Isaiah 5:2

5:2 He built a hedge around it, ¹  removed its stones,

and planted a vine.

He built a tower in the middle of it,

and constructed a winepress.

He waited for it to produce edible grapes,

but it produced sour ones instead. ² 

Isaiah 10:14

10:14 My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest,

as one gathers up abandoned eggs,

I gathered up the whole earth.

There was no wing flapping,

or open mouth chirping.” ³ 

Isaiah 29:16

29:16 Your thinking is perverse! ⁴ 

Should the potter be regarded as clay? ⁵ 

Should the thing made say ⁶  about its maker, “He didn’t make me”?

Or should the pottery say about the potter, “He doesn’t understand”?

Isaiah 47:8

47:8 So now, listen to this,

O one who lives so lavishly, ⁷ 

who lives securely,

who says to herself, ⁸ 

‘I am unique! No one can compare to me! ⁹ 

I will never have to live as a widow;

I will never lose my children.’ ¹⁰ 

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. ¹¹ 

Then all humankind ¹²  will recognize that

I am the Lord, your deliverer,

your protector, ¹³  the powerful ruler of Jacob.” ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 53:12--54:1

53:12 So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, ¹⁵ 

he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, ¹⁶ 

because he willingly submitted ¹⁷  to death

and was numbered with the rebels,

when he lifted up the sin of many

and intervened ¹⁸  on behalf of the rebels.”

Zion Will Be Secure

54:1 “Shout for joy, O barren one who has not given birth!

Give a joyful shout and cry out, you who have not been in labor!

For the children of the desolate one are more numerous

than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.

[5:2]  ¹ tn Or, “dug it up” (so NIV); KJV “fenced it.’ See HALOT 810 s.v. עזק.

[5:2]  ² tn Heb “wild grapes,” i.e., sour ones (also in v. 4).

[10:14]  ³ sn The Assyrians’ conquests were relatively unopposed, like robbing a bird’s nest of its eggs when the mother bird is absent.

[29:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “your overturning.” The predicate is suppressed in this exclamation. The idea is, “O your perversity! How great it is!” See GKC 470 §147.c. The people “overturn” all logic by thinking their authority supersedes God’s.

[29:16]  ⁶ tn The expected answer to this rhetorical question is “of course not.” On the interrogative use of אִם (’im), see BDB 50 s.v.

[29:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “that the thing made should say.”

[47:8]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps, “voluptuous one” (NAB); NAB “you sensual one”; NLT “You are a pleasure-crazy kingdom.”

[47:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”

[47:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.” See Zeph 2:15.

[47:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I will not live [as] a widow, and I will not know loss of children.”

[49:26]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).

[49:26]  ¹¹ tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[49:26]  ¹² tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.” See 1:24.

[53:12]  ¹¹ tn Scholars have debated the precise meaning of the term רַבִּים (rabbim) that occurs five times in this passage (Isa 52:14, 15; 53:11, 12 [2x]). Its two broad categories of translation are “much”/“many” and “great” (HALOT 1171-72 s.v. I רַב). Unlike other Hebrew terms for might or strength, this term is linked with numbers or abundance. In all sixteen uses outside of Isaiah 52:13-53:12 (articular and plural) it signifies an inclusive meaning: “the majority” or “the multitude” (J. Jeremias, TDNT 6:536-37). This term occurs in parallelism with עֲצוּמִים (’atsumim), which normally signifies “numerous” or “large” or “powerful” (through large numbers). Like רַבִּים (rabbim), it refers to greatness in numbers (cf. Deut 4:38; 7:1; 9:1; 11:34). It emphasizes the multitudes with whom the Servant will share the spoil of his victory. As J. Olley wrote: “Yahweh has won the victory and vindicates his Servant, giving to him many subservient people, together with their spoils. These numerous peoples in turn receive blessing, sharing in the “peace” resulting from Yahweh’s victory and the Servant’s suffering” (John W. Olley, “‘The Many’: How Is Isa 53,12a to Be Understood,” Bib 68 [1987]: 330-56).

[53:12]  ¹² sn The servant is compared here to a warrior who will be richly rewarded for his effort and success in battle.

[53:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “because he laid bare his life”; traditionally, ASV “because he (+ hath KJV) poured out his soul (life NIV) unto death.”

[53:12]  ¹⁴ tn The Hiphil of פָּגַע (paga’) can mean “cause to attack” (v. 6), “urge, plead verbally” (Jer 15:11; 36:25), or “intervene militarily” (Isa 59:16). Perhaps the third nuance fits best here, for military imagery is employed in the first two lines of the verse.