Discovery BoxIsaiah 7:17
Context7:17 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 34:16
Context34:16 Carefully read the scroll of the Lord! 3
Not one of these creatures will be missing, 4
none will lack a mate. 5
For the Lord has issued the decree, 6
and his own spirit gathers them. 7
Isaiah 56:3
Context56:3 No foreigner who becomes a follower of 8 the Lord should say,
‘The Lord will certainly 9 exclude me from his people.’
The eunuch should not say,
‘Look, I am like a dried-up tree.’”
[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.
[34:16] 3 tn Heb “Seek from upon the scroll of the Lord and read.”
[34:16] 4 tn Heb “one from these will not be missing.” הֵנָּה (hennah, “these”) is feminine plural in the Hebrew text. It may refer only to the birds mentioned in v. 15b or may include all of the creatures listed in vv. 14b-15 (all of which are identified with feminine nouns).
[34:16] 5 tn Heb “each its mate they will not lack.”
[34:16] 6 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “for a mouth, it has commanded.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa and a few medieval
[34:16] 7 tn Heb “and his spirit, he gathers them.” The pronominal suffix (“them”) is feminine plural, referring to the birds mentioned in v. 15b or to all of the creatures listed in vv. 14b-15 (all of which are identified with feminine nouns).
[56:3] 5 tn Heb “who attaches himself to.”
[56:3] 6 tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.
