1:10 Listen to the Lord’s word,
you leaders of Sodom! 1
Pay attention to our God’s rebuke, 2
people of Gomorrah!
5:16 The Lord who commands armies will be exalted 3 when he punishes, 4
the sovereign God’s authority will be recognized when he judges. 5
8:10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted!
Issue your orders, but they will not be executed! 6
For God is with us! 7
8:16 Tie up the scroll as legal evidence, 8
seal the official record of God’s instructions and give it to my followers. 9
12:2 Look, God is my deliverer! 13
I will trust in him 14 and not fear.
For the Lord gives me strength and protects me; 15
he has become my deliverer.” 16
13:19 Babylon, the most admired 17 of kingdoms,
the Chaldeans’ source of honor and pride, 18
will be destroyed by God
just as Sodom and Gomorrah were. 19
35:4 Tell those who panic, 20
“Be strong! Do not fear!
Look, your God comes to avenge!
With divine retribution he comes to deliver you.” 21
37:21 Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Because you prayed to me concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria, 24
40:3 A voice cries out,
“In the wilderness clear a way for the Lord;
construct in the desert a road for our God.
45:5 I am the Lord, I have no peer, 25
there is no God but me.
I arm you for battle, 26 even though you do not recognize 27 me.
45:6 I do this 28 so people 29 will recognize from east to west
that there is no God but me;
I am the Lord, I have no peer.
45:20 Gather together and come!
Approach together, you refugees from the nations!
Those who carry wooden idols know nothing,
those who pray to a god that cannot deliver.
45:22 Turn to me so you can be delivered, 30
all you who live in the earth’s remote regions!
For I am God, and I have no peer.
48:2 Indeed, they live in the holy city; 31
they trust in 32 the God of Israel,
whose name is the Lord who commands armies.
49:4 But I thought, 33 “I have worked in vain;
I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing.” 34
But the Lord will vindicate me;
my God will reward me. 35
51:15 I am the Lord your God,
who churns up the sea so that its waves surge.
The Lord who commands armies is his name!
52:12 Yet do not depart quickly
or leave in a panic. 36
For the Lord goes before you;
the God of Israel is your rear guard.
53:4 But he lifted up our illnesses,
he carried our pain; 37
even though we thought he was being punished,
attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done. 38
59:2 But your sinful acts have alienated you from your God;
your sins have caused him to reject you and not listen to your prayers. 39
61:2 to announce the year when the Lord will show his favor,
the day when our God will seek vengeance, 40
to console all who mourn,
62:3 You will be a majestic crown in the hand of the Lord,
a royal turban in the hand of your God.
62:5 As a young man marries a young woman,
so your sons 41 will marry you.
As a bridegroom rejoices over a bride,
so your God will rejoice over you.
64:4 Since ancient times no one has heard or perceived, 42
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who intervenes for those who wait for him.
1 sn Building on the simile of v. 9, the prophet sarcastically addresses the leaders and people of Jerusalem as if they were leaders and residents of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah. The sarcasm is appropriate, for if the judgment is comparable to Sodom’s, that must mean that the sin which prompted the judgment is comparable as well.
2 tn Heb “to the instruction of our God.” In this context, which is highly accusatory and threatening, תּוֹרָה (torah, “law, instruction”) does not refer to mere teaching, but to corrective teaching and rebuke.
3 tn Or “elevated”; TEV “the Lord Almighty shows his greatness.”
4 tn Heb “by judgment/justice.” When God justly punishes the evildoers denounced in the preceding verses, he will be recognized as a mighty warrior.
5 tn Heb “The holy God will be set apart by fairness.” In this context God’s holiness is his sovereign royal authority, which implies a commitment to justice (see the note on the phrase “the sovereign king of Israel” in 1:4). When God judges evildoers as they deserve, his sovereignty will be acknowledged.
sn The appearance of מִשְׁפָט (mishpat, “justice”) and צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “fairness”) here is rhetorically significant, when one recalls v. 7. There God denounces his people for failing to produce a society where “justice” and “fairness” are valued and maintained. God will judge his people for their failure, taking “justice” and “fairness” into his own hands.
