Isaiah 8:1

A Sign-Child is Born

8:1 The Lord told me, “Take a large tablet ¹  and inscribe these words ²  on it with an ordinary stylus: ³  ‘Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.’ ⁴ 

Isaiah 8:3

8:3 I then had sexual relations with the prophetess; she conceived and gave birth to a son. The Lord told me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz,

Isaiah 8:11

The Lord Encourages Isaiah

8:11 Indeed this is what the Lord told me. He took hold of me firmly and warned me not to act like these people: ⁵ 

Isaiah 18:4

18:4 For this is what the Lord has told me:

“I will wait ⁶  and watch from my place,

like scorching heat produced by the sunlight, ⁷ 

like a cloud of mist ⁸  in the heat ⁹  of harvest.” ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 21:16

21:16 For this is what the sovereign master ¹¹  has told me: “Within exactly one year ¹²  all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end.

Isaiah 36:10

36:10 Furthermore it was by the command of the Lord that I marched up against this land to destroy it. The Lord told me, ‘March up against this land and destroy it!’”’” ¹³ 

Isaiah 37:29

37:29 Because you rage against me

and the uproar you create has reached my ears, ¹⁴ 

I will put my hook in your nose, ¹⁵ 

and my bridle between your lips,

and I will lead you back

the way you came.”

Isaiah 44:17

44:17 With the rest of it he makes a god, his idol;

he bows down to it and worships it.

He prays to it, saying,

‘Rescue me, for you are my god!’

Isaiah 46:3

46:3 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob, ¹⁶ 

all you who are left from the family of Israel, ¹⁷ 

you who have been carried from birth, ¹⁸ 

you who have been supported from the time you left the womb. ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 48:16

48:16 Approach me! Listen to this!

From the very first I have not spoken in secret;

when it happens, ²⁰  I am there.”

So now, the sovereign Lord has sent me, accompanied by his spirit. ²¹ 

Isaiah 49:1

Ideal Israel Delivers the Exiles

49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! ²² 

Pay attention, you people who live far away!

The Lord summoned me from birth; ²³ 

he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. ²⁴ 

Isaiah 51:1

There is Hope for the Future

51:1 “Listen to me, you who pursue godliness, ²⁵ 

who seek the Lord!

Look at the rock from which you were chiseled,

at the quarry ²⁶  from which you were dug! ²⁷ 

Isaiah 51:5

51:5 I am ready to vindicate, ²⁸ 

I am ready to deliver, ²⁹ 

I will establish justice among the nations. ³⁰ 

The coastlands ³¹  wait patiently for me;

they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power. ³² 

Isaiah 51:7

51:7 Listen to me, you who know what is right,

you people who are aware of my law! ³³ 

Don’t be afraid of the insults of men;

don’t be discouraged because of their abuse!

Isaiah 55:2-3

55:2 Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? ³⁴ 

Why spend ³⁵  your hard-earned money ³⁶  on something that will not satisfy?

Listen carefully ³⁷  to me and eat what is nourishing! ³⁸ 

Enjoy fine food! ³⁹ 

55:3 Pay attention and come to me!

Listen, so you can live! ⁴⁰ 

Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to ⁴¹  you,

just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. ⁴² 

Isaiah 63:15

63:15 Look down from heaven and take notice,

from your holy, majestic palace!

Where are your zeal ⁴³  and power?

Do not hold back your tender compassion! ⁴⁴ 

[8:1]  ¹ sn Probably made of metal, wood, or leather. See HALOT 193 s.v. גִּלָּיוֹן.

[8:1]  ² tn Heb “write” (so KJV, ASV, NIV, NRSV).

[8:1]  ³ tn Heb “with the stylus of a man.” The significance of the qualifying genitive “a man” is uncertain. For various interpretations see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:219, n. 1.

[8:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “quickly, [the] plunder; it hurries, [the] loot.” The first word (מַהֵר, maher) is either a Piel imperative (“hurry [to]”) or infinitive (“hurrying,” or “quickly”). The third word (חָשׁ, khash) is either a third masculine singular perfect or a masculine singular participle, in either case from the root חוּשׁ (khush, “hurry”). Perhaps it is best to translate, “One hastens to the plunder, one hurries to the loot.” In this case מַהֵר is understood as an infinitive functioning as a verb, the subject of חוּשׁ is taken as indefinite, and the two nouns are understood as adverbial accusatives. As we discover in v. 3, this is the name of the son to be born to Isaiah through the prophetess.

