Isaiah 7:17

7:17 The Lord will bring on you, your people, and your father’s family a time ¹  unlike any since Ephraim departed from Judah – the king of Assyria!” ² 

Isaiah 10:24

10:24 So ³  here is what the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, says: “My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of Assyria, even though they beat you with a club and lift their cudgel against you as Egypt did. ⁴ 

Isaiah 45:14

The Lord is the Nations’ Only Hope

45:14 This is what the Lord says:

“The profit ⁵  of Egypt and the revenue ⁶  of Ethiopia,

along with the Sabeans, those tall men,

will be brought to you ⁷  and become yours.

They will walk behind you, coming along in chains. ⁸ 

They will bow down to you

and pray to you: ⁹ 

‘Truly God is with ¹⁰  you; he has no peer; ¹¹ 

there is no other God!’”

Isaiah 54:9

54:9 “As far as I am concerned, this is like in Noah’s time, ¹² 

when I vowed that the waters of Noah’s flood ¹³  would never again cover the earth.

In the same way I have vowed that I will not be angry at you or shout at you.

Isaiah 54:17

54:17 No weapon forged to be used against you will succeed;

you will refute everyone who tries to accuse you. ¹⁴ 

This is what the Lord will do for his servants –

I will vindicate them,” ¹⁵ 

says the Lord.

Isaiah 59:21

59:21 “As for me, this is my promise to ¹⁶  them,” says the Lord. “My spirit, who is upon you, and my words, which I have placed in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and descendants from this time forward,” ¹⁷  says the Lord.

[7:17]  ¹ tn Heb “days” (so KJV, NAB); NASB, NRSV “such days.”

[7:17]  ² sn Initially the prophecy appears to be a message of salvation. Immanuel seems to have a positive ring to it, sour milk and honey elsewhere symbolize prosperity and blessing (see Deut 32:13-14; Job 20:17), verse 16 announces the defeat of Judah’s enemies, and verse 17a could be taken as predicting a return to the glorious days of David and Solomon. However, the message turns sour in verses 17b-25. God will be with his people in judgment, as well as salvation. The curds and honey will be signs of deprivation, not prosperity, the relief announced in verse 16 will be short-lived, and the new era will be characterized by unprecedented humiliation, not a return to glory. Because of Ahaz’s refusal to trust the Lord, potential blessing would be transformed into a curse, just as Isaiah turns an apparent prophecy of salvation into a message of judgment. Because the words “the king of Assyria” are rather awkwardly tacked on to the end of the sentence, some regard them as a later addition. However, the very awkwardness facilitates the prophet’s rhetorical strategy here, as he suddenly turns what sounds like a positive message into a judgment speech. Actually, “the king of Assyria,” stands in apposition to the earlier object “days,” and specifies who the main character of these coming “days” will be.

[10:24]  ³ tn Heb “therefore.” The message that follows is one of encouragement, for it focuses on the eventual destruction of the Assyrians. Consequently “therefore” relates back to vv. 5-21, not to vv. 22-23, which must be viewed as a brief parenthesis in an otherwise positive speech.

[10:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “in the way [or “manner”] of Egypt.”

[45:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “labor,” which stands metonymically for the fruits of labor, either “monetary profit,” or “products.”

[45:14]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps, “merchandise” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “the gain of Ethiopia”; CEV “the treasures of Ethiopia.”

[45:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “they will pass over to you”; NASB, NIV “will come over to you”; CEV “will belong to you.”

[45:14]  ⁸ sn Restored Israel is depicted here in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion as an imperial power that receives riches and slaves as tribute.

[45:14]  ⁹ sn Israel’s vassals are portrayed as so intimidated and awed that they treat Israel as an intermediary to God or sub-deity.

[45:14]  ¹⁰ tn Or perhaps, “among.” Cf. KJV, ASV “Surely God is in thee.”

[45:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “there is no other” (so NIV, NRSV). The same phrase occurs at the end of v. 18, in v. 21, and at the end of v. 22.

[54:9]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “For [or “indeed”] the waters of Noah [is] this to me.” כִּי־מֵי (ki-me, “for the waters of”) should be emended to כְּמֵי (kÿmey, “like the days of”), which is supported by the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a and all the ancient versions except LXX.

[54:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “the waters of Noah” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[54:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “and every tongue that rises up for judgment with you will prove to be guilty.”

[54:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “this is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication from me.”

[59:21]  ¹¹ tn Or “my covenant with” (so many English versions); NCV “my agreement with.”

[59:21]  ¹² tn Heb “from now and on into the future.”