1:11 “Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?” 1
says the Lord.
“I am stuffed with 2 burnt sacrifices
of rams and the fat from steers.
The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats
I do not want. 3
1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I look the other way; 4
when you offer your many prayers,
I do not listen,
because your hands are covered with blood. 5
1:23 Your officials are rebels, 6
they associate with 7 thieves.
All of them love bribery,
and look for 8 payoffs. 9
They do not take up the cause of the orphan, 10
or defend the rights of the widow. 11
2:6 Indeed, O Lord, 12 you have abandoned your people,
the descendants of Jacob.
For diviners from the east are everywhere; 13
they consult omen readers like the Philistines do. 14
Plenty of foreigners are around. 15
5:4 What more can I do for my vineyard
beyond what I have already done?
When I waited for it to produce edible grapes,
why did it produce sour ones instead?
5:5 Now I will inform you
what I am about to do to my vineyard:
I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture, 16
I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there. 17
28:22 So now, do not mock,
or your chains will become heavier!
For I have heard a message about decreed destruction,
from the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, against the entire land. 23
29:15 Those who try to hide their plans from the Lord are as good as dead, 24
who do their work in secret and boast, 25
“Who sees us? Who knows what we’re doing?” 26
30:29 You will sing
as you do in the evening when you are celebrating a festival.
You will be happy like one who plays a flute
as he goes to the mountain of the Lord, the Rock who shelters Israel. 27
31:8 Assyria will fall by a sword, but not one human-made; 28
a sword not made by humankind will destroy them. 29
They will run away from this sword 30
and their young men will be forced to do hard labor.
40:28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is an eternal God,
the creator of the whole earth. 31
He does not get tired or weary;
there is no limit to his wisdom. 32
41:20 I will do this so 33 people 34 will observe and recognize,
so they will pay attention and understand
that the Lord’s power 35 has accomplished this,
and that the Holy One of Israel has brought it into being.” 36
45:4 For the sake of my servant Jacob,
Israel, my chosen one,
I call you by name
and give you a title of respect, even though you do not recognize 37 me.
48:6 You have heard; now look at all the evidence! 38
Will you not admit that what I say is true? 39
From this point on I am announcing to you new events
that are previously unrevealed and you do not know about. 40
48:21 They do not thirst as he leads them through dry regions;
he makes water flow out of a rock for them;
he splits open a rock and water flows out.’ 41
50:4 The sovereign Lord has given me the capacity to be his spokesman, 42
so that I know how to help the weary. 43
He wakes me up every morning;
he makes me alert so I can listen attentively as disciples do. 44
52:5 And now, what do we have here?” 45 says the Lord.
“Indeed my people have been carried away for nothing,
those who rule over them taunt,” 46 says the Lord,
“and my name is constantly slandered 47 all day long.
54:17 No weapon forged to be used against you will succeed;
you will refute everyone who tries to accuse you. 48
This is what the Lord will do for his servants –
I will vindicate them,” 49
says the Lord.
55:10 50 The rain and snow fall from the sky
and do not return,
but instead water the earth
and make it produce and yield crops,
and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat.
57:10 Because of the long distance you must travel, you get tired, 51
but you do not say, ‘I give up.’ 52
You get renewed energy, 53
so you don’t collapse. 54
57:11 Whom are you worried about?
Whom do you fear, that you would act so deceitfully
and not remember me
or think about me? 55
Because I have been silent for so long, 56
you are not afraid of me. 57
60:22 The least of you will multiply into 58 a thousand;
the smallest of you will become a large nation.
When the right time comes, I the Lord will quickly do this!” 59
1 tn Heb “Why to me the multitude of your sacrifices?” The sarcastic rhetorical question suggests that their many sacrifices are of no importance to the Lord. This phrase answers the possible objection that an Israelite could raise in response to God’s indictment: “But we are offering the sacrifices you commanded!”
sn In this section the Lord refutes a potential objection that his sinful people might offer in their defense. He has charged them with rebellion (vv. 2-3), but they might respond that they have brought him many sacrifices. So he points out that he requires social justice first and foremost, not empty ritual.
2 tn The verb שָׂבַע (sava’, “be satisfied, full”) is often used of eating and/or drinking one’s fill. See BDB 959 s.v. שָׂבַע. Here sacrifices are viewed, in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion, as food for the deity. God here declares that he has eaten and drunk, as it were, his fill.
3 sn In the chiastic structure of the verse, the verbs at the beginning and end highlight God’s displeasure, while the heaping up of references to animals, fat, and blood in the middle lines hints at why God wants no more of their sacrifices. They have, as it were, piled the food on his table and he needs no more.
