Isaiah 6:11

6:11 I replied, “How long, sovereign master?” He said,

“Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated,

and houses are uninhabited,

and the land is ruined and devastated,

Isaiah 8:8

8:8 It will spill into Judah, flooding and engulfing, as it reaches to the necks of its victims. He will spread his wings out over your entire land, ¹  O Immanuel.” ² 

Isaiah 27:10-11

27:10 For the fortified city ³  is left alone;

it is a deserted settlement

and abandoned like the desert.

Calves ⁴  graze there;

they lie down there

and eat its branches bare. ⁵ 

27:11 When its branches get brittle, ⁶  they break;

women come and use them for kindling. ⁷ 

For these people lack understanding, ⁸ 

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

Isaiah 28:15-22

28:15 For you say,

“We have made a treaty with death,

with Sheol ⁹  we have made an agreement. ¹⁰ 

When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by ¹¹ 

it will not reach us.

For we have made a lie our refuge,

we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.” ¹² 

28:16 Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord, says:

“Look, I am laying ¹³  a stone in Zion,

an approved ¹⁴  stone,

set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. ¹⁵ 

The one who maintains his faith will not panic. ¹⁶ 

28:17 I will make justice the measuring line,

fairness the plumb line;

hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge, ¹⁷ 

the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place.

28:18 Your treaty with death will be dissolved; ¹⁸ 

your agreement ¹⁹  with Sheol will not last. ²⁰ 

When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by, ²¹ 

you will be overrun by it. ²² 

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

indeed, ²³  every morning it will sweep by,

it will come through during the day and the night.” ²⁴ 

When this announcement is understood,

it will cause nothing but terror.

28:20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on,

and the blanket is too narrow to wrap around oneself. ²⁵ 

28:21 For the Lord will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim, ²⁶ 

he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon, ²⁷ 

to accomplish his work,

his peculiar work,

to perform his task,

his strange task. ²⁸ 

28:22 So now, do not mock,

or your chains will become heavier!

For I have heard a message about decreed destruction,

from the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, against the entire land. ²⁹ 

Daniel 9:27

9:27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one week. ³⁰ 

But in the middle of that week

he will bring sacrifices and offerings to a halt.

On the wing ³¹  of abominations will come ³²  one who destroys,

until the decreed end is poured out on the one who destroys.”

Romans 9:28

9:28 for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth completely and quickly.” ³³ 

[8:8]  ¹ tn Heb “and the spreading out of his wings [will be over] the fullness of the breadth of your land.” The metaphor changes here from raging flood to predatory bird.

[8:8]  ² sn The appearance of the name Immanuel (“God is with us”) is ironic at this point, for God is present with his people in judgment. Immanuel is addressed here as if he has already been born and will see the judgment occur. This makes excellent sense if his birth has just been recorded. There are several reasons for considering Immanuel and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz one and the same. 8:3 is a birth account which could easily be understood as recording the fulfillment of the birth prophecy of 7:14. The presence of a formal record/witnesses (8:1-2) suggests a sign function for the child (cf. 7:14). As in 7:14-16, the removal of Judah’s enemies would take place before the child reached a specified age (cf. 8:4). Both 7:17-25 and 8:7-8 speak of an Assyrian invasion of Judah which would follow the defeat of Israel/Syria. The major objection to this view is the fact that different names appear, but such a phenomenon is not without parallel in the OT (cf. Gen 35:18). The name Immanuel may emphasize the basic fact of God’s presence, while the name Maher focuses on the specific nature of God’s involvement. In 7:14 the mother is viewed as naming the child, while in 8:3 Isaiah is instructed to give the child’s name, but one might again point to Gen 35:18 for a precedent. The sign child’s age appears to be different in 8:4 than in 7:15-16, but 7:15-16 pertains to the judgment on Judah, as well as the defeat of Israel/Syria (cf. vv. 17-25), while 8:4 deals only with the downfall of Israel/Syria. Some argue that the suffixed form “your land” in 8:8 points to a royal referent (a child of Ahaz or the Messiah), but usage elsewhere shows that the phrase does not need to be so restricted. While the suffix can refer to the king of a land (cf. Num 20:17; 21:22; Deut 2:27; Judg 11:17, 19; 2 Sam 24:13; 1 Kgs 11:22; Isa 14:20), it can also refer to one who is a native of a particular land (cf. Gen 12:1; 32:9; Jonah 1:8). (See also the use of “his land” in Isa 13:14 [where the suffix refers to a native of a land] and 37:7 [where it refers to a king].)

[27:10]  ³ sn The identity of this city is uncertain. The context suggests that an Israelite city, perhaps Samaria or Jerusalem, is in view. For discussions of interpretive options see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:496-97, and Paul L. Redditt, “Once Again, the City in Isaiah 24-27,” HAR 10 (1986), 332.