6 tn Heb “speak a word, but it will not stand.”
7 sn In these vv. 9-10 the tone shifts abruptly from judgment to hope. Hostile nations like Assyria may attack God’s people, but eventually they will be destroyed, for God is with his people, sometimes to punish, but ultimately to vindicate. In addition to being a reminder of God’s presence in the immediate crisis faced by Ahaz and Judah, Immanuel (whose name is echoed in this concluding statement) was a guarantee of the nation’s future greatness in fulfillment of God’s covenantal promises. Eventually God would deliver his people from the hostile nations (vv. 9-10) through another child, an ideal Davidic ruler who would embody God’s presence in a special way (see 9:6-7). Jesus the Messiah is the fulfillment of the Davidic ideal prophesied by Isaiah, the one whom Immanuel foreshadowed. Through the miracle of the incarnation he is literally “God with us.” Matthew realized this and applied Isaiah’s ancient prophecy of Immanuel’s birth to Jesus (Matt 1:22-23). The first Immanuel was a reminder to the people of God’s presence and a guarantee of a greater child to come who would manifest God’s presence in an even greater way. The second Immanuel is “God with us” in a heightened and infinitely superior sense. He “fulfills” Isaiah’s Immanuel prophecy by bringing the typology intended by God to realization and by filling out or completing the pattern designed by God. Of course, in the ultimate fulfillment of the type, the incarnate Immanuel’s mother must be a virgin, so Matthew uses a Greek term (παρθένος, parqenos), which carries that technical meaning (in contrast to the Hebrew word עַלְמָה [’almah], which has the more general meaning “young woman”). Matthew draws similar analogies between NT and OT events in 2:15, 18. The linking of these passages by analogy is termed “fulfillment.” In 2:15 God calls Jesus, his perfect Son, out of Egypt, just as he did his son Israel in the days of Moses, an historical event referred to in Hos 11:1. In so doing he makes it clear that Jesus is the ideal Israel prophesied by Isaiah (see Isa 49:3), sent to restore wayward Israel (see Isa 49:5, cf. Matt 1:21). In 2:18 Herod’s slaughter of the infants is another illustration of the oppressive treatment of God’s people by foreign tyrants. Herod’s actions are analogous to those of the Assyrians, who deported the Israelites, causing the personified land to lament as inconsolably as a mother robbed of her little ones (Jer 31:15).
8 tn Heb “tie up [the] testimony.” The “testimony” probably refers to the prophetic messages God has given him. When the prophecies are fulfilled, he will be able to produce this official, written record to confirm the authenticity of his ministry and to prove to the people that God is sovereign over events.
9 tn Heb “seal [the] instruction among my followers.” The “instruction” probably refers to the prophet’s exhortations and warnings. When the people are judged for the sins, the prophet can produce these earlier messages and essentially say, “I told you so.” In this way he can authenticate his ministry and impress upon the people the reality of God’s authority over them.
10 tn Heb “he will pass through it.” The subject of the collective singular verb is the nation. (See the preceding note.) The immediately preceding context supplies no antecedent for “it” (a third feminine singular suffix in the Hebrew text); the suffix may refer to the land, which would be a reasonable referent with a verb of motion. Note also that אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”) does appear at the beginning of the next verse.
11 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
12 tn Or “gods” (NAB, NRSV, CEV).
13 tn Or “salvation” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).
14 tn The words “in him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
15 tc The Hebrew text has, “for my strength and protection [is] the Lord, the Lord (Heb “Yah, Yahweh).” The word יְהוָה (yehvah) is probably dittographic or explanatory here (note that the short form of the name [יָהּ, yah] precedes, and that the graphically similar וַיְהִי [vayÿhi] follows). Exod 15:2, the passage from which the words of v. 2b are taken, has only יָהּ. The word זִמְרָת (zimrat) is traditionally understood as meaning “song,” in which case one might translate, “for the Lord gives me strength and joy” (i.e., a reason to sing); note that in v. 5 the verb זָמַר (zamar, “sing”) appears. Many recent commentators, however, have argued that the noun is here instead a homonym, meaning “protection” or “strength.” See HALOT 274 s.v. III *זמר.
