Discovery BoxIsaiah 58:1--59:13
Context58:1 “Shout loudly! Don’t be quiet!
Yell as loud as a trumpet!
Confront my people with their rebellious deeds; 1
confront Jacob’s family with their sin! 2
58:2 They seek me day after day;
they want to know my requirements, 3
like a nation that does what is right
and does not reject the law of their God.
They ask me for just decrees;
they want to be near God.
58:3 They lament, 4 ‘Why don’t you notice when we fast?
Why don’t you pay attention when we humble ourselves?’
Look, at the same time you fast, you satisfy your selfish desires, 5
you oppress your workers. 6
58:4 Look, your fasting is accompanied by 7 arguments, brawls,
and fistfights. 8
Do not fast as you do today,
trying to make your voice heard in heaven.
58:5 Is this really the kind of fasting I want? 9
Do I want a day when people merely humble themselves, 10
bowing their heads like a reed
and stretching out 11 on sackcloth and ashes?
Is this really what you call a fast,
a day that is pleasing to the Lord?
58:6 No, this is the kind of fast I want. 12
I want you 13 to remove the sinful chains,
to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke,
to set free the oppressed, 14
and to break every burdensome yoke.
58:7 I want you 15 to share your food with the hungry
and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. 16
When you see someone naked, clothe him!
Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood! 17
58:8 Then your light will shine like the sunrise; 18
your restoration will quickly arrive; 19
your godly behavior 20 will go before you,
and the Lord’s splendor will be your rear guard. 21
58:9 Then you will call out, and the Lord will respond;
you will cry out, and he will reply, ‘Here I am.’
You must 22 remove the burdensome yoke from among you
and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully.
58:10 You must 23 actively help the hungry
and feed the oppressed. 24
Then your light will dispel the darkness, 25
and your darkness will be transformed into noonday. 26
58:11 The Lord will continually lead you;
he will feed you even in parched regions. 27
He will give you renewed strength, 28
and you will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring that continually produces water.
58:12 Your perpetual ruins will be rebuilt; 29
you will reestablish the ancient foundations.
You will be called, ‘The one who repairs broken walls,
the one who makes the streets inhabitable again.’ 30
58:13 You must 31 observe the Sabbath 32
rather than doing anything you please on my holy day. 33
You must look forward to the Sabbath 34
and treat the Lord’s holy day with respect. 35
You must treat it with respect by refraining from your normal activities,
and by refraining from your selfish pursuits and from making business deals. 36
58:14 Then you will find joy in your relationship to the Lord, 37
and I will give you great prosperity, 38
and cause crops to grow on the land I gave to your ancestor Jacob.” 39
Know for certain that the Lord has spoken. 40
59:1 Look, the Lord’s hand is not too weak 41 to deliver you;
his ear is not too deaf to hear you. 42
59:2 But your sinful acts have alienated you from your God;
your sins have caused him to reject you and not listen to your prayers. 43
59:3 For your hands are stained with blood
and your fingers with sin;
your lips speak lies,
your tongue utters malicious words.
59:4 No one is concerned about justice; 44
no one sets forth his case truthfully.
They depend on false words 45 and tell lies;
they conceive of oppression 46
and give birth to sin.
59:5 They hatch the eggs of a poisonous snake
and spin a spider’s web.
Whoever eats their eggs will die,
a poisonous snake is hatched. 47
59:6 Their webs cannot be used for clothing;
they cannot cover themselves with what they make.
Their deeds are sinful;
they commit violent crimes. 48
59:7 They are eager to do evil, 49
quick to shed innocent blood. 50
Their thoughts are sinful;
they crush and destroy. 51
59:8 They are unfamiliar with peace;
their deeds are unjust. 52
They use deceitful methods,
and whoever deals with them is unfamiliar with peace. 53
59:9 For this reason deliverance 54 is far from us 55
and salvation does not reach us.
