Isaiah 9:21

9:21 Manasseh fought against ¹  Ephraim,

and Ephraim against Manasseh;

together they fought against Judah.

Despite all this, his anger does not subside,

and his hand is ready to strike again. ² 

Isaiah 28:13

28:13 So the Lord’s word to them will sound like

meaningless gibberish,

senseless babbling,

a syllable here, a syllable there. ³ 

As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk, ⁴ 

and be injured, ensnared, and captured. ⁵ 

Isaiah 30:6

30:6 This is a message ⁶  about the animals in the Negev:

Through a land of distress and danger,

inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions, ⁷ 

by snakes and darting adders, ⁸ 

they transport ⁹  their wealth on the backs of donkeys,

their riches on the humps of camels,

to a nation that cannot help them. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 35:2

35:2 Let it richly bloom; ¹¹ 

let it rejoice and shout with delight! ¹² 

It is given the grandeur ¹³  of Lebanon,

the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.

They will see the grandeur of the Lord,

the splendor of our God.

Isaiah 37:38--38:1

37:38 One day, ¹⁴  as he was worshiping ¹⁵  in the temple of his god Nisroch, ¹⁶  his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. ¹⁷  They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

The Lord Hears Hezekiah’s Prayer

38:1 In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness. ¹⁸  The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Give instructions to your household, for you are about to die; you will not get well.’”

Isaiah 49:21

49:21 Then you will think to yourself, ¹⁹ 

‘Who bore these children for me?

I was bereaved and barren,

dismissed and divorced. ²⁰ 

Who raised these children?

Look, I was left all alone;

where did these children come from?’”

Isaiah 66:3-4

66:3 The one who slaughters a bull also strikes down a man; ²¹ 

the one who sacrifices a lamb also breaks a dog’s neck; ²² 

the one who presents an offering includes pig’s blood with it; ²³ 

the one who offers incense also praises an idol. ²⁴ 

They have decided to behave this way; ²⁵ 

they enjoy these disgusting practices. ²⁶ 

66:4 So I will choose severe punishment ²⁷  for them;

I will bring on them what they dread,

because I called, and no one responded,

I spoke and they did not listen.

They did evil before me; ²⁸ 

they chose to do what displeases me.”

Isaiah 66:19

66:19 I will perform a mighty act among them ²⁹  and then send some of those who remain to the nations – to Tarshish, Pul, ³⁰  Lud ³¹  (known for its archers ³² ), Tubal, Javan, ³³  and to the distant coastlands ³⁴  that have not heard about me or seen my splendor. They will tell the nations of my splendor.

[9:21]  ¹ tn The words “fought against” are supplied in the translation both here and later in this verse for stylistic reasons.

[9:21]  ² tn Heb “in all this his anger is not turned, and still his hand is outstretched” (KJV and ASV both similar); NIV “his hand is still upraised.”

[28:13]  ³ tn Heb “And the word of the Lord will be to them, ‘tsahv latsahv,’ etc.” See the note at v. 10. In this case the “Lord’s word” is not the foreigner’s strange sounding words (as in v. 10), but the Lord’s repeated appeals to them (like the one quoted in v. 12). As time goes on, the Lord’s appeals through the prophets will have no impact on the people; they will regard prophetic preaching as gibberish.

[28:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “as a result they will go and stumble backward.” Perhaps an infant falling as it attempts to learn to walk is the background image here (cf. v. 9b). The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) could be taken as indicating purpose (“in order that”), rather than simple result. In this case the people’s insensitivity to the message is caused by the Lord as a means of expediting their downfall.

[28:13]  ⁵ sn When divine warnings and appeals become gibberish to the spiritually insensitive, they have no guidance and are doomed to destruction.

[30:6]  ⁵ tn Traditionally, “burden” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “oracle.”

[30:6]  ⁶ tc Heb “[a land of] a lioness and a lion, from them.” Some emend מֵהֶם (mehem, “from them”) to מֵהֵם (mehem), an otherwise unattested Hiphil participle from הָמַם (hamam, “move noisily”). Perhaps it would be better to take the initial mem (מ) as enclitic and emend the form to הֹמֶה (homeh), a Qal active participle from הָמָה (hamah, “to make a noise”); cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:542, n. 9.

[30:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “flying fiery one.” See the note at 14:29.

[30:6]  ⁸ tn Or “carry” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[30:6]  ⁹ sn This verse describes messengers from Judah transporting wealth to Egypt in order to buy Pharaoh’s protection through a treaty.

[35:2]  ⁷ tn The ambiguous verb form תִּפְרַח (tifrakh) is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel).

[35:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “and let it rejoice, yes [with] rejoicing and shouting.” גִּילַת (gilat) may be an archaic feminine nominal form (see GKC 421 §130.b).

[35:2]  ⁹ tn Or “glory” (KJV, NIV, NRSV); also a second time later in this verse.

[37:38]  ⁹ sn The assassination of King Sennacherib probably took place in 681 b.c.

[37:38]  ¹⁰ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[37:38]  ¹¹ sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name Nisroch is a corruption of Nusku.

[37:38]  ¹² sn Extra-biblical sources also mention the assassination of Sennacherib, though they refer to only one assassin. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 239-40.

[38:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “was sick to the point of dying”; NRSV “became sick and was at the point of death.”

[49:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “and you will say in your heart.”

[49:21]  ¹⁴ tn Or “exiled and thrust away”; NIV “exiled and rejected.”

[66:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “one who slaughters a bull, one who strikes down a man.” Some understand a comparison here and in the following lines. In God’s sight the one who sacrifices is like (i.e., regarded as) a murderer or one whose worship is ritually defiled or idolatrous. The translation above assumes that the language is not metaphorical, but descriptive of the sinners’ hypocritical behavior. (Note the last two lines of the verse, which suggests they are guilty of abominable practices.) On the one hand, they act pious and offer sacrifices; but at the same time they commit violent crimes against men, defile their sacrifices, and worship other gods.

[66:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “one who sacrifices a lamb, one who breaks a dog’s neck.” Some understand a comparison, but see the previous note.

[66:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “one who offers an offering, pig’s blood.” Some understand a comparison, but see the note at the end of the first line.

[66:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “one who offers incense as a memorial offering, one who blesses something false.” Some understand a comparison, but see the note at the end of the first line. אָוֶן (’aven), which has a wide variety of attested nuances, here refers metonymically to an idol. See HALOT 22 s.v. and BDB 20 s.v. 2.

[66:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “also they have chosen their ways.”

[66:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “their being [or “soul”] takes delight in their disgusting [things].”

[66:4]  ¹⁷ tn The precise meaning of the noun is uncertain. It occurs only here and in 3:4 (but see the note there). It appears to be derived from the verbal root עָלַל (’alal), which can carry the nuance “deal severely.”

[66:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “that which is evil in my eyes.”

[66:19]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and I will set a sign among them.” The precise meaning of this statement is unclear. Elsewhere “to set a sign” means “perform a mighty act” (Ps 78:43; Jer 32:20), “make [someone] an object lesson” (Ezek 14:8), and “erect a [literal] standard” (Ps 74:4).

[66:19]  ²⁰ tn Some prefer to read “Put” (i.e., Libya).

[66:19]  ²¹ sn That is, Lydia (in Asia Minor).

[66:19]  ²² tn Heb “drawers of the bow” (KJV and ASV both similar).

[66:19]  ²³ sn Javan is generally identified today as Greece (so NIV, NCV, NLT).

[66:19]  ²⁴ tn Or “islands” (NIV).