Isaiah 8:16

8:16 Tie up the scroll as legal evidence, ¹ 

seal the official record of God’s instructions and give it to my followers. ² 

Isaiah 42:21

42:21 The Lord wanted to exhibit his justice

by magnifying his law and displaying it. ³ 

Isaiah 1:10

1:10 Listen to the Lord’s word,

you leaders of Sodom! ⁴ 

Pay attention to our God’s rebuke, ⁵ 

people of Gomorrah!

Isaiah 8:20

8:20 Then you must recall the Lord’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. ⁶  Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened. ⁷ 

Isaiah 24:5

24:5 The earth is defiled by ⁸  its inhabitants, ⁹ 

for they have violated laws,

disregarded the regulation, ¹⁰ 

and broken the permanent treaty. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 30:9

30:9 For these are rebellious people –

they are lying children,

children unwilling to obey the Lord’s law. ¹² 

Isaiah 42:4

42:4 He will not grow dim or be crushed ¹³ 

before establishing justice on the earth;

the coastlands ¹⁴  will wait in anticipation for his decrees.” ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 42:24

42:24 Who handed Jacob over to the robber?

Who handed Israel over to the looters? ¹⁶ 

Was it not the Lord, against whom we sinned?

They refused to follow his commands;

they disobeyed his law. ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 51:4

51:4 Pay attention to me, my people!

Listen to me, my people!

For ¹⁸  I will issue a decree, ¹⁹ 

I will make my justice a light to the nations. ²⁰ 

Isaiah 51:7

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

you people who are aware of my law! ²¹ 

Don’t be afraid of the insults of men;

don’t be discouraged because of their abuse!

Isaiah 2:3

2:3 many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain,

to the temple of the God of Jacob,

so ²²  he can teach us his requirements, ²³ 

and ²⁴  we can follow his standards.” ²⁵ 

For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; ²⁶ 

the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem. ²⁷ 

Isaiah 5:24

5:24 Therefore, as flaming fire ²⁸  devours straw,

and dry grass disintegrates in the flames,

so their root will rot,

and their flower will blow away like dust. ²⁹ 

For they have rejected the law of the Lord who commands armies,

they have spurned the commands ³⁰  of the Holy One of Israel. ³¹ 

[8:16]  ¹ tn Heb “tie up [the] testimony.” The “testimony” probably refers to the prophetic messages God has given him. When the prophecies are fulfilled, he will be able to produce this official, written record to confirm the authenticity of his ministry and to prove to the people that God is sovereign over events.

[8:16]  ² tn Heb “seal [the] instruction among my followers.” The “instruction” probably refers to the prophet’s exhortations and warnings. When the people are judged for the sins, the prophet can produce these earlier messages and essentially say, “I told you so.” In this way he can authenticate his ministry and impress upon the people the reality of God’s authority over them.

[42:21]  ³ tn Heb “The Lord was pleased for the sake of his righteousness [or “justice”], he was magnifying [the] law and was making [it] glorious.” The Lord contrasts his good intentions for the people with their present crisis (v. 22). To demonstrate his just character and attract the nations, the Lord wanted to showcase his law among and through Israel (Deut 4:5-8). But Israel disobeyed (v. 24) and failed to carry out their commission.

[1:10]  ⁵ sn Building on the simile of v. 9, the prophet sarcastically addresses the leaders and people of Jerusalem as if they were leaders and residents of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah. The sarcasm is appropriate, for if the judgment is comparable to Sodom’s, that must mean that the sin which prompted the judgment is comparable as well.

[1:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “to the instruction of our God.” In this context, which is highly accusatory and threatening, תּוֹרָה (torah, “law, instruction”) does not refer to mere teaching, but to corrective teaching and rebuke.

[8:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “to [the] instruction and to [the] testimony.” The words “then you must recall” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 19-20a are one long sentence, reading literally, “When they say to you…, to the instruction and to the testimony.” On the identity of the “instruction” and “testimony” see the notes at v. 16.

[8:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “If they do not speak according to this word, [it is] because it has no light of dawn.” The literal translation suggests that “this word” refers to the instruction/testimony. However, it is likely that אִם־לֹא (’im-lo’) is asseverative here, as in 5:9. In this case “this word” refers to the quotation recorded in v. 19. For a discussion of the problem see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 230, n. 9. The singular pronoun in the second half of the verse is collective, referring back to the nation (see v. 19b).

[24:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “beneath”; cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV “under”; NAB “because of.”

[24:5]  ¹⁰ sn Isa 26:21 suggests that the earth’s inhabitants defiled the earth by shedding the blood of their fellow human beings. See also Num 35:33-34, which assumes that bloodshed defiles a land.

[24:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “moved past [the?] regulation.”

[24:5]  ¹² tn Or “everlasting covenant” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the ancient covenant”; CEV “their agreement that was to last forever.”

[30:9]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps, “instruction” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NCV, TEV “teachings.”

[42:4]  ¹³ tn For rhetorical effect the terms used to describe the “crushed (רָצַץ, ratsats) reed” and “dim (כָּהָה, kahah) wick” in v. 3 are repeated here.

[42:4]  ¹⁴ tn Or “islands” (NIV); NLT “distant lands beyond the sea.”

[42:4]  ¹⁵ tn Or “his law” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV) or “his instruction” (NLT).

[42:24]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Who gave to the robber Jacob, and Israel to the looters?” In the first line the consonantal text (Kethib) has מְשׁוֹסֶה (mÿshoseh), a Polel participle from שָׁסָה (shasah, “plunder”). The marginal reading (Qere) is מְשִׁיסָּה (mÿshissah), a noun meaning “plunder.” In this case one could translate “Who handed Jacob over as plunder?”

[42:24]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they were not willing in his ways to walk, and they did not listen to his law.”

[51:4]  ¹⁷ tn Or “certainly.”

[51:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “instruction [or “a law”] will go out from me.”

[51:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and my justice for a light to the nations I will cause to rest.”

[51:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “people (who have) my law in their heart.”

[2:3]  ²¹ tn The prefixed verb form with simple vav (ו) introduces a purpose/result clause after the preceding prefixed verb form (probably to be taken as a cohortative; see IBHS 650 §39.2.2a).

[2:3]  ²² tn Heb “his ways.” In this context God’s “ways” are the standards of moral conduct he decrees that people should live by.

[2:3]  ²³ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) after the prefixed verb form indicates the ultimate purpose/goal of their action.

[2:3]  ²⁴ tn Heb “walk in his ways.”

[2:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for out of Zion will go instruction.”

[2:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

[5:24]  ²³ tn Heb “a tongue of fire” (so NASB), referring to a tongue-shaped flame.

[5:24]  ²⁴ sn They are compared to a flowering plant that withers quickly in a hot, arid climate.

[5:24]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the word.”

[5:24]  ²⁶ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.