4 tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”
5 sn This does not just refer to the blood of sacrificial animals, but also the blood, as it were, of their innocent victims. By depriving the poor and destitute of proper legal recourse and adequate access to the economic system, the oppressors have, for all intents and purposes, “killed” their victims.
6 tn Or “stubborn”; CEV “have rejected me.”
7 tn Heb “and companions of” (so KJV, NASB); CEV “friends of crooks.”
8 tn Heb “pursue”; NIV “chase after gifts.”
9 sn Isaiah may have chosen the word for gifts (שַׁלְמוֹנִים, shalmonim; a hapax legomena here), as a sarcastic pun on what these rulers should have been doing. Instead of attending to peace and wholeness (שָׁלוֹם, shalom), they sought after payoffs (שַׁלְמוֹנִים).
10 sn See the note at v. 17.
11 sn The rich oppressors referred to in Isaiah and the other eighth century prophets were not rich capitalists in the modern sense of the word. They were members of the royal military and judicial bureaucracies in Israel and Judah. As these bureaucracies grew, they acquired more and more land and gradually commandeered the economy and legal system. At various administrative levels bribery and graft become commonplace. The common people outside the urban administrative centers were vulnerable to exploitation in such a system, especially those, like widows and orphans, who had lost their family provider through death. Through confiscatory taxation, conscription, excessive interest rates, and other oppressive governmental measures and policies, they were gradually disenfranchised and lost their landed property, and with it, their rights as citizens. The socio-economic equilibrium envisioned in the law of Moses was radically disturbed.
12 tn The words “O Lord” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Isaiah addresses the Lord in prayer.
13 tc Heb “they are full from the east.” Various scholars retain the BHS reading and suggest that the prophet makes a general statement concerning Israel’s reliance on foreign customs (J. Watts, Isaiah [WBC], 1:32; J. de Waard, Isaiah, 12-13). Nevertheless, it appears that a word is missing. Based on the parallelism (note “omen readers” in 5:6c), many suggest that קֹסְמִים (qosÿmim, “diviners”) or מִקְסָם (miqsam, “divination”) has been accidentally omitted. Homoioteleuton could account for the omission of an original קֹסְמִים (note how this word and the following מִקֶּדֶם [miqqedem, “from the east”] both end in mem); an original מִקְסָם could have fallen out by homoioarcton (note how this word and the following מִקֶּדֶם both begin with mem).
14 tn Heb “and omen readers like the Philistines.” Through this line and the preceding, the prophet contends that Israel has heavily borrowed the pagan practices of the east and west (in violation of Lev 19:26; Deut 18:9-14).
15 tn Heb “and with the children of foreigners they [?].” The precise meaning of the final word is uncertain. Some take this verb (I שָׂפַק, safaq) to mean “slap,” supply the object “hands,” and translate, “they slap [hands] with foreigners”; HALOT 1349 s.v. I שׂפק. This could be a reference to foreign alliances. This translation has two disadvantages: It requires the conjectural insertion of “hands” and the use of this verb with its object prefixed with a בְּ (bet) preposition with this meaning does not occur elsewhere. The other uses of this verb refer to clapping at someone, an indication of hostility. The translation above assumes the verb is derived from II שׂפק (“to suffice,” attested in the Qal in 1 Kgs 20:10; HALOT 1349 s.v. II שׂפק). In this case the point is that a sufficient number of foreigners (in this case, too many!) live in the land. The disadvantage of this option is that the preposition prefixed to “the children of foreigners” does not occur with this verb elsewhere. The chosen translation is preferred since it continues the idea of abundant foreign influence and does not require a conjectural insertion or emendation.
16 tn Heb “and it will become [a place for] grazing.” בָּעַר (ba’ar, “grazing”) is a homonym of the more often used verb “to burn.”
17 tn Heb “and it will become a trampled place” (NASB “trampled ground”).
18 tn Heb “and he said.” The subject is unexpressed, but the reference to “my God” at the end of the verse indicates the prophet is speaking.
19 tn The verb is second plural in form, because the prophet addresses the whole family of David. He continues to use the plural in v. 14 (with one exception, see the notes on that verse), but then switches back to the second singular (addressing Ahaz specifically) in vv. 16-17.
20 tn Heb “house.” See the note at v. 2.
21 sn The address to the “house of David” is designed to remind Ahaz and his royal court of the protection promised to them through the Davidic covenant. The king’s refusal to claim God’s promise magnifies his lack of faith.
22 tn Heb “and the land of Judah will become [a source of] shame to Egypt, everyone to whom one mentions it [i.e., the land of Judah] will fear because of the plan of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] which he is planning against him.”
23 tn Or “the whole earth” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NCV).
24 tn Heb “Woe [to] those who deeply hide counsel from the Lord.” This probably alludes to political alliances made without seeking the Lord’s guidance. See 30:1-2 and 31:1.
