1:23 Your officials are rebels, 1
they associate with 2 thieves.
All of them love bribery,
and look for 3 payoffs. 4
They do not take up the cause of the orphan, 5
or defend the rights of the widow. 6
1:24 Therefore, the sovereign Lord who commands armies, 7
the powerful ruler of Israel, 8 says this:
“Ah, I will seek vengeance 9 against my adversaries,
I will take revenge against my enemies. 10
4:1 Seven women will grab hold of
one man at that time. 11
They will say, “We will provide 12 our own food,
we will provide 13 our own clothes;
but let us belong to you 14 –
take away our shame!” 15
5:19 They say, “Let him hurry, let him act quickly, 16
so we can see;
let the plan of the Holy One of Israel 17 take shape 18 and come to pass,
then we will know it!”
10:6 I sent him 19 against a godless 20 nation,
I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, 21
to take plunder and to carry away loot,
to trample them down 22 like dirt in the streets.
11:14 They will swoop down 23 on the Philistine hills to the west; 24
together they will loot the people of the east.
They will take over Edom and Moab, 25
and the Ammonites will be their subjects.
14:21 Prepare to execute 26 his sons
for the sins their ancestors have committed. 27
They must not rise up and take possession of the earth,
or fill the surface of the world with cities.” 28
40:24 Indeed, they are barely planted;
yes, they are barely sown;
yes, they barely take root in the earth,
and then he blows on them, causing them to dry up,
and the wind carries them away like straw.
42:1 33 “Here is my servant whom I support,
my chosen one in whom I take pleasure.
I have placed my spirit on him;
he will make just decrees 34 for the nations. 35
42:6 “I, the Lord, officially commission you; 36
I take hold of your hand.
I protect you 37 and make you a covenant mediator for people, 38
and a light 39 to the nations, 40
44:11 Look, all his associates 41 will be put to shame;
the craftsmen are mere humans. 42
Let them all assemble and take their stand!
They will panic and be put to shame.
46:4 Even when you are old, I will take care of you, 43
even when you have gray hair, I will carry you.
I made you and I will support you;
I will carry you and rescue you. 44
51:18 There was no one to lead her
among all the children she bore;
there was no one to take her by the hand
among all the children she raised.
1 tn Or “stubborn”; CEV “have rejected me.”
2 tn Heb “and companions of” (so KJV, NASB); CEV “friends of crooks.”
3 tn Heb “pursue”; NIV “chase after gifts.”
4 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).
5 sn See the note at v. 17.
6 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.
7 tn Heb “the master, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].” On the title “the Lord who commands armies,” see the note at v. 9.
8 tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Israel.”
9 tn Heb “console myself” (i.e., by getting revenge); NRSV “pour out my wrath on.”
10 sn The Lord here identifies with the oppressed and comes as their defender and vindicator.
11 tn Or “in that day” (ASV).
sn The seven to one ratio emphasizes the great disparity that will exist in the population due to the death of so many men in battle.
12 tn Heb “eat” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “buy.”
13 tn Heb “wear” (so NASB, NRSV); NCV “make.”
14 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.
15 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.
16 tn Heb “let his work hurry, let it hasten.” The pronoun “his” refers to God, as the parallel line makes clear. The reference to his “work” alludes back to v. 12, which refers to his ‘work” of judgment. With these words the people challenged the prophet’s warning of approaching judgment. They were in essence saying that they saw no evidence that God was about to work in such a way.
17 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
18 tn Heb “draw near” (so NASB); NRSV “hasten to fulfillment.”
19 sn Throughout this section singular forms are used to refer to Assyria; perhaps the king of Assyria is in view (see v. 12).
20 tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “impious”; NCV “separated from God.”
21 tn Heb “and against the people of my anger I ordered him.”
22 tn Heb “to make it [i.e., the people] a trampled place.”
23 tn Heb “fly.” Ephraim/Judah are compared to a bird of prey.
24 tn Heb “on the shoulder of Philistia toward the sea.” This refers to the slopes of the hill country west of Judah. See HALOT 506 s.v. כָּתֵף.
25 tn Heb “Edom and Moab [will be the place of] the outstretching of their hand,” i.e., included in their area of jurisdiction (see HALOT 648 s.v. ח(וֹ)מִשְׁלֹ).
26 tn Or “the place of slaughter for.”
27 tn Heb “for the sin of their fathers.”
28 sn J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:320, n. 10) suggests that the garrison cities of the mighty empire are in view here.
29 tn Heb “spoke by the hand of.”
30 tn The word used here (עָרוֹם, ’arom) sometimes means “naked,” but here it appears to mean simply “lightly dressed,” i.e., stripped to one’s undergarments. See HALOT 883 s.v. עָרוֹם. The term also occurs in vv. 3, 4.
31 tn Heb “I will put in him a spirit.” The precise sense of רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) is uncertain in this context. It may refer to a spiritual being who will take control of his mind (see 1 Kgs 22:19), or it could refer to a disposition of concern and fear. In either case the Lord’s sovereignty over the king is apparent.
32 tn Heb “cause him to fall” (so KJV, ASV, NAB), that is, “kill him.”
33 sn Verses 1-7 contain the first of Isaiah’s “servant songs,” which describe the ministry of a special, ideal servant who accomplishes God’s purposes for Israel and the nations. This song depicts the servant as a just king who brings justice to the earth and relief for the oppressed. The other songs appear in 49:1-13; 50:4-11; and 52:13-53:12.
34 tn Heb “he will bring out justice” (cf. ASV, NASB, NRSV).
35 sn Like the ideal king portrayed in Isa 11:1-9, the servant is energized by the divine spirit and establishes justice on the earth.
36 tn Heb “call you in righteousness.” The pronoun “you” is masculine singular, referring to the servant. See the note at 41:2.
37 tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצַר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצַר (yatsar, “form”).
38 tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (bÿrit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. The precise identity of עָם (’am, “people”) is uncertain. In v. 5 עָם refers to mankind, and the following reference to “nations” also favors this. But in 49:8, where the phrase בְּרִית עָם occurs again, Israel seems to be in view.
39 sn Light here symbolizes deliverance from bondage and oppression; note the parallelism in 49:6b and in 51:4-6.
40 tn Or “the Gentiles” (so KJV, ASV, NIV); the same Hebrew word can be translated “nations” or “Gentiles” depending on the context.
41 tn The pronoun “his” probably refers to the one who forms/casts an idol (v. 10), in which case it refers to the craftsman’s associates in the idol-manufacturing guild.
42 sn The point seems to be this: If the idols are the mere products of human hands, then those who trust in them will be disappointed, for man-made gods are incapable of helping their “creators.”
43 tn Heb “until old age, I am he” (NRSV similar); NLT “I will be your God throughout your lifetime.”
44 sn Unlike the weary idol gods, whose images must be carried by animals, the Lord carries his weary people.