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 22:11

22:11 You made a reservoir between the two walls

for the water of the old pool –

but you did not trust in ³  the one who made it; ⁴ 

you did not depend on ⁵  the one who formed it long ago!

Isaiah 29:16

29:16 Your thinking is perverse! ⁶ 

Should the potter be regarded as clay? ⁷ 

Should the thing made say ⁸  about its maker, “He didn’t make me”?

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

Isaiah 44:13

44:13 A carpenter takes measurements; ⁹ 

he marks out an outline of its form; ¹⁰ 

he scrapes ¹¹  it with chisels,

and marks it with a compass.

He patterns it after the human form, ¹² 

like a well-built human being,

and puts it in a shrine. ¹³ 

Isaiah 45:7

45:7 I am ¹⁴  the one who forms light

and creates darkness; ¹⁵ 

the one who brings about peace

and creates calamity. ¹⁶ 

I am the Lord, who accomplishes all these things.

Isaiah 46:10

46:10 who announces the end from the beginning

and reveals beforehand ¹⁷  what has not yet occurred,

who says, ‘My plan will be realized,

I will accomplish what I desire,’

Isaiah 56:2

56:2 The people who do this will be blessed, ¹⁸ 

the people who commit themselves to obedience, ¹⁹ 

who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it,

who refrain from doing anything that is wrong. ²⁰ 

[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).

[22:11]  ³ tn Heb “look at”; NAB, NRSV “did not look to.”

[22:11]  ⁴ tn The antecedent of the third feminine singular suffix here and in the next line is unclear. The closest feminine noun is “pool” in the first half of the verse. Perhaps this “old pool” symbolizes the entire city, which had prospered because of God’s provision and protection through the years.

[22:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “did not see.”

[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.”

[44:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “stretches out a line” (ASV similar); NIV “measures with a line.”

[44:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “he makes an outline with the [?].” The noun שֶׂרֶד (shered) occurs only here; it apparently refers to some type of tool or marker. Cf. KJV “with a line”; ASV “with a pencil”; NAB, NRSV “with a stylus”; NASB “with red chalk”; NIV “with a marker.”

[44:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “works” (so NASB) or “fashions” (so NRSV); NIV “he roughs it out.”

[44:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he makes it like the pattern of a man”; NAB “like a man in appearance.”

[44:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “like the glory of man to sit [in] a house”; NIV “that it may dwell in a shrine.”

[45:7]  ⁹ tn The words “I am” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the participle at the beginning of v. 7 stands in apposition to “the Lord” in v. 6.

[45:7]  ¹⁰ tn On the surface v. 7a appears to describe God’s sovereign control over the cycle of day and night, but the following statement suggests that “light” and “darkness” symbolize “deliverance” and “judgment.”

[45:7]  ¹¹ sn This verses affirms that God is ultimately sovereign over his world, including mankind and nations. In accordance with his sovereign will, he can cause wars to cease and peace to predominate (as he was about to do for his exiled people through Cyrus), or he can bring disaster and judgment on nations (as he was about to do to Babylon through Cyrus).

[46:10]  ¹¹ tn Or “from long ago”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “from ancient times.”

[56:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “blessed is the man who does this.”

[56:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the son of mankind who takes hold of it.”

[56:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb and who keeps his hand from doing any evil.”