Isaiah 5:14

5:14 So Death ¹  will open up its throat,

and open wide its mouth; ² 

Zion’s dignitaries and masses will descend into it,

including those who revel and celebrate within her. ³ 

Isaiah 26:10

26:10 If the wicked are shown mercy,

they do not learn about justice. ⁴ 

Even in a land where right is rewarded, they act unjustly; ⁵ 

they do not see the Lord’s majesty revealed.

Isaiah 26:20

26:20 Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms!

Close your doors behind you!

Hide for a little while,

until his angry judgment is over! ⁶ 

Isaiah 27:4

27:4 I am not angry.

I wish I could confront some thorns and briers!

Then I would march against them ⁷  for battle;

I would set them ⁸  all on fire,

Isaiah 35:9

35:9 No lions will be there,

no ferocious wild animals will be on it ⁹  –

they will not be found there.

Those delivered from bondage will travel on it,

Isaiah 38:10

38:10 “I thought, ¹⁰ 

‘In the middle of my life ¹¹  I must walk through the gates of Sheol,

I am deprived ¹²  of the rest of my years.’

[5:14]  ¹ tn Heb “Sheol” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV); the underworld, the land of the dead, according to the OT world view. Cf. NAB “the nether world”; TEV, CEV “the world of the dead”; NLT “the grave.”

[5:14]  ² tn Heb “so Sheol will make wide its throat, and open its mouth without limit.”

[5:14]  ³ tn Heb “and her splendor and her masses will go down, and her tumult and the one who exults in her.” The antecedent of the four feminine singular pronominal suffixes used in v. 14b is unclear. The likely referent is personified Zion/Jerusalem (see 3:25-26; 4:4-5).

[26:10]  ⁴ tn As in verse 9b, the translation understands צֶדֶק (tsedeq) in the sense of “justice,” but it is possible that it carries the nuance “righteousness,” in which case one might translate, “they do not learn to live in a righteous manner.”

[26:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “in a land of uprightness they act unjustly”; NRSV “they deal perversely.”

[26:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “until anger passes by.”

[27:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense. For other examples of a cohortative expressing resolve after a hypothetical statement introduced by נָתַן with מִי (miwith natan), see Judg 9:29; Jer 9:1-2; Ps 55:6.

[27:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense.

[35:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “will go up on it”; TEV “will pass that way.”

[38:10]  ¹⁶ tn Or “I said” (KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[38:10]  ¹⁷ tn The precise meaning of the phrase בִּדְמִי יָמַי (bidmi yamay, “in the [?] of my days”) is uncertain. According to HALOT 226 s.v. דְּמִי this word is a hapax legomenon meaning “half.” Others derive the form from דַּמִי (dami, “quiet, rest, peacefulness”).

[38:10]  ¹⁸ tn The precise meaning of the verb is uncertain. The Pual of of פָּקַד (paqad) occurs only here and in Exod 38:21, where it appears to mean “passed in review” or “mustered.” Perhaps the idea is, “I have been called away for the remainder of my years.” To bring out the sense more clearly, one can translate, “I am deprived of the rest of my years.”