Isaiah 6:7

6:7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Look, this coal has touched your lips. Your evil is removed; your sin is forgiven.” ¹ 

Isaiah 9:20

9:20 They devoured ²  on the right, but were still hungry,

they ate on the left, but were not satisfied.

People even ate ³  the flesh of their own arm! ⁴ 

Isaiah 10:15

10:15 Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it,

or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? ⁵ 

As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it,

or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!

Isaiah 14:1

14:1 The Lord will certainly have compassion on Jacob; ⁶  he will again choose Israel as his special people ⁷  and restore ⁸  them to their land. Resident foreigners will join them and unite with the family ⁹  of Jacob.

Isaiah 16:9

16:9 So I weep along with Jazer ¹⁰ 

over the vines of Sibmah.

I will saturate you ¹¹  with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh,

for the conquering invaders shout triumphantly

over your fruit and crops. ¹² 

Isaiah 22:4

22:4 So I say:

“Don’t look at me! ¹³ 

I am weeping bitterly.

Don’t try ¹⁴  to console me

concerning the destruction of my defenseless people.” ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 22:15

22:15 This is what the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, says:

“Go visit this administrator, Shebna, who supervises the palace, ¹⁶  and tell him: ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 24:6

24:6 So a treaty curse ¹⁸  devours the earth;

its inhabitants pay for their guilt. ¹⁹ 

This is why the inhabitants of the earth disappear, ²⁰ 

and are reduced to just a handful of people. ²¹ 

Isaiah 24:21

The Lord Will Become King

24:21 At that time ²²  the Lord will punish ²³ 

the heavenly forces in the heavens ²⁴ 

and the earthly kings on the earth.

Isaiah 25:7

25:7 On this mountain he will swallow up

the shroud that is over all the peoples, ²⁵ 

the woven covering that is over all the nations; ²⁶ 

Isaiah 32:13

32:13 Mourn ²⁷  over the land of my people,

which is overgrown with thorns and briers,

and over all the once-happy houses ²⁸ 

in the city filled with revelry. ²⁹ 

Isaiah 34:2

34:2 For the Lord is angry at all the nations

and furious with all their armies.

He will annihilate them and slaughter them.

Isaiah 47:6

47:6 I was angry at my people;

I defiled my special possession

and handed them over to you.

You showed them no mercy; ³⁰ 

you even placed a very heavy burden on old people. ³¹ 

Isaiah 50:7

50:7 But the sovereign Lord helps me,

so I am not humiliated.

For that reason I am steadfastly resolved; ³² 

I know I will not be put to shame.

Isaiah 57:4

57:4 At whom are you laughing?

At whom are you opening your mouth

and sticking out your tongue?

You are the children of rebels,

the offspring of liars, ³³ 

Isaiah 58:14

58:14 Then you will find joy in your relationship to the Lord, ³⁴ 

and I will give you great prosperity, ³⁵ 

and cause crops to grow on the land I gave to your ancestor Jacob.” ³⁶ 

Know for certain that the Lord has spoken. ³⁷ 

[6:7]  ¹ tn Or “ritually cleansed,” or “atoned for” (NIV).

[9:20]  ² tn Or “cut.” The verb גָּזַר (gazar) means “to cut.” If it is understood here, then one might paraphrase, “They slice off meat on the right.” However, HALOT 187 s.v. I גזר, proposes here a rare homonym meaning “to devour.”

[9:20]  ³ tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite without vav consecutive or an imperfect used in a customary sense, describing continual or repeated behavior in past time.

[9:20]  ⁴ tn Some suggest that זְרֹעוֹ (zÿro’o, “his arm”) be repointed זַרְעוֹ (zar’o, “his offspring”). In either case, the metaphor is that of a desperately hungry man who resorts to an almost unthinkable act to satisfy his appetite. He eats everything he can find to his right, but still being unsatisfied, then turns to his left and eats everything he can find there. Still being desperate for food, he then resorts to eating his own flesh (or offspring, as this phrase is metaphorically understood by some English versions, e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT). The reality behind the metaphor is the political turmoil of the period, as the next verse explains. There was civil strife within the northern kingdom; even the descendants of Joseph were at each other’s throats. Then the northern kingdom turned on their southern brother, Judah.

