Isaiah 6:10

6:10 Make the hearts of these people calloused;

make their ears deaf and their eyes blind!

Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears,

their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.” ¹ 

Isaiah 7:2

7:2 It was reported to the family ²  of David, “Syria has allied with ³  Ephraim.” They and their people were emotionally shaken, just as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. ⁴ 

Isaiah 8:14

8:14 He will become a sanctuary, ⁵ 

but a stone that makes a person trip,

and a rock that makes one stumble –

to the two houses of Israel. ⁶ 

He will become ⁷  a trap and a snare

to the residents of Jerusalem. ⁸ 

Isaiah 17:14

17:14 In the evening there is sudden terror; ⁹ 

by morning they vanish. ¹⁰ 

This is the fate of those who try to plunder us,

the destiny of those who try to loot us! ¹¹ 

Isaiah 19:1

The Lord Will Judge Egypt

19:1 Here is a message about Egypt:

Look, the Lord rides on a swift-moving cloud

and approaches Egypt.

The idols of Egypt tremble before him;

the Egyptians lose their courage. ¹² 

Isaiah 21:2

21:2 I have received a distressing message: ¹³ 

“The deceiver deceives,

the destroyer destroys.

Attack, you Elamites!

Lay siege, you Medes!

I will put an end to all the groaning!” ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 28:19

28:19 Whenever it sweeps by, it will overtake you;

indeed, ¹⁵  every morning it will sweep by,

it will come through during the day and the night.” ¹⁶ 

When this announcement is understood,

it will cause nothing but terror.

Isaiah 30:17

30:17 One thousand will scurry at the battle cry of one enemy soldier; ¹⁷ 

at the battle cry of five enemy soldiers you will all run away, ¹⁸ 

until the remaining few are as isolated ¹⁹ 

as a flagpole on a mountaintop

or a signal flag on a hill.”

Isaiah 31:8

31:8 Assyria will fall by a sword, but not one human-made; ²⁰ 

a sword not made by humankind will destroy them. ²¹ 

They will run away from this sword ²² 

and their young men will be forced to do hard labor.

Isaiah 45:1

45:1 This is what the Lord says to his chosen ²³  one,

to Cyrus, whose right hand I hold ²⁴ 

in order to subdue nations before him,

and disarm kings, ²⁵ 

to open doors before him,

so gates remain unclosed:

Isaiah 47:12

47:12 Persist ²⁶  in trusting ²⁷  your amulets

and your many incantations,

which you have faithfully recited ²⁸  since your youth!

Maybe you will be successful ²⁹  –

maybe you will scare away disaster. ³⁰ 

Isaiah 48:5

48:5 I announced them to you beforehand;

before they happened, I predicted them for you,

so you could never say,

‘My image did these things,

my idol, my cast image, decreed them.’

Isaiah 57:1

57:1 The godly ³¹  perish,

but no one cares. ³² 

Honest people disappear, ³³ 

when no one ³⁴  minds ³⁵ 

that the godly ³⁶  disappear ³⁷  because of ³⁸  evil. ³⁹ 

Isaiah 58:7

58:7 I want you ⁴⁰  to share your food with the hungry

and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. ⁴¹ 

When you see someone naked, clothe him!

Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood! ⁴² 

Isaiah 60:5

60:5 Then you will look and smile, ⁴³ 

you will be excited and your heart will swell with pride. ⁴⁴ 

For the riches of distant lands ⁴⁵  will belong to you

and the wealth of nations will come to you.

Isaiah 65:5

65:5 They say, ‘Keep to yourself!

Don’t get near me, for I am holier than you!’

These people are like smoke in my nostrils,

like a fire that keeps burning all day long.

Isaiah 66:2

66:2 My hand made them; ⁴⁶ 

that is how they came to be,” ⁴⁷  says the Lord.

I show special favor ⁴⁸  to the humble and contrite,

who respect what I have to say. ⁴⁹ 

Isaiah 66:24

66:24 “They will go out and observe the corpses of those who rebelled against me, for the maggots that eat them will not die, ⁵⁰  and the fire that consumes them will not die out. ⁵¹  All people will find the sight abhorrent.” ⁵² 

[6:10]  ¹ sn Do we take this commission at face value? Does the Lord really want to prevent his people from understanding, repenting, and being healed? Verse 9, which ostensibly records the content of Isaiah’s message, is clearly ironic. As far as we know, Isaiah did not literally proclaim these exact words. The Hebrew imperatival forms are employed rhetorically and anticipate the response Isaiah will receive. When all is said and done, Isaiah might as well preface and conclude every message with these ironic words, which, though imperatival in form, might be paraphrased as follows: “You continually hear, but don’t understand; you continually see, but don’t perceive.” Isaiah might as well command them to be spiritually insensitive, because, as the preceding and following chapters make clear, the people are bent on that anyway. (This ironic command is comparable to saying to a particularly recalcitrant individual, “Go ahead, be stubborn!”) Verse 10b is also clearly sarcastic. On the surface it seems to indicate Isaiah’s hardening ministry will prevent genuine repentance. But, as the surrounding chapters clearly reveal, the people were hardly ready or willing to repent. Therefore, Isaiah’s preaching was not needed to prevent repentance! Verse 10b reflects the people’s attitude and might be paraphrased accordingly: “Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their mind, repent, and be restored, and they certainly wouldn’t want that, would they?” Of course, this sarcastic statement may also reveal that the Lord himself is now bent on judgment, not reconciliation. Just as Pharaoh’s rejection of Yahweh’s ultimatum ignited judgment and foreclosed, at least temporarily, any opportunity for repentance, so the Lord may have come to the point where he has decreed to bring judgment before opening the door for repentance once more. The sarcastic statement in verse 10b would be an emphatic way of making this clear. (Perhaps we could expand our paraphrase: “Otherwise they might…repent, and be restored, and they certainly wouldn’t want that, would they? Besides, it’s too late for that!”) Within this sarcastic framework, verse 10a must also be seen as ironic. As in verse 9 the imperatival forms should be taken as rhetorical and as anticipating the people’s response. One might paraphrase: “Your preaching will desensitize the minds of these people, make their hearing dull, and blind their eyes.” From the outset the Lord might as well command Isaiah to harden the people, because his preaching will end up having that effect. Despite the use of irony, we should still view this as a genuine, albeit indirect, act of divine hardening. After all, God did not have to send Isaiah. By sending him, he drives the sinful people further from him, for Isaiah’s preaching, which focuses on the Lord’s covenantal demands and impending judgment upon covenantal rebellion, forces the people to confront their sin and then continues to desensitize them as they respond negatively to the message. As in the case of Pharaoh, Yahweh’s hardening is not arbitrarily imposed on a righteous or even morally neutral object. Rather his hardening is an element of his righteous judgment on recalcitrant sinners. Ironically, Israel’s rejection of prophetic preaching in turn expedites disciplinary punishment, and brings the battered people to a point where they might be ready for reconciliation. The prophesied judgment (cf. 6:11-13) was fulfilled by 701 b.c. when the Assyrians devastated the land (a situation presupposed by Isa 1:2-20; see especially vv. 4-9). At that time the divine hardening had run its course and Isaiah is able to issue an ultimatum (1:19-20), one which Hezekiah apparently took to heart, resulting in the sparing of Jerusalem (see Isa 36-39 and cf. Jer 26:18-19 with Mic 3:12).This interpretation, which holds in balance both Israel’s moral responsibility and the Lord’s sovereign work among his people, is consistent with other pertinent texts both within and outside the Book of Isaiah. Isa 3:9 declares that the people of Judah “have brought disaster upon themselves,” but Isa 29:9-10 indicates that the Lord was involved to some degree in desensitizing the people. Zech 7:11-12 looks back to the pre-exilic era (cf. v. 7) and observes that the earlier generations stubbornly hardened their hearts, but Ps 81:11-12, recalling this same period, states that the Lord “gave them over to their stubborn hearts.”

[7:2]  ² tn Heb “house.” In this context the “house of David” includes King Ahaz, his family, and the royal court. See also Jer 21:12; Zech 12:7-8, 10, 12, for a similar use of the phrase.

[7:2]  ³ tn Heb “rests upon.” Most understand the verb as נוּחַ (nuakh, “rest”), but HALOT 685 s.v. II נחה proposes that this is a hapax legomenon which means “stand by.”

[7:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and his heart shook and the heart of his people shook, like the shaking of the trees of the forest before the wind.” The singular pronoun “his” is collective, referring to the Davidic house/family. לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) here refers to the seat of the emotions.

