Isaiah 9:1

9:1 (8:23) ¹  The gloom will be dispelled for those who were anxious. ² 

In earlier times he ³  humiliated

the land of Zebulun,

and the land of Naphtali; ⁴ 

but now he brings honor ⁵ 

to the way of the sea,

the region beyond the Jordan,

and Galilee of the nations. ⁶ 

Isaiah 25:1-12

25:1 O Lord, you are my God! ⁷ 

I will exalt you in praise, I will extol your fame. ⁸ 

For you have done extraordinary things,

and executed plans made long ago exactly as you decreed. ⁹ 

25:2 Indeed, ¹⁰  you have made the city ¹¹  into a heap of rubble,

the fortified town into a heap of ruins;

the fortress of foreigners ¹²  is no longer a city,

it will never be rebuilt.

25:3 So a strong nation will extol you;

the towns of ¹³  powerful nations will fear you.

25:4 For you are a protector for the poor,

a protector for the needy in their distress,

a shelter from the rainstorm,

a shade from the heat.

Though the breath of tyrants ¹⁴  is like a winter rainstorm, ¹⁵ 

25:5 like heat ¹⁶  in a dry land,

you humble the boasting foreigners. ¹⁷ 

Just as the shadow of a cloud causes the heat to subside, ¹⁸ 

so he causes the song of tyrants to cease. ¹⁹ 

25:6 The Lord who commands armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain. ²⁰ 

At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine –

tender meat and choicest wine. ²¹ 

25:7 On this mountain he will swallow up

the shroud that is over all the peoples, ²² 

the woven covering that is over all the nations; ²³ 

25:8 he will swallow up death permanently. ²⁴ 

The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from every face,

and remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.

Indeed, the Lord has announced it! ²⁵ 

25:9 At that time they will say, ²⁶ 

“Look, here ²⁷  is our God!

We waited for him and he delivered us.

Here ²⁸  is the Lord! We waited for him.

Let’s rejoice and celebrate his deliverance!”

25:10 For the Lord’s power will make this mountain secure. ²⁹ 

Moab will be trampled down where it stands, ³⁰ 

as a heap of straw is trampled down in ³¹  a manure pile.

25:11 Moab ³²  will spread out its hands in the middle of it, ³³ 

just as a swimmer spreads his hands to swim;

the Lord ³⁴  will bring down Moab’s ³⁵  pride as it spreads its hands. ³⁶ 

25:12 The fortified city (along with the very tops of your ³⁷  walls) ³⁸  he will knock down,

he will bring it down, he will throw it down to the dusty ground. ³⁹ 

[9:1]  ¹ sn In the Hebrew text (BHS) the chapter division comes one verse later than in the English Bible; 9:1 (8:23 HT). Thus 9:2-21 in the English Bible = 9:1-20 in the Hebrew text. Beginning with 10:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.

[9:1]  ² tn The Hebrew text reads, “Indeed there is no gloom for the one to whom there was anxiety for her.” The feminine singular pronominal suffix “her” must refer to the land (cf. vv. 22a, 23b). So one could translate, “Indeed there will be no gloom for the land which was anxious.” In this case the statement introduces the positive message to follow. Some assume an emendation of לֹא (lo’, “no”) to לוֹ (lo, “to him”) and of לָהּ (lah, “to her”) to לוֹ (lo, “to him”), yielding this literal reading: “indeed there is gloom for him, for the one to whom there was anxiety for him.” In this case the statement concludes the preceding description of judgment.

[9:1]  ³ tn The Lord must be understood as the subject of the two verbs in this verse.

[9:1]  ⁴ sn The statement probably alludes to the Assyrian conquest of Israel in ca. 734-733 b.c., when Tiglath-pileser III annexed much of Israel’s territory and reduced Samaria to a puppet state.

[9:1]  ⁵ tn Heb Just as in earlier times he humiliated…, [in] the latter times he has brought honor.” The main verbs in vv. 1b-4 are Hebrew perfects. The prophet takes his rhetorical stance in the future age of restoration and describes future events as if they have already occurred. To capture the dramatic effect of the original text, the translation uses the English present or present perfect.

[9:1]  ⁶ sn These three geographical designations may refer to provinces established by the Assyrians in 734-733 b.c. The “way of the sea” is the province of Dor, along the Mediterranean coast, the “region beyond the Jordan” is the province of Gilead in Transjordan, and “Galilee of the nations” (a title that alludes to how the territory had been overrun by foreigners) is the province of Megiddo located west of the Sea of Galilee. See Y. Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 374.

[25:1]  ⁷ sn The prophet speaks here as one who has observed the coming judgment of the proud.

[25:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “name.” See the note at 24:15.

