Isaiah 7:9

7:9 Ephraim’s leader is Samaria,

and Samaria’s leader is the son of Remaliah.

If your faith does not remain firm,

then you will not remain secure.” ¹ 

Isaiah 53:1

53:1 Who would have believed ²  what we ³  just heard? ⁴ 

When ⁵  was the Lord’s power ⁶  revealed through him?

Isaiah 1:21

Purifying Judgment

1:21 How tragic that the once-faithful city

has become a prostitute! ⁷ 

She was once a center of ⁸  justice,

fairness resided in her,

but now only murderers. ⁹ 

Isaiah 8:2

8:2 Then I will summon ¹⁰  as my reliable witnesses Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.”

Isaiah 22:23

22:23 I will fasten him like a peg into a solid place; ¹¹  he will bring honor and respect to his father’s family. ¹² 

Isaiah 33:16

33:16 This is the person who will live in a secure place; ¹³ 

he will find safety in the rocky, mountain strongholds; ¹⁴ 

he will have food

and a constant supply of water.

Isaiah 1:26

1:26 I will reestablish honest judges as in former times,

wise advisers as in earlier days. ¹⁵ 

Then you will be called, ‘The Just City,

Faithful Town.’”

Isaiah 28:16

28:16 Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord, says:

“Look, I am laying ¹⁶  a stone in Zion,

an approved ¹⁷  stone,

set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. ¹⁸ 

The one who maintains his faith will not panic. ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 55:3

55:3 Pay attention and come to me!

Listen, so you can live! ²⁰ 

Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to ²¹  you,

just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. ²² 

Isaiah 60:4

60:4 Look all around you! ²³ 

They all gather and come to you –

your sons come from far away

and your daughters are escorted by guardians.

Isaiah 22:25

22:25 “At that time,” ²⁴  says the Lord who commands armies, “the peg fastened into a solid place will come loose. It will be cut off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off.” ²⁵  Indeed, ²⁶  the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 43:10

43:10 You are my witnesses,” says the Lord,

“my servant whom I have chosen,

so that you may consider ²⁷  and believe in me,

and understand that I am he.

No god was formed before me,

and none will outlive me. ²⁸ 

Isaiah 49:7

49:7 This is what the Lord,

the protector ²⁹  of Israel, their Holy One, ³⁰  says

to the one who is despised ³¹  and rejected ³²  by nations, ³³ 

a servant of rulers:

“Kings will see and rise in respect, ³⁴ 

princes will bow down,

because of the faithful Lord,

the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”

Isaiah 49:23

49:23 Kings will be your children’s ³⁵  guardians;

their princesses will nurse your children. ³⁶ 

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

and they will lick the dirt on ³⁷  your feet.

Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;

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

[7:9]  ¹ tn Heb “if you do not believe, you will not endure.” The verb forms are second plural; the Lord here addresses the entire Davidic family and court. (Verse 4 was addressed to the king.) There is a wordplay in the Hebrew text, designed to draw attention to the alternatives set before the king (cf. 1:20). “Believe” (תַאֳמִינוּ, ta’aminu) is a Hiphil form of the verb אָמָן (’aman); “endure” (תֵאָמֵנוּ, te’amenu) is a Niphal form of this same verb.

[53:1]  ² tn The perfect has a hypothetical force in this rhetorical question. For another example, see Gen 21:7.

[53:1]  ³ sn The speaker shifts here from God to an unidentified group (note the first person plural pronouns throughout vv. 1-6). The content of the speech suggests that the prophet speaks here as representative of the sinful nation Israel. The group acknowledges its sin and recognizes that the servant suffered on their behalf.

[53:1]  ⁴ tn The first half of v. 1 is traditionally translated, “Who has believed our report?” or “Who has believed our message?” as if the group speaking is lamenting that no one will believe what they have to say. But that doesn’t seem to be the point in this context. Here the group speaking does not cast itself in the role of a preacher or evangelist. No, they are repentant sinners, who finally see the light. The phrase “our report” can mean (1) the report which we deliver, or (2) the report which was delivered to us. The latter fits better here, where the report is most naturally taken as the announcement that has just been made in 52:13-15.

[53:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “to whom” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[53:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “the arm of the Lord.” The “arm of the Lord” is a metaphor of military power; it pictures the Lord as a warrior who bares his arm, takes up his weapon, and crushes his enemies (cf. 51:9-10; 63:5-6). But Israel had not seen the Lord’s military power at work in the servant.

[1:21]  ³ tn Heb “How she has become a prostitute, the faithful city!” The exclamatory אֵיכָה (’ekhah, “how!”) is used several times as the beginning of a lament (see Lam 1:1; 2;1; 4:1-2). Unlike a number of other OT passages that link references to Israel’s harlotry to idolatry, Isaiah here makes the connection with social and moral violations.

[1:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “filled with.”

