Isaiah 8:9

8:9 You will be broken, ¹  O nations;

you will be shattered! ² 

Pay attention, all you distant lands of the earth!

Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered!

Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered! ³ 

Isaiah 45:5

45:5 I am the Lord, I have no peer, ⁴ 

there is no God but me.

I arm you for battle, ⁵  even though you do not recognize ⁶  me.

Isaiah 50:11

50:11 Look, all of you who start a fire

and who equip yourselves with ⁷  flaming arrows, ⁸ 

walk ⁹  in the light ¹⁰  of the fire you started

and among the flaming arrows you ignited! ¹¹ 

This is what you will receive from me: ¹² 

you will lie down in a place of pain. ¹³ 

[8:9]  ¹ tn The verb רֹעוּ (ro’u) is a Qal imperative, masculine plural from רָעַע (ra’a’, “break”). Elsewhere both transitive (Job 34:24; Ps 2:9; Jer 15:12) and intransitive (Prov 25:19; Jer 11:16) senses are attested for the Qal of this verb. Because no object appears here, the form is likely intransitive: “be broken.” In this case the imperative is rhetorical (like “be shattered” later in the verse) and equivalent to a prediction, “you will be broken.” On the rhetorical use of the imperative in general, see IBHS 572 §34.4c; GKC 324 §110.c.

[8:9]  ² tn The imperatival form (Heb “be shattered”) is rhetorical and expresses the speaker’s firm conviction of the outcome of the nations’ attack. See the note on “be broken.”

[8:9]  ³ tn The initial imperative (“get ready for battle”) acknowledges the reality of the nations’ hostility; the concluding imperative (Heb “be shattered”) is rhetorical and expresses the speakers’ firm conviction of the outcome of the nations’ attack. (See the note on “be broken.”) One could paraphrase, “Okay, go ahead and prepare for battle since that’s what you want to do, but your actions will backfire and you’ll be shattered.” This rhetorical use of the imperatives is comparable to saying to a child who is bent on climbing a high tree, “Okay, go ahead, climb the tree and break your arm!” What this really means is: “Okay, go ahead and climb the tree since that’s what you really want to do, but your actions will backfire and you’ll break your arm.” The repetition of the statement in the final two lines of the verse gives the challenge the flavor of a taunt (ancient Israelite “trash talking,” as it were).

[45:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “and there is none besides.” On the use of עוֹד (’od) here, see BDB 729 s.v. 1.c.

[45:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “gird you” (so NASB) or “strengthen you” (so NIV).

[45:5]  ⁶ tn Or “know” (NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT); NIV “have not acknowledged.”

[50:11]  ⁷ tc Several more recent commentators have proposed an emendation of מְאַזְּרֵי (mÿ’azzÿre, “who put on”) to מְאִירִי (mÿ’iri, “who light”). However, both Qumran scrolls of Isaiah and the Vulgate support the MT reading (cf. NIV, ESV).

[50:11]  ⁸ tn On the meaning of זִיקוֹת (ziqot, “flaming arrows”), see HALOT 268 s.v. זִיקוֹת.

[50:11]  ⁹ tn The imperative is probably rhetorical and has a predictive force.

[50:11]  ¹⁰ tn Or perhaps, “flame” (so ASV).

[50:11]  ¹¹ sn Perhaps the servant here speaks to his enemies and warns them that they will self-destruct.

[50:11]  ¹² tn Heb “from my hand” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[50:11]  ¹³ sn The imagery may be that of a person who becomes ill and is forced to lie down in pain on a sickbed. Some see this as an allusion to a fiery place of damnation because of the imagery employed earlier in the verse.