[25:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “plans from long ago [in] faithfulness, trustworthiness.” The feminine noun אֱמוּנָה (’emunah, “faithfulness”) and masculine noun אֹמֶן (’omen, “trustworthiness”), both of which are derived from the root אָמַן (’aman), are juxtaposed to emphasize the basic idea conveyed by the synonyms. Here they describe the absolute reliability of the divine plans.

[25:2]  ¹³ tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[25:2]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew text has “you have made from the city.” The prefixed mem (מ) on עִיר (’ir, “city”) was probably originally an enclitic mem suffixed to the preceding verb. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:456, n. 3.

[25:2]  ¹⁵ tc Some with support from the LXX emend זָרִים (zarim, “foreigners”) to זֵדִים (zedim, “the insolent”).

[25:3]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew text has a singular form, but it should be emended to a plural or eliminated altogether. The noun may have been accidentally copied from the preceding verse.

[25:4]  ²⁵ tn Or perhaps, “the violent”; NIV, NRSV “the ruthless.”

[25:4]  ²⁶ tc The Hebrew text has, “like a rainstorm of a wall,” which might be interpreted to mean, “like a rainstorm battering against a wall.” The translation assumes an emendation of קִיר (qir, “wall”) to קֹר (qor, “cold, winter”; cf. Gen 8:22). See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:457, n. 6, for discussion.

[25:5]  ³¹ tn Or “drought” (TEV).

[25:5]  ³² tn Heb “the tumult of foreigners.”

[25:5]  ³³ tn Heb “[like] heat in the shadow of a cloud.”

[25:5]  ³⁴ tn The translation assumes that the verb יַעֲנֶה (ya’aneh) is a Hiphil imperfect from עָנָה (’anah, “be afflicted, humiliated”). In this context with “song” as object it means to “quiet” (see HALOT 853-54 s.v. II ענה). Some prefer to emend the form to the second person singular, so that it will agree with the second person verb earlier in the verse. BDB 776 s.v. III עָנָה Qal.1 understands the form as Qal, with “song” as subject, in which case one might translate “the song of tyrants will be silent.” An emendation of the form to a Niphal (יֵעָנֶה, ye’aneh) would yield the same translation.

[25:6]  ³⁷ sn That is, Mount Zion (see 24:23); cf. TEV; NLT “In Jerusalem.”

[25:6]  ³⁸ tn Heb “And the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] will make for all the nations on this mountain a banquet of meats, a banquet of wine dregs, meats filled with marrow, dregs that are filtered.”

[25:7]  ⁴³ tn The Hebrew text reads, “the face of the shroud, the shroud over all the nations.” Some emend the second הַלּוֹט (hallot) to a passive participle הַלּוּט (hallut, “that is wrapped”).

[25:7]  ⁴⁴ sn The point of the imagery is unclear. Perhaps the shroud/covering referred to was associated with death in some way (see v. 8).

[25:8]  ⁴⁹ sn The image of the Lord “swallowing” death would be especially powerful, for death was viewed in Canaanite mythology and culture as a hungry enemy that swallows its victims. See the note at 5:14.

[25:8]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “has spoken” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[25:9]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “and one will say in that day.”

[25:9]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “this [one].”

[25:9]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “this [one].”

[25:10]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “for the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain”; TEV “will protect Mount Zion”; NCV “will protect (rest on NLT) Jerusalem.”

[25:10]  ⁶² tn Heb “under him,” i.e., “in his place.”

[25:10]  ⁶³ tc The marginal reading (Qere) is בְּמוֹ (bÿmo, “in”). The consonantal text (Kethib) has בְּמִי (bÿmi, “in the water of”).

[25:11]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:11]  ⁶⁸ tn The antecedent of the third masculine singular pronominal suffix is probably the masculine noun מַתְבֵּן (matben, “heap of straw”) in v. 10 rather than the feminine noun מַדְמֵנָה (madmenah, “manure pile”), also in v. 10.

[25:11]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:11]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Moab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:11]  ⁷¹ tn The Hebrew text has, “he will bring down his pride along with the [?] of his hands.” The meaning of אָרְבּוֹת (’arbot), which occurs only here in the OT, is unknown. Some (see BDB 70 s.v. אָרְבָּה) translate “artifice, cleverness,” relating the form to the verbal root אָרָב (’arav, “to lie in wait, ambush”), but this requires some convoluted semantic reasoning. HALOT 83 s.v. *אָרְבָּה suggests the meaning “[nimble] movements.” The translation above, which attempts to relate the form to the preceding context, is purely speculative.

[25:12]  ⁷³ sn Moab is addressed.

[25:12]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “a fortification, the high point of your walls.”

[25:12]  ⁷⁵ tn Heb “he will bring [it] down, he will make [it] touch the ground, even to the dust.”