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 36:16

36:16 Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. ⁴  Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,

Isaiah 40:26

40:26 Look up at the sky! ⁵ 

Who created all these heavenly lights? ⁶ 

He is the one who leads out their ranks; ⁷ 

he calls them all by name.

Because of his absolute power and awesome strength,

not one of them is missing.

Isaiah 45:21

45:21 Tell me! Present the evidence! ⁸ 

Let them consult with one another!

Who predicted this in the past?

Who announced it beforehand?

Was it not I, the Lord?

I have no peer, there is no God but me,

a God who vindicates and delivers; ⁹ 

there is none but me.

Isaiah 50:1

50:1 This is what the Lord says:

“Where is your mother’s divorce certificate

by which I divorced her?

Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? ¹⁰ 

Look, you were sold because of your sins; ¹¹ 

because of your rebellious acts I divorced your mother. ¹² 

Isaiah 52:5

52:5 And now, what do we have here?” ¹³  says the Lord.

“Indeed my people have been carried away for nothing,

those who rule over them taunt,” ¹⁴  says the Lord,

“and my name is constantly slandered ¹⁵  all day long.

Isaiah 57:11

57:11 Whom are you worried about?

Whom do you fear, that you would act so deceitfully

and not remember me

or think about me? ¹⁶ 

Because I have been silent for so long, ¹⁷ 

you are not afraid of me. ¹⁸ 

[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.”

[36:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “make with me a blessing and come out to me.”

[40:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “Lift on high your eyes and see.”

[40:26]  ⁸ tn The words “heavenly lights” are supplied in the translation for clarification. See the following lines.

[40:26]  ⁹ tn Heb “the one who brings out by number their host.” The stars are here likened to a huge army that the Lord leads out. Perhaps the next line pictures God calling roll. If so, the final line may be indicating that none of them dares “go AWOL.” (“AWOL” is a military acronym for “absent without leave.”)

[45:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Declare! Bring near!”; NASB “Declare and set forth your case.” See 41:21.

[45:21]  ¹¹ tn Or “a righteous God and deliverer”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “a righteous God and a Savior.”

[50:1]  ¹³ sn The Lord challenges the exiles (Zion’s children) to bring incriminating evidence against him. The rhetorical questions imply that Israel accused the Lord of divorcing his wife (Zion) and selling his children (the Israelites) into slavery to pay off a debt.

[50:1]  ¹⁴ sn The Lord admits that he did sell the Israelites, but it was because of their sins, not because of some debt he owed. If he had sold them to a creditor, they ought to be able to point him out, but the preceding rhetorical question implies they would not be able to do so.

[50:1]  ¹⁵ sn The Lord admits he did divorce Zion, but that too was the result of the nation’s sins. The force of the earlier rhetorical question comes into clearer focus now. The question does not imply that a certificate does not exist and that no divorce occurred. Rather, the question asks for the certificate to be produced so the accuser can see the reason for the divorce in black and white. The Lord did not put Zion away arbitrarily.

[52:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and now what [following the marginal reading (Qere)] to me here?”

[52:5]  ¹⁷ tn The verb appears to be a Hiphil form from the root יָלַל (yalal, “howl”), perhaps here in the sense of “mock.” Some emend the form to יְהוֹלָּלוֹ (yÿhollalo) and understand a Polel form of the root הָלַל meaning here “mock, taunt.”

[52:5]  ¹⁸ tn The verb is apparently a Hitpolal form (with assimilated tav, ת) from the root נָאַץ (na’ats), but GKC 151-52 §55.b explains it as a mixed form, combining Pual and Hitpolel readings.

[57:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “you do not place [it] on your heart.”

[57:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Is it not [because] I have been silent, and from long ago?”

[57:11]  ²¹ sn God’s patience with sinful Israel has caused them to think that they can sin with impunity and suffer no consequences.