We wait for light, 56 but see only darkness; 57
we wait for 58 a bright light, 59 but live 60 in deep darkness. 61
59:10 We grope along the wall like the blind,
we grope like those who cannot see; 62
we stumble at noontime as if it were evening.
Though others are strong, we are like dead men. 63
59:11 We all growl like bears,
we coo mournfully like doves;
we wait for deliverance, 64 but there is none,
for salvation, but it is far from us.
59:12 For you are aware of our many rebellious deeds, 65
and our sins testify against us;
indeed, we are aware of our rebellious deeds;
we know our sins all too well. 66
59:13 We have rebelled and tried to deceive the Lord;
we turned back from following our God.
We stir up 67 oppression and rebellion;
we tell lies we concocted in our minds. 68
[58:1] 1 tn Heb “declare to my people their rebellion.”
[58:1] 2 tn Heb “and to the house of Jacob their sin.” The verb “declare” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
[58:2] 3 tn Heb “ways” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV); NLT “my laws.”
[58:3] 4 tn The words “they lament” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[58:3] 5 tn Heb “you find pleasure”; NASB “you find your desire.”
[58:3] 6 tn Or perhaps, “debtors.” See HALOT 865 s.v. * עָצֵב.
[58:4] 7 tn Heb “you fast for” (so NASB); NRSV “you fast only to quarrel.”
[58:4] 8 tn Heb “and for striking with a sinful fist.”
[58:5] 9 tn Heb “choose” (so NASB, NRSV); NAB “wish.”
[58:5] 10 tn Heb “a day when man humbles himself.” The words “Do I want” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[58:5] 11 tn Or “making [their] bed.”
[58:6] 12 tn Heb “Is this not a fast I choose?” “No” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
[58:6] 13 tn The words “I want you” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[58:7] 15 tn Heb “Is it not?” The rhetorical question here expects a positive answer, “It is!”
[58:7] 16 tn Heb “and afflicted [ones], homeless [ones] you should bring [into] a house.” On the meaning of מְרוּדִים (mÿrudim, “homeless”) see HALOT 633 s.v. *מָרוּד.
[58:7] 17 tn Heb “and from your flesh do not hide yourself.”
[58:8] 18 tn Heb “will burst out like the dawn.”
[58:8] 19 tn Heb “prosper”; KJV “spring forth speedily.”
[58:8] 20 tn Or “righteousness.” Their godly behavior will be on display for all to see.
[58:8] 21 sn The nation will experience God’s protective presence.
[58:9] 22 tn Heb “if you.” In the Hebrew text vv. 9b-10 are one long conditional sentence. The protasis (“if” clauses appear in vv. 9b-10a), with the apodosis (“then” clause) appearing in v. 10b.
[58:10] 23 tn Heb “if you.” See the note on “you must” in v. 9b.
[58:10] 24 tn Heb “If you furnish for the hungry [with] your being, and the appetite of the oppressed you satisfy.”
[58:10] 25 tn Heb “will rise in the darkness.”
[58:10] 26 tn Heb “and your darkness [will be] like noonday.”
[58:11] 27 tn Heb “he will satisfy in parched regions your appetite.”
[58:11] 28 tn Heb “and your bones he will strengthen.”
[58:12] 29 tn Heb “and they will build from you ancient ruins.”
[58:12] 30 tc The Hebrew text has “the one who restores paths for dwelling.” The idea of “paths to dwell in” is not a common notion. Some have proposed emending נְתִיבוֹת (nÿtivot, “paths”) to נְתִיצוֹת (nÿtitsot, “ruins”), a passive participle from נָתַץ (natats, “tear down”; see HALOT 732 s.v. *נְתִיצָה), because tighter parallelism with the preceding line is achieved. However, none of the textual sources support this emendation. The line may mean that paths must be repaired in order to dwell in the land.
[58:13] 31 tn Lit., “if you.” In the Hebrew text vv. 13-14 are one long conditional sentence. The protasis (“if” clauses appear in v. 13), with the apodosis (“then” clause) appearing in v. 14.
