Isaiah 9:17

Context

9:17 So the sovereign master was not pleased¹ with their young men,

he took no pity² on their orphans and widows;

for the whole nation was godless³ 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 65:20

Context

65:20 Never again will one of her infants live just a few days⁷

or an old man die before his time.⁸

Indeed, no one will die before the age of a hundred,⁹

anyone who fails to reach¹⁰ the age of a hundred will be considered cursed.

[9:17] ¹tn 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] ²tn 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] ³tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “profaned”; NIV “ungodly.”

[9:17] ⁴tn 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] ⁵tn Or “foolishness” (NASB), here in a moral-ethical sense.

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

[65:20] ⁷tn Heb “and there will not be from there again a nursing infant of days,” i.e., one that lives just a few days.

[65:20] ⁸tn Heb “or an old [man] who does not fill out his days.”

[65:20] ⁹tn Heb “for the child as a son of one hundred years will die.” The point seems to be that those who die at the age of a hundred will be considered children, for the average life span will be much longer than that. The category “child” will be redefined in light of the expanded life spans that will characterize this new era.

[65:20] ¹⁰tn Heb “the one who misses.” חָטָא (khata’) is used here in its basic sense of “miss the mark.” See HALOT 305 s.v. חטא. Another option is to translate, “and the sinner who reaches the age of a hundred will be cursed.”