1:2 Listen, O heavens,
pay attention, O earth! 1
For the Lord speaks:
“I raised children, 2 I brought them up, 3
but 4 they have rebelled 5 against me!
2:11 Proud men will be brought low,
arrogant men will be humiliated; 6
the Lord alone will be exalted 7
in that day.
23:9 The Lord who commands armies planned it –
to dishonor the pride that comes from all her beauty, 8
to humiliate all the dignitaries of the earth.
26:12 O Lord, you make us secure, 9
for even all we have accomplished, you have done for us. 10
30:1 “The rebellious 11 children are as good as dead,” 12 says the Lord,
“those who make plans without consulting me, 13
who form alliances without consulting my Spirit, 14
and thereby compound their sin. 15
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, 16
64:12 In light of all this, 17 how can you still hold back, Lord?
How can you be silent and continue to humiliate us?
65:11 But as for you who abandon the Lord
and forget about worshiping at 18 my holy mountain,
who prepare a feast for the god called ‘Fortune,’ 19
and fill up wine jugs for the god called ‘Destiny’ 20 –
1 sn The personified heavens and earth are summoned to God’s courtroom as witnesses against God’s covenant people. Long before this Moses warned the people that the heavens and earth would be watching their actions (see Deut 4:26; 30:19; 31:28; 32:1).
2 tn Or “sons” (NAB, NASB).
sn “Father” and “son” occur as common terms in ancient Near Eastern treaties and covenants, delineating the suzerain and vassal as participants in the covenant relationship. The prophet uses these terms, the reference to heavens and earth as witnesses, and allusions to deuteronomic covenant curses (1:7-9, 19-20) to set his prophecy firmly against the backdrop of Israel’s covenantal relationship with Yahweh.
3 sn The normal word pair for giving birth to and raising children is יָלַד (yalad, “to give birth to”) and גָּדַל (gadal, “to grow, raise”). The pair גָּדַל and רוּם (rum, “to raise up”) probably occur here to highlight the fact that Yahweh made something important of Israel (cf. R. Mosis, TDOT 2:403).
4 sn Against the backdrop of Yahweh’s care for his chosen people, Israel’s rebellion represents abhorrent treachery. The conjunction prefixed to a nonverbal element highlights the sad contrast between Yahweh’s compassionate care for His people and Israel’s thankless rebellion.
5 sn To rebel carries the idea of “covenant treachery.” Although an act of פֶּשַׁע (pesha’, “rebellion”) often signifies a breach of the law, the legal offense also represents a violation of an existing covenantal relationship (E. Carpenter and M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 3:707).
6 tn Heb “and the eyes of the pride of men will be brought low, and the arrogance of men will be brought down.” The repetition of the verbs שָׁפַל (shafal) and שָׁחָח (shakhakh) from v. 9 draws attention to the appropriate nature of the judgment. Those proud men who “bow low” before idols will be forced to “bow low” before God when he judges their sin.
7 tn Or “elevated”; CEV “honored.”
8 tn Heb “the pride of all the beauty.”
9 tn Heb “O Lord, you establish peace for us.”
10 tc Some suggest emending גַּם כָּל (gam kol, “even all”) to כִּגְמֻל (kigmul, “according to the deed[s] of”) One might then translate “for according to what our deeds deserve, you have acted on our behalf.” Nevertheless, accepting the MT as it stands, the prophet affirms that Yahweh deserved all the credit for anything Israel had accomplished.
11 tn Or “stubborn” (NCV); cf. NIV “obstinate.”
12 tn Heb “Woe [to] rebellious children.”
13 tn Heb “making a plan, but not from me.”
14 tn Heb “and pouring out a libation, but not [from] my spirit.” This translation assumes that the verb נָסַךְ (nasakh) means “pour out,” and that the cognate noun מַסֵּכָה (massekhah) means “libation.” In this case “pouring out a libation” alludes to a ceremony that formally ratifies an alliance. Another option is to understand the verb נָסַךְ as a homonym meaning “weave,” and the cognate noun מַסֵּכָה as a homonym meaning “covering.” In this case forming an alliance is likened to weaving a garment.
15 tn Heb “consequently adding sin to sin.”
16 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.”
17 tn Heb “because of these”; KJV, ASV “for these things.”
18 tn The Hebrew text has simply, “forget.” The words “about worshiping at” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
19 tn The Hebrew has לַגַּד (laggad, “for Gad”), the name of a pagan deity. See HALOT 176 s.v. II גַּד 2.
20 tn The Hebrew has לַמְנִי (lamni, “for Meni”), the name of a pagan deity. See HALOT 602 s.v. מְגִי.