Leviticus 26:18-29

26:18 “‘If, in spite of all these things, ¹  you do not obey me, I will discipline you seven times more on account of your sins. ²  26:19 I will break your strong pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze. 26:20 Your strength will be used up in vain, your land will not give its yield, and the trees of the land ³  will not produce their fruit.

26:21 “‘If you walk in hostility against me ⁴  and are not willing to obey me, I will increase your affliction ⁵  seven times according to your sins. 26:22 I will send the wild animals ⁶  against you and they will bereave you of your children, ⁷  annihilate your cattle, and diminish your population ⁸  so that your roads will become deserted.

26:23 “‘If in spite of these things ⁹  you do not allow yourselves to be disciplined and you walk in hostility against me, ¹⁰  26:24 I myself will also walk in hostility against you and strike you ¹¹  seven times on account of your sins. 26:25 I will bring on you an avenging sword, a covenant vengeance. ¹²  Although ¹³  you will gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you and you will be given into enemy hands. ¹⁴  26:26 When I break off your supply of bread, ¹⁵  ten women will bake your bread in one oven; they will ration your bread by weight, ¹⁶  and you will eat and not be satisfied.

26:27 “‘If in spite of this ¹⁷  you do not obey me but walk in hostility against me, ¹⁸  26:28 I will walk in hostile rage against you ¹⁹  and I myself will also discipline you seven times on account of your sins. 26:29 You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. ²⁰ 

Deuteronomy 28:59

28:59 then the Lord will increase your punishments and those of your descendants – great and long-lasting afflictions and severe, enduring illnesses.

Isaiah 9:12

9:12 Syria from the east,

and the Philistines from the west,

they gobbled up Israelite territory. ²¹ 

Despite all this, his anger does not subside,

and his hand is ready to strike again. ²² 

Isaiah 9:17

9:17 So the sovereign master was not pleased ²³  with their young men,

he took no pity ²⁴  on their orphans and widows;

for the whole nation was godless ²⁵  and did wicked things, ²⁶ 

every mouth was speaking disgraceful words. ²⁷ 

Despite all this, his anger does not subside,

and his hand is ready to strike again. ²⁸ 

Isaiah 9:21

9:21 Manasseh fought against ²⁹  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. ³⁰ 

Isaiah 10:4

10:4 You will have no place to go, except to kneel with the prisoners,

or to fall among those who have been killed. ³¹ 

Despite all this, his anger does not subside,

and his hand is ready to strike again. ³² 

Isaiah 10:1

10:1 Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead, ³³ 

those who are always instituting unfair regulations, ³⁴ 

Isaiah 5:3

5:3 So now, residents of Jerusalem, ³⁵ 

people ³⁶  of Judah,

you decide between me and my vineyard!

Isaiah 5:1

A Love Song Gone Sour

5:1 I ³⁷  will sing to my love –

a song to my lover about his vineyard. ³⁸ 

My love had a vineyard

on a fertile hill. ³⁹ 

Isaiah 4:1

4:1 Seven women will grab hold of

one man at that time. ⁴⁰ 

They will say, “We will provide ⁴¹  our own food,

we will provide ⁴²  our own clothes;

but let us belong to you ⁴³  –

take away our shame!” ⁴⁴ 

Isaiah 4:1

4:1 Seven women will grab hold of

one man at that time. ⁴⁵ 

They will say, “We will provide ⁴⁶  our own food,

we will provide ⁴⁷  our own clothes;

but let us belong to you ⁴⁸  –

take away our shame!” ⁴⁹ 

[26:18]  ¹ tn Heb “And if until these.”

[26:18]  ² tn Heb “I will add to discipline you seven [times] on your sins.”

[26:20]  ³ tn Heb “the tree of the land will not give its fruit.” The collective singular has been translated as a plural. Tg. Onq., some medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, LXX, and Tg. Ps.-J. have “the field” as in v. 4, rather than “the land.”

[26:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “hostile with me,” but see the added preposition בְּ (bet) on the phrase “in hostility” in v. 24 and 27.

[26:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “your blow, stroke”; cf. TEV “punishment”; NLT “I will inflict you with seven more disasters.”

[26:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “the animal of the field.” This collective singular has been translated as a plural. The expression “animal of the field” refers to a wild (i.e., nondomesticated) animal.

[26:22]  ⁷ tn The words “of your children” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[26:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “and diminish you.”

[26:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “And if in these.”

[26:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “with me,” but see the added preposition בְּ (bet) on the phrase “in hostility” in vv. 24 and 27.

[26:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and I myself will also strike you.”

[26:25]  ¹² tn Heb “vengeance of covenant”; cf. NAB “the avenger of my covenant.”

[26:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) has a concessive force in this context.

[26:25]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in hand of enemy,” but Tg. Ps.-J. and Tg. Neof. have “in the hands of your enemies” (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 454).

