Isaiah 8:8

8:8 It will spill into Judah, flooding and engulfing, as it reaches to the necks of its victims. He will spread his wings out over your entire land, ¹  O Immanuel.” ² 

Isaiah 8:21

8:21 They will pass through the land ³  destitute and starving. Their hunger will make them angry, ⁴  and they will curse their king and their God ⁵  as they look upward.

Isaiah 23:12

23:12 He said,

“You will no longer celebrate,

oppressed ⁶  virgin daughter Sidon!

Get up, travel to Cyprus,

but you will find no relief there.” ⁷ 

Isaiah 28:18

28:18 Your treaty with death will be dissolved; ⁸ 

your agreement ⁹  with Sheol will not last. ¹⁰ 

When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by, ¹¹ 

you will be overrun by it. ¹² 

Isaiah 31:9

31:9 They will surrender their stronghold ¹³  because of fear; ¹⁴ 

their officers will be afraid of the Lord’s battle flag.” ¹⁵ 

This is what the Lord says –

the one whose fire is in Zion,

whose firepot is in Jerusalem. ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 34:10

34:10 Night and day it will burn; ¹⁷ 

its smoke will ascend continually.

Generation after generation it will be a wasteland

and no one will ever pass through it again.

Isaiah 35:8

35:8 A thoroughfare will be there –

it will be called the Way of Holiness. ¹⁸ 

The unclean will not travel on it;

it is reserved for those authorized to use it ¹⁹  –

fools ²⁰  will not stray into it.

Isaiah 43:2

43:2 When you pass through the waters, I am with you;

when you pass ²¹  through the streams, they will not overwhelm you.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;

the flames will not harm ²²  you.

Isaiah 51:10

51:10 Did you not dry up the sea,

the waters of the great deep?

Did you not make ²³  a path through the depths of the sea,

so those delivered from bondage ²⁴  could cross over?

[8:8]  ¹ tn Heb “and the spreading out of his wings [will be over] the fullness of the breadth of your land.” The metaphor changes here from raging flood to predatory bird.

[8:8]  ² sn The appearance of the name Immanuel (“God is with us”) is ironic at this point, for God is present with his people in judgment. Immanuel is addressed here as if he has already been born and will see the judgment occur. This makes excellent sense if his birth has just been recorded. There are several reasons for considering Immanuel and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz one and the same. 8:3 is a birth account which could easily be understood as recording the fulfillment of the birth prophecy of 7:14. The presence of a formal record/witnesses (8:1-2) suggests a sign function for the child (cf. 7:14). As in 7:14-16, the removal of Judah’s enemies would take place before the child reached a specified age (cf. 8:4). Both 7:17-25 and 8:7-8 speak of an Assyrian invasion of Judah which would follow the defeat of Israel/Syria. The major objection to this view is the fact that different names appear, but such a phenomenon is not without parallel in the OT (cf. Gen 35:18). The name Immanuel may emphasize the basic fact of God’s presence, while the name Maher focuses on the specific nature of God’s involvement. In 7:14 the mother is viewed as naming the child, while in 8:3 Isaiah is instructed to give the child’s name, but one might again point to Gen 35:18 for a precedent. The sign child’s age appears to be different in 8:4 than in 7:15-16, but 7:15-16 pertains to the judgment on Judah, as well as the defeat of Israel/Syria (cf. vv. 17-25), while 8:4 deals only with the downfall of Israel/Syria. Some argue that the suffixed form “your land” in 8:8 points to a royal referent (a child of Ahaz or the Messiah), but usage elsewhere shows that the phrase does not need to be so restricted. While the suffix can refer to the king of a land (cf. Num 20:17; 21:22; Deut 2:27; Judg 11:17, 19; 2 Sam 24:13; 1 Kgs 11:22; Isa 14:20), it can also refer to one who is a native of a particular land (cf. Gen 12:1; 32:9; Jonah 1:8). (See also the use of “his land” in Isa 13:14 [where the suffix refers to a native of a land] and 37:7 [where it refers to a king].)

[8:21]  ³ tn Heb “he will pass through it.” The subject of the collective singular verb is the nation. (See the preceding note.) The immediately preceding context supplies no antecedent for “it” (a third feminine singular suffix in the Hebrew text); the suffix may refer to the land, which would be a reasonable referent with a verb of motion. Note also that אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”) does appear at the beginning of the next verse.

[8:21]  ⁴ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[8:21]  ⁵ tn Or “gods” (NAB, NRSV, CEV).

[23:12]  ⁵ tn Or “violated, raped,” the point being that Daughter Sidon has lost her virginity in the most brutal manner possible.

[23:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “[to the] Kittim, get up, cross over; even there there will be no rest for you.” On “Kittim” see the note on “Cyprus” at v. 1.

[28:18]  ⁷ tn On the meaning of כָּפַר (kafar) in this context, see HALOT 494 s.v. I כפר and J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:515, n. 9.

[28:18]  ⁸ tn Normally the noun חָזוּת (khazut) means “vision.” See the note at v. 15.

[28:18]  ⁹ tn Or “will not stand” (NIV, NRSV).

[28:18]  ¹⁰ tn See the note at v. 15.

[28:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “you will become a trampling place for it.”

[31:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “rocky cliff” (cf. ASV, NASB “rock”), viewed metaphorically as a place of defense and security.

[31:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “His rocky cliff, because of fear, will pass away [i.e., “perish”].”

[31:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and they will be afraid of the flag, his officers.”

[31:9]  ¹² sn The “fire” and “firepot” here symbolize divine judgment, which is heating up like a fire in Jerusalem, waiting to be used against the Assyrians when they attack the city.

[34:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “it will not be extinguished.”

[35:8]  ¹³ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and there will be there a road and a way, and the Way of Holiness it will be called.” וְדֶרֶךְ (vÿderekh, “and a/the way”) is accidentally duplicated; the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does not reflect the repetition of the phrase.

[35:8]  ¹⁴ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The text reads literally “and it is for them, the one who walks [on the] way.” In this context those authorized to use the Way of Holiness would be morally upright people who are the recipients of God’s deliverance, in contrast to the morally impure and foolish who are excluded from the new covenant community.

[35:8]  ¹⁵ tn In this context “fools” are those who are morally corrupt, not those with limited intellectual capacity.

[43:2]  ¹⁵ tn The verb is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[43:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “burn” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV, NLT “consume”; NIV “set you ablaze.”

[51:10]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “Are you not the one who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made…?”

[51:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the redeemed” (so ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); KJV “the ransomed.”