Isaiah 66:13

66:13 As a mother consoles a child, ¹ 

so I will console you,

and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”

Isaiah 50:1

50:1 This is what the Lord says:

“Where is your mother’s divorce certificate

by which I divorced her?

Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? ² 

Look, you were sold because of your sins; ³ 

because of your rebellious acts I divorced your mother. ⁴ 

Isaiah 49:1

Ideal Israel Delivers the Exiles

49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! ⁵ 

Pay attention, you people who live far away!

The Lord summoned me from birth; ⁶ 

he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. ⁷ 

Isaiah 8:4

8:4 for before the child knows how to cry out, ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria ⁸  will be carried off by the king of Assyria.” ⁹ 

Isaiah 49:23

49:23 Kings will be your children’s ¹⁰  guardians;

their princesses will nurse your children. ¹¹ 

With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you

and they will lick the dirt on ¹²  your feet.

Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;

those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.

Isaiah 45:10

45:10 Danger awaits one who says ¹³  to his father,

“What in the world ¹⁴  are you fathering?”

and to his mother,

“What in the world are you bringing forth?” ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 49:15

49:15 Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast? ¹⁶ 

Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne? ¹⁷ 

Even if mothers ¹⁸  were to forget,

I could never forget you! ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 28:9

28:9 Who is the Lord ²⁰  trying to teach?

To whom is he explaining a message? ²¹ 

Those just weaned from milk!

Those just taken from their mother’s breast! ²² 

Isaiah 37:3

37:3 “This is what Hezekiah says: ²³  ‘This is a day of distress, insults, ²⁴  and humiliation, ²⁵  as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through. ²⁶ 

Isaiah 40:11

40:11 Like a shepherd he tends his flock;

he gathers up the lambs with his arm;

he carries them close to his heart; ²⁷ 

he leads the ewes along.

Isaiah 23:10

23:10 Daughter Tarshish, travel back to your land, as one crosses the Nile;

there is no longer any marketplace in Tyre. ²⁸ 

Isaiah 23:4

23:4 Be ashamed, O Sidon,

for the sea ²⁹  says this, O fortress of the sea:

“I have not gone into labor

or given birth;

I have not raised young men

or brought up young women.” ³⁰ 

[66:13]  ¹ tn Heb “like a man whose mother comforts him.”

[50:1]  ² sn The Lord challenges the exiles (Zion’s children) to bring incriminating evidence against him. The rhetorical questions imply that Israel accused the Lord of divorcing his wife (Zion) and selling his children (the Israelites) into slavery to pay off a debt.

[50:1]  ³ sn The Lord admits that he did sell the Israelites, but it was because of their sins, not because of some debt he owed. If he had sold them to a creditor, they ought to be able to point him out, but the preceding rhetorical question implies they would not be able to do so.

[50:1]  ⁴ sn The Lord admits he did divorce Zion, but that too was the result of the nation’s sins. The force of the earlier rhetorical question comes into clearer focus now. The question does not imply that a certificate does not exist and that no divorce occurred. Rather, the question asks for the certificate to be produced so the accuser can see the reason for the divorce in black and white. The Lord did not put Zion away arbitrarily.

[49:1]  ³ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”

[49:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “called me from the womb.”

[49:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”

[8:4]  ⁴ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[8:4]  ⁵ sn The child’s name foreshadows what will happen to Judah’s enemies; when their defeat takes place, the child will be a reminder that God predicted the event and brought it to pass. As such the child will be a reminder of God’s protective presence with his people.

[49:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).

[49:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.

[49:23]  ⁷ tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”

[45:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “Woe [to] one who says” (NASB and NIV both similar); NCV “How terrible it will be.”

[45:10]  ⁷ tn See the note at v. 9. This phrase occurs a second time later in this verse.

[45:10]  ⁸ sn Verses 9-10 may allude to the exiles’ criticism that the Lord does not appear to know what he is doing.

[49:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “her suckling”; NASB “her nursing child.”

[49:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “so as not to have compassion on the son of her womb?”

[49:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “these” (so ASV, NASB).

[49:15]  ¹⁰ 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.

[28:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “Who is he teaching knowledge? For whom is he explaining a message?” The translation assumes that the Lord is the subject of the verbs “teaching” and “explaining,” and that the prophet is asking the questions. See v. 12. According to some vv. 9-10 record the people’s sarcastic response to the Lord’s message through Isaiah.

[28:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from the breasts.” The words “their mother’s” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The translation assumes that this is the prophet’s answer to the questions asked in the first half of the verse. The Lord is trying to instruct people who are “infants” morally and ethically.

[37:3]  ⁹ tn In the Hebrew text this verse begins with “they said to him” (cf. NRSV).

[37:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or “rebuke” (KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV), or “correction.”

[37:3]  ¹¹ tn Or “contempt”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “disgrace.”

[37:3]  ¹² tn Heb “when sons come to the cervical opening and there is no strength to give birth.”

[40:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in his bosom” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV), an expression which reflects closeness and protective care.

[23:10]  ¹¹ tc This meaning of this verse is unclear. The Hebrew text reads literally, “Cross over your land, like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish, there is no more waistband.” The translation assumes an emendation of מֵזַח (mezakh, “waistband”) to מָחֹז (makhoz, “harbor, marketplace”; see Ps 107:30). The term עָבַר (’avar, “cross over”) is probably used here of traveling over the water (as in v. 6). The command is addressed to personified Tarshish, who here represents her merchants. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has עבדי (“work, cultivate”) instead of עִבְרִי (’ivri, “cross over”). In this case one might translate “Cultivate your land, like they do the Nile region” (cf. NIV, CEV). The point would be that the people of Tarshish should turn to agriculture because they will no longer be able to get what they need through the marketplace in Tyre.

[23:4]  ¹² tn J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:430-31) sees here a reference to Yam, the Canaanite god of the sea. He interprets the phrase מָעוֹז הַיָּם (ma’oz hayyam, “fortress of the sea”) as a title of Yam, translating “Mighty One of the Sea.” A more traditional view is that the phrase refers to Sidon.

[23:4]  ¹³ tn Or “virgins” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB).