Isaiah 56:9

The Lord Denounces Israel’s Paganism

56:9 All you wild animals in the fields, come and devour,

all you wild animals in the forest!

Isaiah 38:19

38:19 The living person, the living person, he gives you thanks,

as I do today.

A father tells his sons about your faithfulness.

Isaiah 40:16

40:16 Not even Lebanon could supply enough firewood for a sacrifice; ¹ 

its wild animals would not provide enough burnt offerings. ² 

Isaiah 4:3

4:3 Those remaining in Zion, ³  those left in Jerusalem, ⁴ 

will be called “holy,” ⁵ 

all in Jerusalem who are destined to live. ⁶ 

Isaiah 38:16

38:16 O sovereign master, your decrees can give men life;

may years of life be restored to me. ⁷ 

Restore my health ⁸  and preserve my life.’

Isaiah 38:20

38:20 The Lord is about to deliver me, ⁹ 

and we will celebrate with music ¹⁰ 

for the rest of our lives in the Lord’s temple.” ¹¹ 

Isaiah 46:1

The Lord Carries His People

46:1 Bel ¹²  kneels down,

Nebo ¹³  bends low.

Their images weigh down animals and beasts. ¹⁴ 

Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 35:9

35:9 No lions will be there,

no ferocious wild animals will be on it ¹⁶  –

they will not be found there.

Those delivered from bondage will travel on it,

Isaiah 37:17

37:17 Pay attention, Lord, and hear! Open your eyes, Lord, and observe! Listen to this entire message Sennacherib sent and how he taunts the living God! ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 38:11-12

38:11 “I thought,

‘I will no longer see the Lord ¹⁸  in the land of the living,

I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world. ¹⁹ 

38:12 My dwelling place ²⁰  is removed and taken away ²¹  from me

like a shepherd’s tent.

I rolled up my life like a weaver rolls cloth; ²² 

from the loom he cuts me off. ²³ 

You turn day into night and end my life. ²⁴ 

Isaiah 43:20

43:20 The wild animals of the desert honor me,

the jackals and ostriches,

because I put water in the desert

and streams in the wilderness,

to quench the thirst of my chosen people,

Isaiah 49:18

49:18 Look all around you! ²⁵ 

All of them gather to you.

As surely as I live,” says the Lord,

“you will certainly wear all of them like jewelry;

you will put them on as if you were a bride.

Isaiah 53:8

53:8 He was led away after an unjust trial ²⁶  –

but who even cared? ²⁷ 

Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living; ²⁸ 

because of the rebellion of his own ²⁹  people he was wounded.

Isaiah 57:10

57:10 Because of the long distance you must travel, you get tired, ³⁰ 

but you do not say, ‘I give up.’ ³¹ 

You get renewed energy, ³² 

so you don’t collapse. ³³ 

Isaiah 8:19

Darkness Turns to Light as an Ideal King Arrives

8:19 ³⁴ They will say to you, “Seek oracles at the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, from the magicians who chirp and mutter incantations. ³⁵  Should people not seek oracles from their gods, by asking the dead about the destiny of the living?” ³⁶ 

Isaiah 37:4

37:4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. ³⁷  When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. ³⁸  So pray for this remnant that remains.’” ³⁹ 

[40:16]  ¹ tn The words “for a sacrifice” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[40:16]  ² sn The point is that not even the Lebanon forest could supply enough wood and animals for an adequate sacrifice to the Lord.

[4:3]  ¹ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[4:3]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[4:3]  ³ tn Or “set apart,” cf. CEV “special.”

[4:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “all who are written down for life in Jerusalem.” A city register is envisioned; everyone whose name appears on the roll will be spared. This group comprises the remnant of the city referred to earlier in the verse.

[38:16]  ¹ tn The translation offered here is purely speculative. The text as it stands is meaningless and probably corrupt. It reads literally, “O lord, on account of them [the suffix is masculine plural], they live, and to all in them [the suffix is feminine plural], life of my spirit.”

[38:16]  ² tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as indicative, “you restore my health,” but the following imperatival form suggests it be understood as an imperfect of request.

[38:20]  ¹ tn The infinitive construct is used here to indicate that an action is imminent. See GKC 348-49 §114.i, and IBHS 610 §36.2.3g.

[38:20]  ² tn Heb “and music [or perhaps, “stringed instruments”] we will play.”

[38:20]  ³ tn Heb “all the days of our lives in the house of the Lord.”

[46:1]  ¹ sn Bel was the name of a Babylonian god. The name was originally associated with Enlil, but later was applied to Marduk. See HALOT 132 s.v. בֵּל.

[46:1]  ² sn Nebo is a variation of the name of the Babylonian god Nabu.

[46:1]  ³ tn Heb “their images belong to animals and beasts”; NIV “their idols are borne by beasts of burden”; NLT “are being hauled away.”

[46:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “your loads are carried [as] a burden by a weary [animal].”

