Isaiah 8:14

8:14 He will become a sanctuary, ¹ 

but a stone that makes a person trip,

and a rock that makes one stumble –

to the two houses of Israel. ² 

He will become ³  a trap and a snare

to the residents of Jerusalem. ⁴ 

Isaiah 30:14

30:14 It shatters in pieces like a clay jar,

so shattered to bits that none of it can be salvaged. ⁵ 

Among its fragments one cannot find a shard large enough ⁶ 

to scoop a hot coal from a fire ⁷ 

or to skim off water from a cistern.” ⁸ 

Isaiah 31:3

31:3 The Egyptians are mere humans, not God;

their horses are made of flesh, not spirit.

The Lord will strike with ⁹  his hand;

the one who helps will stumble

and the one being helped will fall.

Together they will perish. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 33:20-21

33:20 Look at Zion, the city where we hold religious festivals!

You ¹¹  will see Jerusalem, ¹² 

a peaceful settlement,

a tent that stays put; ¹³ 

its stakes will never be pulled up;

none of its ropes will snap in two.

33:21 Instead the Lord will rule there as our mighty king. ¹⁴ 

Rivers and wide streams will flow through it; ¹⁵ 

no war galley will enter; ¹⁶ 

no large ships will sail through. ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 34:14

34:14 Wild animals and wild dogs will congregate there; ¹⁸ 

wild goats will bleat to one another. ¹⁹ 

Yes, nocturnal animals ²⁰  will rest there

and make for themselves a nest. ²¹ 

Isaiah 36:7

36:7 Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar.’

Isaiah 37:38

37:38 One day, ²²  as he was worshiping ²³  in the temple of his god Nisroch, ²⁴  his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. ²⁵  They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

Isaiah 40:22

40:22 He is the one who sits on the earth’s horizon; ²⁶ 

its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him. ²⁷ 

He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain, ²⁸ 

and spreads it out ²⁹  like a pitched tent. ³⁰ 

Isaiah 42:5

42:5 This is what the true God, ³¹  the Lord, says –

the one who created the sky and stretched it out,

the one who fashioned the earth and everything that lives on it, ³² 

the one who gives breath to the people on it,

and life to those who live on it: ³³ 

[8:14]  ¹ tn Because the metaphor of protection (“sanctuary”) does not fit the negative mood that follows in vv. 14b-15, some contend that מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash, “sanctuary”) is probably a corruption of an original מוֹקֵשׁ (moqesh, “snare”), a word that appears in the next line (cf. NAB and H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:355-56). If the MT reading is retained (as in the above translation), the fact that Yahweh is a sanctuary wraps up the point of v. 13 and stands in contrast to God’s treatment of those who rebel against him (the rest of v. 14).

[8:14]  ² sn The two “houses” of Israel (= the patriarch Jacob) are the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

[8:14]  ³ tn These words are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. וְהָיָה (vÿhayah, “and he will be”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse.

[8:14]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[30:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “Its shattering is like the shattering of a jug of [i.e., “made by”] potters, [so] shattered one cannot save [any of it].”

[30:14]  ⁶ tn The words “large enough” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[30:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “to remove fire from the place of kindling.”

[30:14]  ⁸ tn On the meaning of גֶבֶא (geveh, “cistern”) see HALOT 170 s.v.

[31:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “will extend”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV “stretch out.”

[31:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “together all of them will come to an end.”

[33:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “your eyes” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[33:20]  ¹⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[33:20]  ¹⁵ tn Or “that does not travel”; NASB “which shall not be folded.”

[33:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “But there [as] a mighty one [will be] the Lord for us.”

[33:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a place of rivers, streams wide of hands [i.e., on both sides].”

[33:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a ship of rowing will not go into it.”

[33:21]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and a mighty ship will not pass through it.”

[34:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “will meet” (so NIV); NLT “will mingle there.”

[34:14]  ²² tn Heb “and a goat will call to its neighbor.”

[34:14]  ²³ tn The precise meaning of לִּילִית (lilit) is unclear, though in this context the word certainly refers to some type of wild animal or bird. The word appears to be related to לַיְלָה (laylah, “night”). Some interpret it as the name of a female night demon, on the basis of an apparent Akkadian cognate used as the name of a demon. Later Jewish legends also identified Lilith as a demon. Cf. NRSV “Lilith.”

[34:14]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and will find for themselves a resting place.”

[37:38]  ²⁵ sn The assassination of King Sennacherib probably took place in 681 b.c.

[37:38]  ²⁶ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[37:38]  ²⁷ sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name Nisroch is a corruption of Nusku.

[37:38]  ²⁸ sn Extra-biblical sources also mention the assassination of Sennacherib, though they refer to only one assassin. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 239-40.

[40:22]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the circle of the earth” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[40:22]  ³⁰ tn The words “before him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[40:22]  ³¹ tn The otherwise unattested noun דֹּק (doq), translated here “thin curtain,” is apparently derived from the verbal root דקק (“crush”) from which is derived the adjective דַּק (daq, “thin”; see HALOT 229 s.v. דקק). The nuance “curtain” is implied from the parallelism (see “tent” in the next line).

[40:22]  ³² tn The meaning of the otherwise unattested verb מָתַח (matakh, “spread out”) is determined from the parallelism (note the corresponding verb “stretch out” in the previous line) and supported by later Hebrew and Aramaic cognates. See HALOT 654 s.v. *מתה.

[40:22]  ³³ tn Heb “like a tent [in which] to live”; NAB, NASB “like a tent to dwell (live NIV, NRSV) in.”

[42:5]  ³³ tn Heb “the God.” The definite article here indicates distinctiveness or uniqueness.

[42:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and its offspring” (so NASB); NIV “all that comes out of it.”

[42:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and spirit [i.e., “breath”] to the ones walking in it” (NAB, NASB, and NRSV all similar).