1:18 1 Come, let’s consider your options,” 2 says the Lord.
“Though your sins have stained you like the color red,
you can become 3 white like snow;
though they are as easy to see as the color scarlet,
you can become 4 white like wool. 5
2:3 many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain,
to the temple of the God of Jacob,
so 6 he can teach us his requirements, 7
and 8 we can follow his standards.” 9
For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; 10
the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem. 11
17:11 The day you begin cultivating, you do what you can to make it grow; 12
the morning you begin planting, you do what you can to make it sprout.
Yet the harvest will disappear 13 in the day of disease
and incurable pain.
50:2 Why does no one challenge me when I come?
Why does no one respond when I call? 14
Is my hand too weak 15 to deliver 16 you?
Do I lack the power to rescue you?
Look, with a mere shout 17 I can dry up the sea;
I can turn streams into a desert,
so the fish rot away and die
from lack of water. 18
66:8 Who has ever heard of such a thing?
Who has ever seen this?
Can a country 19 be brought forth in one day?
Can a nation be born in a single moment?
Yet as soon as Zion goes into labor she gives birth to sons!
1 sn The Lord concludes his case against Israel by offering them the opportunity to be forgiven and by setting before them the alternatives of renewed blessing (as a reward for repentance) and final judgment (as punishment for persistence in sin).
2 tn Traditionally, “let us reason together,” but the context suggests a judicial nuance. The Lord is giving the nation its options for the future.
3 tn The imperfects must be translated as modal (indicating capability or possibility) to bring out the conditional nature of the offer. This purification will only occur if the people repent and change their ways.
4 tn The imperfects must be translated as modal (indicating capability or possibility) to bring out the conditional nature of the offer. This purification will only occur if the people repent and change their ways.
5 tn Heb “though your sins are like red, they will become white like snow; though they are red like scarlet, they will be like wool.” The point is not that the sins will be covered up, though still retained. The metaphorical language must be allowed some flexibility and should not be pressed into a rigid literalistic mold. The people’s sins will be removed and replaced by ethical purity. The sins that are now as obvious as the color red will be washed away and the ones who are sinful will be transformed.
6 tn The prefixed verb form with simple vav (ו) introduces a purpose/result clause after the preceding prefixed verb form (probably to be taken as a cohortative; see IBHS 650 §39.2.2a).
7 tn Heb “his ways.” In this context God’s “ways” are the standards of moral conduct he decrees that people should live by.
8 tn The cohortative with vav (ו) after the prefixed verb form indicates the ultimate purpose/goal of their action.
9 tn Heb “walk in his ways.”
10 tn Heb “for out of Zion will go instruction.”
11 tn Heb “the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
12 tn Heb “in the day of your planting you [?].” The precise meaning of the verb תְּשַׂגְשֵׂגִי (tÿsagsegi) is unclear. It is sometimes derived from שׂוּג/סוּג (sug, “to fence in”; see BDB 691 s.v. II סוּג). In this case one could translate “you build a protective fence.” However, the parallelism is tighter if one derives the form from שָׂגָא/שָׂגָה (saga’/sagah, “to grow”); see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:351, n. 4. For this verb, see BDB 960 s.v. שָׂגָא.
13 tc The Hebrew text has, “a heap of harvest.” However, better sense is achieved if נֵד (ned, “heap”) is emended to a verb. Options include נַד (nad, Qal perfect third masculine singular from נָדַד [nadad, “flee, depart”]), נָדַד (Qal perfect third masculine singular from נָדַד), נֹדֵד (noded, Qal active participle from נָדַד), and נָד (nad, Qal perfect third masculine singular, or participle masculine singular, from נוּד [nud, “wander, flutter”]). See BDB 626 s.v. נוּד and HALOT 672 s.v. I נדד. One could translate literally: “[the harvest] departs,” or “[the harvest] flies away.”
14 sn The present tense translation of the verbs assumes that the Lord is questioning why Israel does not attempt to counter his arguments. Another possibility is to take the verbs as referring to past events: “Why did no one meet me when I came? Why did no one answer when I called?” In this case the Lord might be asking why Israel rejected his calls to repent and his offer to deliver them.
15 tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV).
16 tn Or “ransom” (NAB, NASB, NIV).
17 tn Heb “with my rebuke.”
18 tn Heb “the fish stink from lack of water and die from thirst.”
19 tn Heb “land,” but here אֶרֶץ (’erets) stands metonymically for an organized nation (see the following line).