[35:9]  ¹ tn Heb “will go up on it”; TEV “will pass that way.”

[37:17]  ¹ tn Heb “Hear all the words of Sennacherib which he sent to taunt the living God.”

[38:11]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text has יָהּ יָהּ (yah yah, the abbreviated form of יְהוָה [yÿhvah] repeated), but this is probably a corruption of יְהוָה.

[38:11]  ² tc The Hebrew text has חָדֶל (khadel), which appears to be derived from a verbal root meaning “to cease, refrain.” But the form has probably suffered an error of transmission; the original form (attested in a few medieval Hebrew mss) was likely חֶלֶד (kheled, “world”).

[38:12]  ¹ tn According to HALOT 217 s.v. דּוֹר this noun is a hapax legomenon meaning “dwelling place,” derived from a verbal root meaning “live” (see Ps 84:10). For an interpretation that understands the form as the well-attested noun meaning “generation,” see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:679, n. 4.

[38:12]  ² tn The verb form appears to be a Niphal from גָּלָה (galah), which normally means “uncovered, revealed” in the Niphal. Because of the following reference to a shepherd’s tent, some prefer to emend the form to וְנָגַל, a Niphal from גָלָל (galal, “roll”) and translate “is rolled [or “folded”] up.”

[38:12]  ³ tn Heb “I rolled up, like a weaver, my life” (so ASV).

[38:12]  ⁴ sn For a discussion of the imagery employed here, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:684.

[38:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “from day to night you bring me to an end.”

[49:18]  ¹ tn Heb “Lift up around your eyes and see.”

[53:8]  ¹ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The present translation assumes that מִן (min) here has an instrumental sense (“by, through”) and understands עֹצֶר וּמִמִּשְׁפָּט (’otser umimmishpat, “coercion and legal decision”) as a hendiadys meaning “coercive legal decision,” thus “an unjust trial.” Other interpretive options include: (1) “without [for this sense of מִן, see BDB 578 s.v. 1.b] hindrance and proper judicial process,” i.e., “unfairly and with no one to defend him,” (2) “from [in the sense of “after,” see BDB 581 s.v. 4.b] arrest and judgment.”

[53:8]  ² tn Heb “and his generation, who considers?” (NASB similar). Some understand “his generation” as a reference to descendants. In this case the question would suggest that he will have none. However, אֶת (’et) may be taken here as specifying a new subject (see BDB 85 s.v. I אֵת 3). If “his generation” refers to the servant’s contemporary generation, one may then translate, “As for his contemporary generation, who took note?” The point would be that few were concerned about the harsh treatment he received.

[53:8]  ³ sn The “land of the living” is an idiom for the sphere where people live, in contrast to the underworld realm of the dead. See, for example, Ezek 32:23-27.

[53:8]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text reads “my people,” a reading followed by most English versions, but this is problematic in a context where the first person plural predominates, and where God does not appear to speak again until v. 11b. Therefore, it is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a עמו (“his people”). In this case, the group speaking in these verses is identified as the servant’s people (compare פְּשָׁעֵנוּ [pÿsha’enu, “our rebellious deeds”] in v. 5 with פֶּשַׁע עַמִּי [pesha’ ’ammi, “the rebellion of his people”] in v. 8).

[57:10]  ¹ tn Heb “by the greatness [i.e., “length,” see BDB 914 s.v. רֹב 2] of your way you get tired.”

[57:10]  ² tn Heb “it is hopeless” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NRSV “It is useless.”

[57:10]  ³ tn Heb “the life of your hand you find.” The term חַיָּה (khayyah, “life”) is here used in the sense of “renewal” (see BDB 312 s.v.) while יָד (yad) is used of “strength.”

[57:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “you do not grow weak.”

[8:19]  ¹ tn It is uncertain if the prophet or the Lord is speaking in vv. 19-22. If the latter, then vv. 19-22 resume the speech recorded in vv. 12-15, after the prophet’s response in vv. 16-18.

[8:19]  ² tn Heb “inquire of the ritual pits and of the magicians who chirp and mutter.” The Hebrew word אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Sam 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a אוֹב-בַּעֲלַת (ba’alat-’ov, “owner of a ritual pit”). See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401.

[8:19]  ³ tn Heb “Should a nation not inquire of its gods on behalf of the living, (by inquiring) of the dead?” These words appear to be a continuation of the quotation begun in the first part of the verse. אֱלֹהָיו (’elohayv) may be translated “its gods” or “its God.” Some take the second half of the verse as the prophet’s (or the Lord’s) rebuke of the people who advise seeking oracles at the ritual pits, but in this case the words “the dead on behalf of the living” are difficult to explain.

[37:4]  ¹ tn Heb “all the words of the chief adviser whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to taunt the living God.”

[37:4]  ² tn Heb “and rebuke the words which the Lord your God hears.”

[37:4]  ³ tn Heb “and lift up a prayer on behalf of the remnant that is found.”