Isaiah 6:5

6:5 I said, “Too bad for me! I am destroyed, ¹  for my lips are contaminated by sin, ²  and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. ³  My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies.” ⁴ 

Isaiah 36:6

36:6 Look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If someone leans on it for support, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him!

Isaiah 40:26

40:26 Look up at the sky! ⁵ 

Who created all these heavenly lights? ⁶ 

He is the one who leads out their ranks; ⁷ 

he calls them all by name.

Because of his absolute power and awesome strength,

not one of them is missing.

Isaiah 50:2

50:2 Why does no one challenge me when I come?

Why does no one respond when I call? ⁸ 

Is my hand too weak ⁹  to deliver ¹⁰  you?

Do I lack the power to rescue you?

Look, with a mere shout ¹¹  I can dry up the sea;

I can turn streams into a desert,

so the fish rot away and die

from lack of water. ¹² 

Isaiah 66:3

66:3 The one who slaughters a bull also strikes down a man; ¹³ 

the one who sacrifices a lamb also breaks a dog’s neck; ¹⁴ 

the one who presents an offering includes pig’s blood with it; ¹⁵ 

the one who offers incense also praises an idol. ¹⁶ 

They have decided to behave this way; ¹⁷ 

they enjoy these disgusting practices. ¹⁸ 

[6:5]  ¹ tn Isaiah uses the suffixed (perfect) form of the verb for rhetorical purposes. In this way his destruction is described as occurring or as already completed. Rather than understanding the verb as derived from דָּמַה (damah, “be destroyed”), some take it from a proposed homonymic root דמה, which would mean “be silent.” In this case, one might translate, “I must be silent.”

[6:5]  ² tn Heb “a man unclean of lips am I.” Isaiah is not qualified to praise the king. His lips (the instruments of praise) are “unclean” because he has been contaminated by sin.

[6:5]  ³ tn Heb “and among a nation unclean of lips I live.”

[6:5]  ⁴ tn Perhaps in this context, the title has a less militaristic connotation and pictures the Lord as the ruler of the heavenly assembly. See the note at 1:9.

[40:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “Lift on high your eyes and see.”

[40:26]  ⁶ tn The words “heavenly lights” are supplied in the translation for clarification. See the following lines.

[40:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “the one who brings out by number their host.” The stars are here likened to a huge army that the Lord leads out. Perhaps the next line pictures God calling roll. If so, the final line may be indicating that none of them dares “go AWOL.” (“AWOL” is a military acronym for “absent without leave.”)

[50:2]  ⁹ sn The present tense translation of the verbs assumes that the Lord is questioning why Israel does not attempt to counter his arguments. Another possibility is to take the verbs as referring to past events: “Why did no one meet me when I came? Why did no one answer when I called?” In this case the Lord might be asking why Israel rejected his calls to repent and his offer to deliver them.

[50:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV).

[50:2]  ¹¹ tn Or “ransom” (NAB, NASB, NIV).

[50:2]  ¹² tn Heb “with my rebuke.”

[50:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “the fish stink from lack of water and die from thirst.”

[66:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “one who slaughters a bull, one who strikes down a man.” Some understand a comparison here and in the following lines. In God’s sight the one who sacrifices is like (i.e., regarded as) a murderer or one whose worship is ritually defiled or idolatrous. The translation above assumes that the language is not metaphorical, but descriptive of the sinners’ hypocritical behavior. (Note the last two lines of the verse, which suggests they are guilty of abominable practices.) On the one hand, they act pious and offer sacrifices; but at the same time they commit violent crimes against men, defile their sacrifices, and worship other gods.

[66:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “one who sacrifices a lamb, one who breaks a dog’s neck.” Some understand a comparison, but see the previous note.

[66:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “one who offers an offering, pig’s blood.” Some understand a comparison, but see the note at the end of the first line.

[66:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “one who offers incense as a memorial offering, one who blesses something false.” Some understand a comparison, but see the note at the end of the first line. אָוֶן (’aven), which has a wide variety of attested nuances, here refers metonymically to an idol. See HALOT 22 s.v. and BDB 20 s.v. 2.

[66:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “also they have chosen their ways.”

[66:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “their being [or “soul”] takes delight in their disgusting [things].”