25 tn Heb “and their works are in darkness and they say.”
26 tn The rhetorical questions suggest the answer, “no one.” They are confident that their deeds are hidden from others, including God.
27 tn Heb “[you will have] joy of heart, like the one going with a flute to enter the mountain of the Lord to the Rock of Israel.” The image here is not a foundational rock, but a rocky cliff where people could hide for protection (for example, the fortress of Masada).
28 tn Heb “Assyria will fall by a sword, not of a man.”
29 tn Heb “and a sword not of humankind will devour him.”
30 tn Heb “he will flee for himself from before a sword.”
31 tn Heb “the ends of the earth,” but this is a merism, where the earth’s extremities stand for its entirety, i.e., the extremities and everything in between them.
32 sn Exiled Israel’s complaint (v. 27) implies that God might be limited in some way. Perhaps he, like so many of the pagan gods, has died. Or perhaps his jurisdiction is limited to Judah and does not include Babylon. Maybe he is unable to devise an adequate plan to rescue his people, or is unable to execute it. But v. 28 affirms that he is not limited temporally or spatially nor is his power and wisdom restricted in any way. He can and will deliver his people, if they respond in hopeful faith (v. 31a).
33 tn The words “I will do this” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Hebrew text has here simply, “in order that.”
34 tn Heb “they”; NAB, NRSV “that all may see”; CEV, NLT “Everyone will see.”
35 tn Heb “hand” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
36 tn Or “created it” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “has made it happen.”
37 tn Or “know” (NCV, NRSV, TEV, NLT); NIV “acknowledge.”
38 tn Heb “gaze [at] all of it”; KJV “see all this.”
39 tn Heb “[as for] you, will you not declare?”
40 tn Heb “and hidden things, and you do not know them.”
41 sn The translation above (present tense) assumes that this verse describes God’s provision for returning Babylonian exiles (see v. 20; 35:6; 49:10) in terms reminiscent of the Exodus from Egypt (see Exod 17:6).
42 tn Heb “has given to me a tongue of disciples.”
sn Verses 4-11 contain the third of the so-called servant songs, which depict the career of the Lord’s special servant, envisioned as an ideal Israel (49:3) who rescues the exiles and fulfills God’s purposes for the world. Here the servant alludes to opposition (something hinted at in 49:4), but also expresses his determination to persevere with the Lord’s help.
43 tc Heb “to know [?] the weary with a word.” Comparing it with Arabic and Aramaic cognates yields the meaning of “help, sustain.” Nevertheless, the meaning of עוּת (’ut) is uncertain. The word occurs only here in the OT (see BDB 736 s.v.). Various scholars have suggested an emendation to עָנוֹת (’anot) from עָנָה (’anah, “answer”): “so that I know how to respond kindly to the weary.” Since the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa and the Vulgate support the MT reading, that reading is retained.
44 tn Heb “he arouses for me an ear, to hear like disciples.”
45 tn Heb “and now what [following the marginal reading (Qere)] to me here?”
46 tn The verb appears to be a Hiphil form from the root יָלַל (yalal, “howl”), perhaps here in the sense of “mock.” Some emend the form to יְהוֹלָּלוֹ (yÿhollalo) and understand a Polel form of the root הָלַל meaning here “mock, taunt.”
47 tn The verb is apparently a Hitpolal form (with assimilated tav, ת) from the root נָאַץ (na’ats), but GKC 151-52 §55.b explains it as a mixed form, combining Pual and Hitpolel readings.
48 tn Heb “and every tongue that rises up for judgment with you will prove to be guilty.”
49 tn Heb “this is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication from me.”
50 tn This verse begins in the Hebrew text with כִּי כַּאֲשֶׁר (ki ka’asher, “for, just as”), which is completed by כֵּן (ken, “so, in the same way”) at the beginning of v. 11. For stylistic reasons, this lengthy sentence is divided up into separate sentences in the translation.
51 tn Heb “by the greatness [i.e., “length,” see BDB 914 s.v. רֹב 2] of your way you get tired.”
52 tn Heb “it is hopeless” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NRSV “It is useless.”
53 tn Heb “the life of your hand you find.” The term חַיָּה (khayyah, “life”) is here used in the sense of “renewal” (see BDB 312 s.v.) while יָד (yad) is used of “strength.”
54 tn Heb “you do not grow weak.”
55 tn Heb “you do not place [it] on your heart.”
56 tn Heb “Is it not [because] I have been silent, and from long ago?”
57 sn God’s patience with sinful Israel has caused them to think that they can sin with impunity and suffer no consequences.
58 tn Heb “will become” (so NASB, NIV).
59 tn Heb “I, the Lord, in its time, I will quickly do it.”