:17 The light of Israel ⁶  will become a fire,

their Holy One ⁷  will become a flame;

it will burn and consume the Assyrian king’s ⁸  briers

and his thorns in one day.

Isaiah 51:2

51:2 Look at Abraham, your father,

and Sarah, who gave you birth. ⁹ 

When I summoned him, he was a lone individual, ¹⁰ 

but I blessed him ¹¹  and gave him numerous descendants. ¹² 

[5:10]  ¹ tn Heb “a ten-yoke vineyard.” The Hebrew term צֶמֶד (tsemed, “yoke”) is here a unit of square measure. Apparently a ten-yoke vineyard covered the same amount of land it would take ten teams of oxen to plow in a certain period of time. The exact size is unknown.

[5:10]  ² tn Heb “one bath.” A bath was a liquid measure. Estimates of its modern equivalent range from approximately six to twelve gallons.

[5:10]  ³ tn Heb “a homer.” A homer was a dry measure, the exact size of which is debated. Cf. NCV “ten bushels”; CEV “five bushels.”

[5:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “an ephah.” An ephah was a dry measure; there were ten ephahs in a homer. So this verse envisions major crop failure, where only one-tenth of the anticipated harvest is realized.

[9:14]  ⁵ sn The metaphor in this line is that of a reed being cut down.

[10:17]  ⁹ tn In this context the “Light of Israel” is a divine title (note the parallel title “his holy one”). The title points to God’s royal splendor, which overshadows and, when transformed into fire, destroys the “majestic glory” of the king of Assyria (v. 16b).

[10:17]  ¹⁰ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[10:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “his.” In vv. 17-19 the Assyrian king and his empire is compared to a great forest and orchard that are destroyed by fire (symbolic of the Lord).

[51:2]  ¹³ sn Although Abraham and Sarah are distant ancestors of the people the prophet is addressing, they are spoken of as the immediate parents.

[51:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “one”; NLT “was alone”; TEV “was childless.”

[51:2]  ¹⁵ tn “Bless” may here carry the sense of “endue with potency, reproductive power.” See Gen 1:28.

[51:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and I made him numerous.”