[8:11]  ⁵ tc Heb “with strength of hand and he warned me from walking in the way of these people, saying.” Some want to change the pointing of the suffix and thereby emend the Qal imperfect יִסְּרֵנִי (yissÿreni, “he was warning me”) to the more common Piel perfect יִסְּרַנִי (yissÿrani, “he warned me”). Others follow the lead of the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a and read יְסִירֵנִי (yÿsireni, “he was turning me aside,” a Hiphil imperfect from סוּר, sur).

[18:4]  ⁹ tn Or “be quiet, inactive”; NIV “will remain quiet.”

[18:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “like the glowing heat because of light.” The precise meaning of the line is uncertain.

[18:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a cloud of dew,” or “a cloud of light rain.”

[18:4]  ¹² tc Some medieval Hebrew mss, with support from the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Latin Vulgate, read “the day.”

[18:4]  ¹³ sn It is unclear how the comparisons in v. 4b relate to the preceding statement. How is waiting and watching similar to heat or a cloud? For a discussion of interpretive options, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:362.

[21:16]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[21:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in still a year, like the years of a hired worker.” See the note at 16:14.

[36:10]  ¹⁷ sn In v. 10 the chief adviser develops further the argument begun in v. 7. He claims that Hezekiah has offended the Lord and that the Lord has commissioned Assyria as his instrument of discipline and judgment.

[37:29]  ²¹ tc Heb “and your complacency comes up into my ears.” The parallelism is improved if שַׁאֲנַנְךָ (sha’anankha, “your complacency”) is emended to שְׁאוֹנְךָ (shÿ’onÿkha, “your uproar”). See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 237-38. However, the LXX seems to support the MT and Sennacherib’s cavalier dismissal of Yahweh depicts an arrogant complacency (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:658, n. 10).

[37:29]  ²² sn The word-picture has a parallel in Assyrian sculpture. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 238.

[46:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV “descendants of Jacob.”

[46:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and all the remnant of the house of Israel.”

[46:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “from the womb” (so NRSV); KJV “from the belly”; NAB “from your infancy.”

[46:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “who have been lifted up from the womb.”

[48:16]  ²⁹ tn Heb “from the time of its occurring.”

[48:16]  ³⁰ sn The speaker here is not identified specifically, but he is probably Cyrus, the Lord’s “ally” mentioned in vv. 14-15.

[49:1]  ³³ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”

[49:1]  ³⁴ tn Heb “called me from the womb.”

[49:1]  ³⁵ tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”

[51:1]  ³⁷ tn Or “righteousness” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “justice”; NLT “hope for deliverance.”

[51:1]  ³⁸ tn Heb “the excavation of the hole.”

[51:1]  ³⁹ sn The “rock” and “quarry” refer here to Abraham and Sarah, the progenitors of the nation.

[51:5]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”] is near.”

[51:5]  ⁴² tn Heb “my deliverance goes forth.”

[51:5]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and my arms will judge [on behalf of] nations.”

[51:5]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “islands” (NIV); TEV “Distant lands.”

[51:5]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “for my arm” (so NIV, NRSV).

[51:7]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “people (who have) my law in their heart.”

[55:2]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “for what is not food.”

[55:2]  ⁵⁰ tn The interrogative particle and the verb “spend” are understood here by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[55:2]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “your labor,” which stands by metonymy for that which one earns.

[55:2]  ⁵² tn The infinitive absolute follows the imperative and lends emphasis to the exhortation.

[55:2]  ⁵³ tn Heb “good” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[55:2]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “Let your appetite delight in fine food.”

[55:3]  ⁵³ tn The jussive with vav (ו) conjunctive following the imperative indicates purpose/result.

[55:3]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “an eternal covenant with.”

[55:3]  ⁵⁵ 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.”

[63:15]  ⁵⁷ tn This probably refers to his zeal for his people, which motivates him to angrily strike out against their enemies.

[63:15]  ⁵⁸ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “the agitation of your intestines and your compassion to me they are held back.” The phrase “agitation of your intestines” is metonymic, referring to the way in which one’s nervous system reacts when one feels pity and compassion toward another. אֵלַי (’elay, “to me”) is awkward in this context, where the speaker represents the nation and, following the introduction (see v. 7), utilizes first person plural forms. The translation assumes an emendation to the negative particle אַל (’al). This also necessitates emending the following verb form (which is a plural perfect) to a singular jussive (תִתְאַפָּק, tit’appaq). The Hitpael of אָפַק (’afaq) also occurs in 42:14.