[26:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “When I break to you staff of bread” (KJV, ASV, and NASB all similar).

[26:26]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they will return your bread in weight.”

[26:27]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “And if in this.”

[26:27]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “with me.”

[26:28]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in rage of hostility with you”; NASB “with wrathful hostility”; NRSV “I will continue hostile to you in fury”; CEV “I’ll get really furious.”

[26:29]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and the flesh of your daughters you will eat.” The phrase “you will eat” has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[9:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “and they devoured Israel with all the mouth”; NIV “with open mouth”; NLT “With bared fangs.”

[9:12]  ²² tn Heb “in all this his anger is not turned, and still his hand is outstretched.” One could translate in the past tense here (and in 9:17b and 21b), but the appearance of the refrain in 10:4b, where it follows a woe oracle prophesying a future judgment, suggests it is a dramatic portrait of the judge which did not change throughout this period of past judgment and will remain unchanged in the future. The English present tense is chosen to best reflect this dramatic mood. (See also 5:25b, where the refrain appears following a dramatic description of coming judgment.)

[9:17]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “profaned”; NIV “ungodly.”

[9:17]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ tn Or “foolishness” (NASB), here in a moral-ethical sense.

[9:17]  ²⁸ tn Heb “in all this his anger is not turned, and still his hand is outstretched.”

[9:21]  ²⁹ tn The words “fought against” are supplied in the translation both here and later in this verse for stylistic reasons.

[9:21]  ³⁰ 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.”

[10:4]  ³¹ tn Heb “except one kneels in the place of the prisoner, and in the place of the slain [who] fall.” On the force of בִּלְתִּי (bilti, “except”) and its logical connection to what precedes, see BDB 116 s.v. בֵלֶת. On the force of תַּחַת (takhat, “in the place of”) here, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:258, n. 6.

[10:4]  ³² tn Heb “in all this his anger was not turned, and still his hand was outstretched”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “his had is stretched out still.”

[10:1]  ³³ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who decree evil decrees.” On הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) see the note on the first phrase of 1:4.

[10:1]  ³⁴ tn Heb “[to] the writers who write out harm.” The participle and verb are in the Piel, suggesting repetitive action.

[5:3]  ³⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:3]  ³⁶ tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.

[5:1]  ³⁷ tn It is uncertain who is speaking here. Possibly the prophet, taking the role of best man, composes a love song for his friend on the occasion of his wedding. If so, יָדִיד (yadid) should be translated “my friend.” The present translation assumes that Israel is singing to the Lord. The word דוֹד (dod, “lover”) used in the second line is frequently used by the woman in the Song of Solomon to describe her lover.

[5:1]  ³⁸ sn Israel, viewing herself as the Lord’s lover, refers to herself as his vineyard. The metaphor has sexual connotations, for it pictures her capacity to satisfy his appetite and to produce children. See Song 8:12.

[5:1]  ³⁹ tn Heb “on a horn, a son of oil.” Apparently קֶרֶן (qeren, “horn”) here refers to the horn-shaped peak of a hill (BDB 902 s.v.) or to a mountain spur, i.e., a ridge that extends laterally from a mountain (HALOT 1145 s.v. קֶרֶן; H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:180). The expression “son of oil” pictures this hill as one capable of producing olive trees. Isaiah’s choice of קֶרֶן, a rare word for hill, may have been driven by paronomastic concerns, i.e., because קֶרֶן sounds like כֶּרֶם (kerem, “vineyard”).

[4:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “in that day” (ASV).

[4:1]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “eat” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “buy.”

[4:1]  ⁴² tn Heb “wear” (so NASB, NRSV); NCV “make.”

[4:1]  ⁴³ tn Heb “only let your name be called over us.” The Hebrew idiom “call the name over” indicates ownership. See 2 Sam 12:28, and BDB 896 s.v. I ָקרָא Niph. 2.d.(4). The language reflects the cultural reality of ancient Israel, where women were legally the property of their husbands.

[4:1]  ⁴⁴ sn This refers to the humiliation of being unmarried and childless. The women’s words reflect the cultural standards of ancient Israel, where a woman’s primary duties were to be a wife and mother.

[4:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “in that day” (ASV).

[4:1]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “eat” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “buy.”

[4:1]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “wear” (so NASB, NRSV); NCV “make.”

[4:1]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “only let your name be called over us.” The Hebrew idiom “call the name over” indicates ownership. See 2 Sam 12:28, and BDB 896 s.v. I ָקרָא Niph. 2.d.(4). The language reflects the cultural reality of ancient Israel, where women were legally the property of their husbands.

[4:1]  ⁴⁹ sn This refers to the humiliation of being unmarried and childless. The women’s words reflect the cultural standards of ancient Israel, where a woman’s primary duties were to be a wife and mother.