[8:14]  ³ tn Because the metaphor of protection (“sanctuary”) does not fit the negative mood that follows in vv. 14b-15, some contend that מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash, “sanctuary”) is probably a corruption of an original מוֹקֵשׁ (moqesh, “snare”), a word that appears in the next line (cf. NAB and H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:355-56). If the MT reading is retained (as in the above translation), the fact that Yahweh is a sanctuary wraps up the point of v. 13 and stands in contrast to God’s treatment of those who rebel against him (the rest of v. 14).

[8:14]  ⁴ sn The two “houses” of Israel (= the patriarch Jacob) are the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

[8:14]  ⁵ tn These words are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. וְהָיָה (vÿhayah, “and he will be”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse.

[8:14]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[17:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “at the time of evening, look, sudden terror.”

[17:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “before morning he is not.”

[17:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “this is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who loot us.”

[19:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the heart of Egypt melts within it.”

[21:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “a severe revelation has been related to me.”

[21:2]  ⁷ sn This is often interpreted to mean “all the groaning” that Babylon has caused others.

[28:19]  ⁷ tn Or “for” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[28:19]  ⁸ tn The words “it will come through” are supplied in the translation. The verb “will sweep by” does double duty in the parallel structure.

[30:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “One thousand from before [or “because of”] one battle cry.” גְּעָרָה (gÿ’arah) is often defined as “threat,” but in war contexts it likely refers to a shout or battle cry. See Ps 76:6.

[30:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “from before [or “because of”] the battle cry of five you will flee.

[30:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “until you are left” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[31:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “Assyria will fall by a sword, not of a man.”

[31:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and a sword not of humankind will devour him.”

[31:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he will flee for himself from before a sword.”

[45:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “anointed” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NCV “his appointed king.”

[45:1]  ¹¹ sn The “right hand” is a symbol of activity and strength; the Lord directs Cyrus’ activities and assures his success.

[45:1]  ¹² tn Heb “and the belts of kings I will loosen”; NRSV “strip kings of their robes”; NIV “strip kings of their armor.”

[47:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”

[47:12]  ¹² tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.

[47:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”

[47:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”

[47:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.

[57:1]  ¹² tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the just man”; TEV “Good people.”

[57:1]  ¹³ tn Or perhaps, “understands.” Heb “and there is no man who sets [it] upon [his] heart.”

[57:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Men of loyalty are taken away.” The Niphal of אָסַף (’asaf) here means “to die.”

[57:1]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew term בְּאֵין (bÿ’en) often has the nuance “when there is no.” See Prov 8:24; 11;14; 14:4; 15:22; 26:20; 29:18.

[57:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “realizes”; Heb “understands” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[57:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the just man.”

[57:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “are taken away.” The Niphal of אָסַף (’asaf) here means “to die.”

[57:1]  ¹⁹ tn The term מִפְּנֵי (mippÿne, “from the face of”) often has a causal nuance. It also appears with the Niphal of אָסַף (’asaph, “gather”) in 2 Chr 12:5: אֲשֶׁר־נֶאֶסְפוּ אֶל־יְרוּשָׁלַם מִפְּנֵי שִׁישָׁק (’asher-ne’esphu ’el-yÿrushalam mippÿney shishaq, “who had gathered at Jerusalem because of [i.e., due to fear of] Shishak”).

[57:1]  ²⁰ tn The translation assumes that this verse, in proverbial fashion, laments society’s apathy over the persecution of the godly. The second half of the verse observes that such apathy results in more widespread oppression. Since the next verse pictures the godly being taken to a place of rest, some interpret the second half of v. 1 in a more positive vein. According to proponents of this view, God removes the godly so that they might be spared suffering and calamity, a fact which the general populace fails to realize.

[58:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “Is it not?” The rhetorical question here expects a positive answer, “It is!”

[58:7]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and from your flesh do not hide yourself.”

[60:5]  ¹⁴ tn Or “shine,” or “be radiant” (NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[60:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and it will tremble and be wide, your heart.”

[60:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the wealth of the sea,” i.e., wealth that is transported from distant lands via the sea.

[66:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all these.” The phrase refers to the heavens and earth, mentioned in the previous verse.

[66:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and all these were.” Some prefer to emend וַיִּהְיוּ (vayyihyu, “and they were”) to וְלִי הָיוּ (vÿli hayu, “and to me they were”), i.e., “and they belong to me.”

[66:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and to this one I look” (KJV and NASB both similar).

[66:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to the humble and the lowly in spirit and the one who trembles at my words.”

[66:24]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for their worm will not die.”

[66:24]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and their fire will not be extinguished.”

[66:24]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and they will be an abhorrence to all flesh.”