[27:10]  ⁴ tn The singular form in the text is probably collective.

[27:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “and destroy her branches.” The city is the antecedent of the third feminine singular pronominal suffix. Apparently the city is here compared to a tree. See also v. 11.

[27:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[27:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.

[27:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”

[28:15]  ⁹ sn Sheol is the underworld, land of the dead, according to the OT world view.

[28:15]  ¹⁰ tn Elsewhere the noun חֹזֶה (khozeh) refers to a prophet who sees visions. In v. 18 the related term חָזוּת (khazut, “vision”) is used. The parallelism in both verses (note “treaty”) seems to demand a meaning “agreement” for both nouns. Perhaps חֹזֶה and חזוּת are used in a metonymic sense in vv. 15 and 18. Another option is to propose a homonymic root. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:514, and HALOT 301 s.v. II חֹזֶה.

[28:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the overwhelming scourge, when it passes by” (NRSV similar).

[28:15]  ¹² sn “Lie” and “deceitful word” would not be the terms used by the people. They would likely use the words “promise” and “reliable word,” but the prophet substitutes “lie” and “deceitful word” to emphasize that this treaty with death will really prove to be disappointing.

[28:16]  ¹³ tc The Hebrew text has a third person verb form, which does not agree with the first person suffix that precedes. The form should be emended to יֹסֵד (yosed), a Qal active participle used in a present progressive or imminent future sense.

[28:16]  ¹⁴ tn Traditionally “tested,” but the implication is that it has passed the test and stands approved.

[28:16]  ¹⁵ sn The reality behind the metaphor is not entirely clear from the context. The stone appears to represent someone or something that gives Zion stability. Perhaps the ideal Davidic ruler is in view (see 32:1). Another option is that the image of beginning a building project by laying a precious cornerstone suggests that God is about to transform Zion through judgment and begin a new covenant community that will experience his protection (see 4:3-6; 31:5; 33:20-24; 35:10).

[28:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “will not hurry,” i.e., act in panic.

[28:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “[the] refuge, [the] lie.” See v. 15.

[28:18]  ¹⁸ tn On the meaning of כָּפַר (kafar) in this context, see HALOT 494 s.v. I כפר and J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:515, n. 9.

[28:18]  ¹⁹ tn Normally the noun חָזוּת (khazut) means “vision.” See the note at v. 15.

[28:18]  ²⁰ tn Or “will not stand” (NIV, NRSV).

[28:18]  ²¹ tn See the note at v. 15.

[28:18]  ²² tn Heb “you will become a trampling place for it.”

[28:19]  ²³ tn Or “for” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[28:19]  ²⁴ tn The words “it will come through” are supplied in the translation. The verb “will sweep by” does double duty in the parallel structure.

[28:20]  ²⁵ sn The bed and blanket probably symbolize their false sense of security. A bed that is too short and a blanket that is too narrow may promise rest and protection from the cold, but in the end they are useless and disappointing. In the same way, their supposed treaty with death will prove useless and disappointing.

[28:21]  ²⁶ sn This probably alludes to David’s victory over the Philistines at Baal Perazim. See 2 Sam 5:20.

[28:21]  ²⁷ sn This probably alludes to the Lord’s victory over the Canaanites at Gibeon, during the days of Joshua. See Josh 10:10-11.

[28:21]  ²⁸ sn God’s judgment of his own people is called “his peculiar work” and “his strange task,” because he must deal with them the way he treated their enemies in the past.

[28:22]  ²⁹ tn Or “the whole earth” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NCV).

[9:27]  ³⁰ tn Heb “one seven” (also later in this line).

[9:27]  ³¹ tn The referent of the Hebrew word כְּנַף (kÿnaf, “wing”) is unclear here. The LXX and Theodotion have “the temple.” Some English versions (e.g., NAB, NIV) take this to mean “a wing of the temple,” but this is not clear.

[9:27]  ³² tn The Hebrew text does not have this verb, but it has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:28]  ³³ tc In light of the interpretive difficulty of this verse, a longer reading seems to have been added to clarify the meaning. The addition, in the middle of the sentence, makes the whole verse read as follows: “For he will execute his sentence completely and quickly in righteousness, because the Lord will do it quickly on the earth.” The shorter reading is found largely in Alexandrian mss (Ì⁴⁶ א* A B 6 1506 1739 1881 pc co), while the longer reading is found principally in Western and Byzantine mss (א² D F G Ψ 33 Ï lat). The longer reading follows Isa 10:22-23 (LXX) verbatim, while Paul in the previous verse quoted the LXX loosely. This suggests the addition was made by a copyist trying to make sense out of a difficult passage rather than by the author himself.