[10:15]  ³ tn Heb “the one who pushes it back and forth”; KJV “him that shaketh it”; ASV “him that wieldeth it.”

[14:1]  ⁴ tn The sentence begins with כִּי (ki), which is understood as asseverative (“certainly”) in the translation. Another option is to translate, “For the Lord will have compassion.” In this case one of the reasons for Babylon’s coming demise (13:22b) is the Lord’s desire to restore his people.

[14:1]  ⁵ tn The words “as his special people” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:1]  ⁶ tn Or “settle” (NASB, NIV, NCV, NLT).

[14:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “house.”

[16:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “So I weep with the weeping of Jazer.” Once more the speaker (the Lord? – see v. 10b) plays the role of a mourner (see 15:5).

[16:9]  ⁶ tc The form אֲרַיָּוֶךְ (’arayyavekh) should be emended to אֲרַוָּיֶךְ (’aravvayekh; the vav [ו] and yod [י] have been accidentally transposed) from רָוָה (ravah, “be saturated”).

[16:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “for over your fruit and over your harvest shouting has fallen.” The translation assumes that the shouting is that of the conqueror (Jer 51:14). Another possibility is that the shouting is that of the harvesters (see v. 10b, as well as Jer 25:30), in which case one might translate, “for the joyful shouting over the fruit and crops has fallen silent.”

[22:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “look away from me” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

[22:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “don’t hurry” (so NCV).

[22:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “the daughter of my people.” “Daughter” is here used metaphorically to express the speaker’s emotional attachment to his people, as well as their vulnerability and weakness.

[22:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “who is over the house” (so ASV); NASB “who is in charge of the royal household.”

[22:15]  ⁸ tn The words “and tell him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[24:6]  ⁸ sn Ancient Near Eastern treaties often had “curses,” or threatened judgments, attached to them. (See Deut 28 for a biblical example of such curses.) The party or parties taking an oath of allegiance acknowledged that disobedience would activate these curses, which typically threatened loss of agricultural fertility as depicted in the following verses.

[24:6]  ⁹ tn The verb אָשַׁם (’asham, “be guilty”) is here used metonymically to mean “pay, suffer for one’s guilt” (see HALOT 95 s.v. אשׁם).

[24:6]  ¹⁰ tn BDB 359 s.v. חָרַר derives the verb חָרוּ (kharu) from חָרַר (kharar, “burn”), but HALOT 351 s.v. II חרה understands a hapax legomenon חָרָה (kharah, “to diminish in number,” a homonym of חָרָה) here, relating it to an alleged Arabic cognate meaning “to decrease.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has חורו, perhaps understanding the root as חָוַר (khavar, “grow pale”; see Isa 29:22 and HALOT 299 s.v. I חור).

[24:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and mankind is left small [in number].”

[24:21]  ⁹ tn Or “in that day” (so KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[24:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “visit [in judgment].”

[24:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the host of the height in the height.” The “host of the height/heaven” refers to the heavenly luminaries (stars and planets, see, among others, Deut 4:19; 17:3; 2 Kgs 17:16; 21:3, 5; 23:4-5; 2 Chr 33:3, 5) that populate the divine/heavenly assembly in mythological and prescientific Israelite thought (see Job 38:7; Isa 14:13).

[25:7]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text reads, “the face of the shroud, the shroud over all the nations.” Some emend the second הַלּוֹט (hallot) to a passive participle הַלּוּט (hallut, “that is wrapped”).

[25:7]  ¹¹ sn The point of the imagery is unclear. Perhaps the shroud/covering referred to was associated with death in some way (see v. 8).

[32:13]  ¹¹ tn “Mourn” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 12-13 are one long sentence.

[32:13]  ¹² tn Heb “indeed, over all the houses of joy.” It is not certain if this refers to individual homes or to places where parties and celebrations were held.

[32:13]  ¹³ sn This same phrase is used in 22:2.

[47:6]  ¹² tn Or “compassion.”

[47:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “on the old you made very heavy your yoke.”

[50:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “Therefore I set my face like flint.”

[57:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Are you not children of rebellion, offspring of a lie?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “Of course you are!”

[58:14]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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).