Isaiah 6:1

Isaiah’s Commission

6:1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death, ¹  I saw the sovereign master ²  seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple.

Isaiah 8:18

8:18 Look, I and the sons whom the Lord has given me ³  are reminders and object lessons ⁴  in Israel, sent from the Lord who commands armies, who lives on Mount Zion.

Isaiah 9:2

9:2 (9:1) The people walking in darkness

see a bright light; ⁵ 

light shines

on those who live in a land of deep darkness. ⁶ 

Isaiah 9:4

9:4 For their oppressive yoke

and the club that strikes their shoulders,

the cudgel the oppressor uses on them, ⁷ 

you have shattered, as in the day of Midian’s defeat. ⁸ 

Isaiah 23:3

23:3 the deep waters! ⁹ 

Grain from the Shihor region, ¹⁰ 

crops grown near the Nile ¹¹  she receives; ¹² 

she is the trade center ¹³  of the nations.

Isaiah 46:6

46:6 Those who empty out gold from a purse

and weigh out silver on the scale ¹⁴ 

hire a metalsmith, who makes it into a god.

They then bow down and worship it.

Isaiah 49:15

49:15 Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast? ¹⁵ 

Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne? ¹⁶ 

Even if mothers ¹⁷  were to forget,

I could never forget you! ¹⁸ 

[6:1]  ¹ sn That is, approximately 740 b.c.

[6:1]  ² tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 8, 11 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[8:18]  ³ sn This refers to Shear-jashub (7:3) and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (8:1, 3).

[8:18]  ⁴ tn Or “signs and portents” (NAB, NRSV). The names of all three individuals has symbolic value. Isaiah’s name (which meant “the Lord delivers”) was a reminder that the Lord was the nation’s only source of protection; Shear-jashub’s name was meant, at least originally, to encourage Ahaz (see the note at 7:3), and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz’s name was a guarantee that God would defeat Israel and Syria (see the note at 8:4). The word מוֹפֶת (mofet, “portent”) can often refer to some miraculous event, but in 20:3 it is used, along with its synonym אוֹת (’ot, “sign”) of Isaiah’s walking around half-naked as an object lesson of what would soon happen to the Egyptians.

[9:2]  ⁵ sn The darkness symbolizes judgment and its effects (see 8:22); the light represents deliverance and its effects, brought about by the emergence of a conquering Davidic king (see vv. 3-6).

[9:2]  ⁶ tn Traditionally צַלְמָוֶת (tsalmavet) has been interpreted as a compound noun, meaning “shadow of death” (so KJV, ASV, NIV), but usage indicates that the word, though it sometimes refers to death, means “darkness.” The term should probably be repointed as an abstract noun צַלְמוּת (tsalmut). See the note at Ps 23:4.

[9:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “for the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the scepter of the oppressor against him.” The singular pronouns are collective, referring to the people. The oppressed nation is compared to an ox weighed down by a heavy yoke and an animal that is prodded and beaten.

[9:4]  ⁸ sn This alludes to Gideon’s victory over Midian (Judg 7-8), when the Lord delivered Israel from an oppressive foreign invader.

[23:3]  ⁹ tc The Hebrew text (23:2b-3a) reads literally, “merchant of Sidon, the one who crosses the sea, they filled you, and on the deep waters.” Instead of מִלְאוּךְ (mil’ukh, “they filled you”) the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a reads מלאכיך (“your messengers”). The translation assumes an emendation of מִלְאוּךְ to מַלְאָכָו (mal’akhav, “his messengers”), taking the vav (ו) on וּבְמַיִם (uvÿmayim) as improperly placed; instead it should be the final letter of the preceding word.

[23:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “seed of Shihor.” “Shihor” probably refers to the east branch of the Nile. See Jer 2:18 and BDB 1009 s.v. שִׁיחוֹר.

[23:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the harvest of the Nile.”

[23:3]  ¹² tn Heb “[is] her revenue.”

[23:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “merchandise”; KJV, ASV “a mart of nations”; NLT “the merchandise mart of the world.”

[46:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the reed,” probably referring to the beam of a scales. See BDB 889 s.v. קָנֶה 4.c.

[49:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “her suckling”; NASB “her nursing child.”

[49:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “so as not to have compassion on the son of her womb?”

[49:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “these” (so ASV, NASB).

[49:15]  ¹⁶ sn The argument of v. 15 seems to develop as follows: The Lord has an innate attachment to Zion, just like a mother does for her infant child. But even if mothers were to suddenly abandon their children, the Lord would never forsake Zion. In other words, the Lord’s attachment to Zion is like a mother’s attachment to her infant child, but even stronger.