[1:21]  ⁵ tn Or “assassins.” This refers to the oppressive rich and/or their henchmen. R. Ortlund (Whoredom, 78) posits that it serves as a synecdoche for all varieties of criminals, the worst being mentioned to imply all lesser ones. Since Isaiah often addressed his strongest rebuke to the rulers and leaders of Israel, he may have in mind the officials who bore the responsibility to uphold justice and righteousness.

[8:2]  ⁴ tn The form in the text is a cohortative with prefixed vav (ו), suggesting that the Lord is announcing what he will do. Some prefer to change the verb to an imperative, “and summon as witnesses,” a reading that finds support from the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a. Another option is to point the prefixed conjunction as a vav consecutive and translate, “So I summoned as witnesses.” In this case Isaiah is recalling his response to the Lord’s commission. In any case, the reference to witnesses suggests that the name and the child who bears it will function as signs.

[22:23]  ⁵ sn The metaphor depicts how secure his position will be.

[22:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he will become a glorious throne for the house of his father.”

[33:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “he [in the] exalted places will live.”

[33:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “mountain strongholds, cliffs [will be] his elevated place.”

[1:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will restore your judges as in the beginning; and your counselors as in the beginning.” In this context, where social injustice and legal corruption are denounced (see v. 23), the “judges” are probably government officials responsible for making legal decisions, while the “advisers” are probably officials who helped the king establish policies. Both offices are also mentioned in 3:2.

[28:16]  ⁸ tc The Hebrew text has a third person verb form, which does not agree with the first person suffix that precedes. The form should be emended to יֹסֵד (yosed), a Qal active participle used in a present progressive or imminent future sense.

[28:16]  ⁹ tn Traditionally “tested,” but the implication is that it has passed the test and stands approved.

[28:16]  ¹⁰ sn The reality behind the metaphor is not entirely clear from the context. The stone appears to represent someone or something that gives Zion stability. Perhaps the ideal Davidic ruler is in view (see 32:1). Another option is that the image of beginning a building project by laying a precious cornerstone suggests that God is about to transform Zion through judgment and begin a new covenant community that will experience his protection (see 4:3-6; 31:5; 33:20-24; 35:10).

[28:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “will not hurry,” i.e., act in panic.

[55:3]  ⁹ tn The jussive with vav (ו) conjunctive following the imperative indicates purpose/result.

[55:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or “an eternal covenant with.”

[55:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the reliable expressions of loyalty of David.” The syntactical relationship of חַסְדֵי (khasde, “expressions of loyalty”) to the preceding line is unclear. If the term is appositional to בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”), then the Lord here transfers the promises of the Davidic covenant to the entire nation. Another option is to take חַסְדֵי (khasde) as an adverbial accusative and to translate “according to the reliable covenantal promises.” In this case the new covenantal arrangement proposed here is viewed as an extension or perhaps fulfillment of the Davidic promises. A third option, the one reflected in the above translation, is to take the last line as comparative. In this case the new covenant being proposed is analogous to the Davidic covenant. Verses 4-5, which compare David’s international prominence to what Israel will experience, favors this view. In all three of these interpretations, “David” is an objective genitive; he is the recipient of covenantal promises. A fourth option would be to take David as a subjective genitive and understand the line as giving the basis for the preceding promise: “Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, because of David’s faithful acts of covenantal loyalty.”

[60:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Lift up around your eyes and see!”

[22:25]  ¹¹ tn Or “In that day” (KJV).

[22:25]  ¹² sn Eliakim’s authority, though seemingly secure, will eventually be removed, and with it his family’s prominence.

[22:25]  ¹³ tn Or “for” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[43:10]  ¹² tn Or “know” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[43:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “and after me, there will not be”; NASB “there will be none after Me.”

[49:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[49:7]  ¹⁴ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[49:7]  ¹⁵ tc The Hebrew text reads literally “to [one who] despises life.” It is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a לבזוי, which should be vocalized as a passive participle, לִבְזוּי (livzuy, “to the one despised with respect to life” [נֶפֶשׁ is a genitive of specification]). The consonantal sequence וי was probably misread as ה in the MT tradition. The contextual argument favors the 1QIsa^a reading. As J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:294) points out, the three terse phrases “convey a picture of lowliness, worthlessness, and helplessness.”

[49:7]  ¹⁶ tn MT’s Piel participle (“to the one who rejects”) does not fit contextually. The form should be revocalized as a Pual, “to the one rejected.”

[49:7]  ¹⁷ tn Parallelism (see “rulers,” “kings,” “princes”) suggests that the singular גּוֹי (goy) be emended to a plural or understood in a collective sense (see 55:5).

[49:7]  ¹⁸ tn For this sense of קוּם (qum), see Gen 19:1; 23:7; 33:10; Lev 19:32; 1 Sam 20:41; 25:41; 1 Kgs 2:19; Job 29:8.

[49:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).

[49:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.

[49:23]  ¹⁶ tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”