Isaiah 9:17

9:17 So the sovereign master was not pleased ¹  with their young men,

he took no pity ²  on their orphans and widows;

for the whole nation was godless ³  and did wicked things, ⁴ 

every mouth was speaking disgraceful words. ⁵ 

Despite all this, his anger does not subside,

and his hand is ready to strike again. ⁶ 

Isaiah 27:11

27:11 When its branches get brittle, ⁷  they break;

women come and use them for kindling. ⁸ 

For these people lack understanding, ⁹ 

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

Isaiah 42:16

42:16 I will lead the blind along an unfamiliar way; ¹⁰ 

I will guide them down paths they have never traveled. ¹¹ 

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

and level out the rough ground. ¹² 

This is what I will do for them.

I will not abandon them.

Isaiah 44:19

44:19 No one thinks to himself,

nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves:

‘I burned half of it in the fire –

yes, I baked bread over the coals;

I roasted meat and ate it.

With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol?

Should I bow down to dry wood?’ ¹³ 

Isaiah 48:8

48:8 You did not hear,

you do not know,

you were not told beforehand. ¹⁴ 

For I know that you are very deceitful; ¹⁵ 

you were labeled ¹⁶  a rebel from birth.

Isaiah 54:4

54:4 Don’t be afraid, for you will not be put to shame!

Don’t be intimidated, ¹⁷  for you will not be humiliated!

You will forget about the shame you experienced in your youth;

you will no longer remember the disgrace of your abandonment. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 65:12

65:12 I predestine you to die by the sword, ¹⁹ 

all of you will kneel down at the slaughtering block, ²⁰ 

because I called to you, and you did not respond,

I spoke and you did not listen.

You did evil before me; ²¹ 

you chose to do what displeases me.”

[9:17]  ¹ tn The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has לא יחמול (“he did not spare”) which is an obvious attempt to tighten the parallelism (note “he took no pity” in the next line). Instead of taking שָׂמַח (samakh) in one of its well attested senses (“rejoice over, be pleased with”), some propose, with support from Arabic, a rare homonymic root meaning “be merciful.”

[9:17]  ² tn The translation understands the prefixed verbs יִשְׂמַח (yismakh) and יְרַחֵם (yÿrakhem) as preterites without vav (ו) consecutive. (See v. 11 and the note on “he stirred up.”)

[9:17]  ³ tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “profaned”; NIV “ungodly.”

[9:17]  ⁴ tn מֵרַע (mera’) is a Hiphil participle from רָעַע (ra’a’, “be evil”). The intransitive Hiphil has an exhibitive force here, indicating that they exhibited outwardly the evidence of an inward condition by committing evil deeds.

[9:17]  ⁵ tn Or “foolishness” (NASB), here in a moral-ethical sense.

[9:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “in all this his anger is not turned, and still his hand is outstretched.”

[27:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[27:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.

[27:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”

[42:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “a way they do not know” (so NASB); NRSV “a road they do not know.”

[42:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in paths they do not know I will make them walk.”

[42:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and the rough ground into a level place.”

[44:19]  ¹⁹ tn There is no formal interrogative sign here, but the context seems to indicate these are rhetorical questions. See GKC 473 §150.a.

[48:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “beforehand your ear did not open.”

[48:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “deceiving, you deceive.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[48:8]  ²⁷ tn Or “called” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[54:4]  ³¹ tn Or “embarrassed”; NASB “humiliated…disgraced.”

[54:4]  ³² tn Another option is to translate, “the disgrace of our widowhood” (so NRSV). However, the following context (vv. 6-7) refers to Zion’s husband, the Lord, abandoning her, not dying. This suggests that an אַלְמָנָה (’almanah) was a woman who had lost her husband, whether by death or abandonment.

[65:12]  ³⁷ tn Heb “I assign you to the sword.” Some emend the Qal verb form מָנִיתִי (maniti, “I assign”) to the Piel מִנִּיתִי (minniti, “ I ordain”). The verb sounds like the name of the god Meni (מְנִי, mÿni, “Destiny, Fate”). The sound play draws attention to the irony of the statement. The sinners among God’s people worship the god Meni, apparently in an effort to ensure a bright destiny for themselves. But the Lord is the one who really determines their destiny and he has decreed their demise.

[65:12]  ³⁸ tn Or “at the slaughter”; NIV “for the slaughter”; NLT “before the executioner.”

[65:12]  ³⁹ tn Heb “that which is evil in my eyes.”