[58:13] 32 tn Heb “if you turn from the Sabbath your feet.”
[58:13] 33 tn Heb “[from] doing your desires on my holy day.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa supplies the preposition מִן (min) on “doing.”
[58:13] 34 tn Heb “and call the Sabbath a pleasure”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “a delight.”
[58:13] 35 tn Heb “and [call] the holy [day] of the Lord honored.” On קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, “holy”) as indicating a time period, see BDB 872 s.v. 2.e (cf. also Neh 8:9-11).
[58:13] 36 tn Heb “and you honor it [by refraining] from accomplishing your ways, from finding your desire and speaking a word.” It is unlikely that the last phrase (“speaking a word”) is a prohibition against talking on the Sabbath; instead it probably refers to making transactions or plans (see Hos 10:4). Some see here a reference to idle talk (cf. 2 Sam 19:30).
[58:14] 37 tn For a parallel use of the phrase “find joy in” (Hitpael of עָנַג [’anag] followed by the preposition עַל [’al]), see Ps 37:4.
[58:14] 38 tn Heb “and I will cause you to ride upon the heights of the land.” The statement seems to be an allusion to Deut 32:13, where it is associated, as here, with God’s abundant provision of food.
[58:14] 39 tn Heb “and I will cause you to eat the inheritance of Jacob your father.” The Hebrew term נַחֲלָה (nakhalah) likely stands by metonymy for the crops that grow on Jacob’s “inheritance” (i.e., the land he inherited as a result of God’s promise).
[58:14] 40 tn Heb “for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” The introductory כִּי (ki) may be asseverative (as reflected in the translation) or causal/explanatory, explaining why the preceding promise will become reality (because it is guaranteed by the divine word).
[59:1] 41 tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
[59:1] 42 tn Heb “or his ear too heavy [i.e., “dull”] to hear.”
[59:2] 43 tn Heb “and your sins have caused [his] face to be hidden from you so as not to hear.”
[59:4] 44 tn Heb “no one pleads with justice.”
[59:4] 45 tn Heb “nothing”; NAB “emptiness.”
[59:4] 46 tn Or “trouble” (NIV), or “harm.”
[59:5] 47 tn Heb “that which is pressed in hatches [as] a snake.”
[59:6] 48 tn Heb “their deeds are deeds of sin, and the work of violence [is] in their hands.”
[59:7] 49 tn Heb “their feet run to evil.”
[59:7] 50 tn Heb “they quickly pour out innocent blood.”
[59:7] 51 tn Heb “their thoughts are thoughts of sin, destruction and crushing [are] in their roadways.”
[59:8] 52 tn Heb “a way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their pathways.”
[59:8] 53 tn Heb “their paths they make crooked, everyone who walks in it does not know peace.”
[59:9] 54 tn מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat), which refers to “justice” in the earlier verses, here refers to “justice from God,” or “vindication.” Because the people are unjust, God refuses to vindicate them before their enemies. See v. 11.
[59:9] 55 sn The prophet speaks on behalf of the sinful nation and confesses its sins.
[59:9] 56 sn Light here symbolizes prosperity and blessing.
[59:9] 57 tn Heb “but, look, darkness”; NIV “but all is darkness.”
[59:9] 58 tn The words “we wait for” are supplied in the translation; the verb is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
[59:9] 59 tn The plural noun form may indicate degree here.
[59:9] 60 tn Or “walk about”; NCV “all we have is darkness.”
[59:9] 61 tn The plural noun form may indicate degree here.
[59:10] 62 tn Heb “like there are no eyes.”
[59:10] 63 tn Heb among the strong, like dead men.”
[59:11] 64 tn See the note at v. 9.
[59:12] 65 tn Heb “for many are our rebellious deeds before you.”
[59:12] 66 tn Heb “indeed [or “for”] our rebellious deeds (are) with us, and our sins, we know them.”
[59:13] 67 tn Heb “speaking.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[59:13] 68 tn Heb “conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.”
