Isaiah 8:7

8:7 So look, the sovereign master ¹  is bringing up against them the turbulent and mighty waters of the Euphrates River ²  – the king of Assyria and all his majestic power. It will reach flood stage and overflow its banks. ³ 

Isaiah 18:2

18:2 that sends messengers by sea,

who glide over the water’s surface in boats made of papyrus.

Go, you swift messengers,

to a nation of tall, smooth-skinned people, ⁴ 

to a people that are feared far and wide, ⁵ 

to a nation strong and victorious, ⁶ 

whose land rivers divide. ⁷ 

Isaiah 28:13

28:13 So the Lord’s word to them will sound like

meaningless gibberish,

senseless babbling,

a syllable here, a syllable there. ⁸ 

As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk, ⁹ 

and be injured, ensnared, and captured. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 33:15

33:15 The one who lives ¹¹  uprightly ¹² 

and speaks honestly;

the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures

and rejects a bribe; ¹³ 

the one who does not plot violent crimes ¹⁴ 

and does not seek to harm others ¹⁵  –

Isaiah 33:21

33:21 Instead the Lord will rule there as our mighty king. ¹⁶ 

Rivers and wide streams will flow through it; ¹⁷ 

no war galley will enter; ¹⁸ 

no large ships will sail through. ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 38:3

38:3 “Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you ²⁰  faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, ²¹  and how I have carried out your will.” ²²  Then Hezekiah wept bitterly. ²³ 

Isaiah 38:5

38:5 “Go and tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor ²⁴  David says: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will add fifteen years to your life,

Isaiah 42:16

42:16 I will lead the blind along an unfamiliar way; ²⁵ 

I will guide them down paths they have never traveled. ²⁶ 

I will turn the darkness in front of them into light,

and level out the rough ground. ²⁷ 

This is what I will do for them.

I will not abandon them.

Isaiah 45:14

The Lord is the Nations’ Only Hope

45:14 This is what the Lord says:

“The profit ²⁸  of Egypt and the revenue ²⁹  of Ethiopia,

along with the Sabeans, those tall men,

will be brought to you ³⁰  and become yours.

They will walk behind you, coming along in chains. ³¹ 

They will bow down to you

and pray to you: ³² 

‘Truly God is with ³³  you; he has no peer; ³⁴ 

there is no other God!’”

[8:7]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[8:7]  ² tn Heb “the mighty and abundant waters of the river.” The referent of “the river” here, the Euphrates River, has been specified in the translation for clarity. As the immediately following words indicate, these waters symbolize the Assyrian king and his armies which will, as it were, inundate the land.

[8:7]  ³ tn Heb “it will go up over all its stream beds and go over all its banks.”

[18:2]  ⁴ tn The precise meaning of the qualifying terms is uncertain. מְמֻשָּׁךְ (mÿmushakh) appears to be a Pual participle from the verb מָשַׁךְ (mashakh, “to draw, extend”). Lexicographers theorize that it here refers to people who “stretch out,” as it were, or are tall. See BDB 604 s.v. מָשַׁךְ, and HALOT 645-46 s.v. משׁךְ. מוֹרָט (morat) is taken as a Pual participle from מָרַט (marat), which can mean “to pull out [hair],” in the Qal, “become bald” in the Niphal, and “be wiped clean” in the Pual. Lexicographers theorize that the word here refers to people with bare, or smooth, skin. See BDB 598-99 s.v. מָרַט, and HALOT 634-35 s.v. מרט. These proposed meanings, which are based on etymological speculation, must be regarded as tentative.

[18:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “from it and onwards.” HALOT 245 s.v. הָלְאָה suggests the translation “far and wide.”