16 tn Or “salvation” (so many English versions, e.g., KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “my savior.”
17 tn Or “most beautiful” (NCV, TEV).
18 tn Heb “the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans.”
sn The Chaldeans were a group of tribes who lived in southern Mesopotamia. The established the so-called neo-Babylonian empire in the late seventh century
19 tn Heb “and Babylon…will be like the overthrow by God of Sodom and Gomorrah.” On מַהְפֵּכַת (mahpekhat, “overthrow”) see the note on the word “destruction” in 1:7.
20 tn Heb “Say to the hasty of heart,” i.e., those whose hearts beat quickly from fear.
21 tn The jussive form וְיֹשַׁעֲכֶם (vÿyosha’akhem), which is subordinated to the preceding imperfect with vav conjunctive, indicates purpose.
22 tn Heb “Hear all the words of Sennacherib which he sent to taunt the living God.”
23 tn The parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:19 reads, “that you, Lord, are the only God.”
24 tn The parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:20 reads, “That which you prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.” The verb “I have heard” does not appear in Isa 37:21, where אֲשֶׁר (’asher) probably has a causal sense: “because.”
25 tn Heb “and there is none besides.” On the use of עוֹד (’od) here, see BDB 729 s.v. 1.c.
26 tn Heb “gird you” (so NASB) or “strengthen you” (so NIV).
27 tn Or “know” (NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT); NIV “have not acknowledged.”
28 tn The words “I do this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
29 tn Heb “they” (so KJV, ASV); TEV, CEV “everyone”; NLT “all the world.”
30 tn The Niphal imperative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose after the preceding imperative. The Niphal probably has a tolerative sense, “allow yourselves to be delivered, accept help.”
31 tn Heb “they call themselves [or “are called”] from the holy city.” The precise meaning of the statement is uncertain. The Niphal of קָרָא (qara’) is combined with the preposition מִן (min) only here. When the Qal of קָרָא is used with מִן, the preposition often indicates the place from which one is summoned (see 46:11). So one could translate, “from the holy city they are summoned,” meaning that they reside there.
32 tn Heb “lean on” (so NASB, NRSV); NAB, NIV “rely on.”
33 tn Or “said” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “I replied.”
34 tn Heb “for nothing and emptiness.” Synonyms are combined to emphasize the common idea.
35 tn Heb “But my justice is with the Lord, and my reward [or “wage”] with my God.”
36 tn Heb “or go in flight”; NAB “leave in headlong flight.”
37 sn Illness and pain stand by metonymy (or perhaps as metaphors) for sin and its effects, as vv. 11-12 make clear.
38 tn The words “for something he had done” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The group now realizes he suffered because of his identification with them, not simply because he was a special target of divine anger.
39 tn Heb “and your sins have caused [his] face to be hidden from you so as not to hear.”
40 tn Heb “to announce the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance.
41 tc The Hebrew text has “your sons,” but this produces an odd metaphor and is somewhat incongruous with the parallelism. In the context (v. 4b, see also 54:5-7) the Lord is the one who “marries” Zion. Therefore several prefer to emend “your sons” to בֹּנָיִךְ (bonayikh, “your builder”; e.g., NRSV). In Ps 147:2 the Lord is called the “builder of Jerusalem.” However, this emendation is not the best option for at least four reasons. First, although the Lord is never called the “builder” of Jerusalem in Isaiah, the idea of Zion’s children possessing the land does occur (Isa 49:20; 54:3; cf. also 14:1; 60:21). Secondly, all the ancient versions support the MT reading. Thirdly, although the verb בָּעַל (ba’al) can mean “to marry,” its basic idea is “to possess.” Consequently, the verb stresses a relationship more than a state. All the ancient versions render this verb “to dwell in” or “to dwell with.” The point is not just that the land will be reinhabited, but that it will be in a relationship of “belonging” to the Israelites. Hence a relational verb like בָּעַל is used (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 2:581). Finally, “sons” is a well-known metaphor for “inhabitants” (J. de Waard, Isaiah, 208).
42 tn Heb “from ancient times they have not heard, they have not listened.”