[18:2]  ⁶ tn Once more the precise meaning of the qualifying terms is uncertain. The expression קַו־קָו (qav-qav) is sometimes related to a proposed Arabic cognate and taken to mean “strength” (see BDB 876 II קַו). Others, on the basis of Isa 28:10, 13, understand the form as gibberish (literally, “kav, kav”) and take it to be a reference to this nation’s strange, unknown language. The form מְבוּסָה (mÿvusah) appears to be derived from בּוּס (bus, “to trample”), so lexicographers suggest the meaning “trampling” or “subjugation,” i.e., a nation that subdues others. See BDB 101 s.v. בּוּס and HALOT 541 s.v. מְבוּסָה. These proposals, which are based on etymological speculation, must be regarded as tentative.

[18:2]  ⁷ tn The precise meaning of the verb בָּזָא (baza’), which occurs only in this oracle (see also v. 7) in the OT, is uncertain. BDB 102 s.v. suggests “divide” on the basis of alleged Aramaic and Arabic cognates; HALOT 117 s.v., citing an alleged Arabic cognate, suggests “wash away.”

[28:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “And the word of the Lord will be to them, ‘tsahv latsahv,’ etc.” See the note at v. 10. In this case the “Lord’s word” is not the foreigner’s strange sounding words (as in v. 10), but the Lord’s repeated appeals to them (like the one quoted in v. 12). As time goes on, the Lord’s appeals through the prophets will have no impact on the people; they will regard prophetic preaching as gibberish.

[28:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “as a result they will go and stumble backward.” Perhaps an infant falling as it attempts to learn to walk is the background image here (cf. v. 9b). The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) could be taken as indicating purpose (“in order that”), rather than simple result. In this case the people’s insensitivity to the message is caused by the Lord as a means of expediting their downfall.

[28:13]  ⁹ sn When divine warnings and appeals become gibberish to the spiritually insensitive, they have no guidance and are doomed to destruction.

[33:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “walks” (so NASB, NIV).

[33:15]  ¹¹ tn Or, possibly, “justly”; NAB “who practices virtue.”

[33:15]  ¹² tn Heb “[who] shakes off his hands from grabbing hold of a bribe.”

[33:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “[who] shuts his ear from listening to bloodshed.”

[33:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “[who] closes his eyes from seeing evil.”

[33:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “But there [as] a mighty one [will be] the Lord for us.”

[33:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a place of rivers, streams wide of hands [i.e., on both sides].”

[33:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a ship of rowing will not go into it.”

[33:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and a mighty ship will not pass through it.”

[38:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “walked before you.” For a helpful discussion of the background and meaning of this Hebrew idiom, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 254.

[38:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and with a complete heart”; KJV, ASV “with a perfect heart.”

[38:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and that which is good in your eyes I have done.”

[38:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “wept with great weeping”; NCV “cried loudly”; TEV “began to cry bitterly.”

[38:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “father” (so KJV, NAB, NIV).

[42:16]  ²² tn Heb “a way they do not know” (so NASB); NRSV “a road they do not know.”

[42:16]  ²³ tn Heb “in paths they do not know I will make them walk.”

[42:16]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and the rough ground into a level place.”

[45:14]  ²⁵ tn Heb “labor,” which stands metonymically for the fruits of labor, either “monetary profit,” or “products.”

[45:14]  ²⁶ tn Or perhaps, “merchandise” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “the gain of Ethiopia”; CEV “the treasures of Ethiopia.”

[45:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “they will pass over to you”; NASB, NIV “will come over to you”; CEV “will belong to you.”

[45:14]  ²⁸ sn Restored Israel is depicted here in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion as an imperial power that receives riches and slaves as tribute.

[45:14]  ²⁹ sn Israel’s vassals are portrayed as so intimidated and awed that they treat Israel as an intermediary to God or sub-deity.

[45:14]  ³⁰ tn Or perhaps, “among.” Cf. KJV, ASV “Surely God is in thee.”

[45:14]  ³¹ tn Heb “there is no other” (so NIV, NRSV). The same phrase occurs at the end of v. 18, in v. 21, and at the end of v. 22.