1:26 I will reestablish honest judges as in former times,
wise advisers as in earlier days. 1
Then you will be called, ‘The Just City,
Faithful Town.’”
5:1 I 2 will sing to my love –
a song to my lover about his vineyard. 3
My love had a vineyard
on a fertile hill. 4
6:1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death, 5 I saw the sovereign master 6 seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple.
6:11 I replied, “How long, sovereign master?” He said,
“Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated,
and houses are uninhabited,
and the land is ruined and devastated,
12:1 At that time 7 you will say:
“I praise you, O Lord,
for even though you were angry with me,
your anger subsided, and you consoled me.
12:2 Look, God is my deliverer! 8
I will trust in him 9 and not fear.
For the Lord gives me strength and protects me; 10
he has become my deliverer.” 11
13:17 Look, I am stirring up the Medes to attack them; 12
they are not concerned about silver,
nor are they interested in gold. 13
14:30 The poor will graze in my pastures; 14
the needy will rest securely.
But I will kill your root by famine;
it will put to death all your survivors. 15
19:4 I will hand Egypt over to a harsh master;
a powerful king will rule over them,”
says the sovereign master, 16 the Lord who commands armies.
28:17 I will make justice the measuring line,
fairness the plumb line;
hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge, 19
the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place.
29:14 Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people –
an absolutely extraordinary deed. 22
Wise men will have nothing to say,
the sages will have no explanations.” 23
34:5 He says, 24 “Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers. 25
Look, it now descends on Edom, 26
on the people I will annihilate in judgment.”
37:35 I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.”’” 27
38:13 I cry out 30 until morning;
like a lion he shatters all my bones;
you turn day into night and end my life. 31
38:17 “Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. 32
You delivered me 33 from the pit of oblivion. 34
For you removed all my sins from your sight. 35
38:19 The living person, the living person, he gives you thanks,
as I do today.
A father tells his sons about your faithfulness.
41:14 Don’t be afraid, despised insignificant Jacob, 37
men of 38 Israel.
I am helping you,” says the Lord,
your protector, 39 the Holy One of Israel. 40
47:7 You said,
‘I will rule forever as permanent queen!’ 41
You did not think about these things; 42
you did not consider how it would turn out. 43
48:7 Now they come into being, 44 not in the past;
before today you did not hear about them,
so you could not say,
‘Yes, 45 I know about them.’
48:8 You did not hear,
you do not know,
you were not told beforehand. 46
For I know that you are very deceitful; 47
you were labeled 48 a rebel from birth.
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!
54:12 I will make your pinnacles out of gems, 49
your gates out of beryl, 50
and your outer wall 51 out of beautiful 52 stones.
60:13 The splendor of Lebanon will come to you,
its evergreens, firs, and cypresses together,
to beautify my palace; 53
I will bestow honor on my throne room. 54
60:15 You were once abandoned
and despised, with no one passing through,
but I will make you 55 a permanent source of pride
and joy to coming generations.
62:6 I 56 post watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;
they should keep praying all day and all night. 57
You who pray to 58 the Lord, don’t be silent!
65:2 I spread out my hands all day long
to my rebellious people,
who lived in a way that is morally unacceptable,
and who did what they desired. 59
65:17 For look, I am ready to create
new heavens and a new earth! 60
The former ones 61 will not be remembered;
no one will think about them anymore. 62
1 tn Heb “I will restore your judges as in the beginning; and your counselors as in the beginning.” In this context, where social injustice and legal corruption are denounced (see v. 23), the “judges” are probably government officials responsible for making legal decisions, while the “advisers” are probably officials who helped the king establish policies. Both offices are also mentioned in 3:2.
2 tn It is uncertain who is speaking here. Possibly the prophet, taking the role of best man, composes a love song for his friend on the occasion of his wedding. If so, יָדִיד (yadid) should be translated “my friend.” The present translation assumes that Israel is singing to the Lord. The word דוֹד (dod, “lover”) used in the second line is frequently used by the woman in the Song of Solomon to describe her lover.
3 sn Israel, viewing herself as the Lord’s lover, refers to herself as his vineyard. The metaphor has sexual connotations, for it pictures her capacity to satisfy his appetite and to produce children. See Song 8:12.
4 tn Heb “on a horn, a son of oil.” Apparently קֶרֶן (qeren, “horn”) here refers to the horn-shaped peak of a hill (BDB 902 s.v.) or to a mountain spur, i.e., a ridge that extends laterally from a mountain (HALOT 1145 s.v. קֶרֶן; H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:180). The expression “son of oil” pictures this hill as one capable of producing olive trees. Isaiah’s choice of קֶרֶן, a rare word for hill, may have been driven by paronomastic concerns, i.e., because קֶרֶן sounds like כֶּרֶם (kerem, “vineyard”).
5 sn That is, approximately 740
6 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 8, 11 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
7 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).
8 tn Or “salvation” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).
9 tn The words “in him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
10 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.
11 tn Or “salvation” (so many English versions, e.g., KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “my savior.”
12 tn Heb “against them”; NLT “against Babylon.”
13 sn They cannot be bought off, for they have a lust for bloodshed.
14 tc The Hebrew text has, “the firstborn of the poor will graze.” “Firstborn” may be used here in an idiomatic sense to indicate the very poorest of the poor. See BDB 114 s.v. בְּכוֹר. The translation above assumes an emendation of בְּכוֹרֵי (bÿkhorey, “firstborn of”) to בְּכָרַי (bekharay, “in my pastures”).
15 tn Heb “your remnant” (so NAB, NRSV).
16 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
17 sn The metaphor depicts how secure his position will be.
18 tn Heb “and he will become a glorious throne for the house of his father.”
19 tn Heb “[the] refuge, [the] lie.” See v. 15.
20 tn Heb “and if the scroll is handed to one who does not know a scroll.”
21 tn Heb “I do not know a scroll.”
22 tn Heb “Therefore I will again do something amazing with these people, an amazing deed, an amazing thing.” This probably refers to the amazing transformation predicted in vv. 17-24, which will follow the purifying judgment implied in vv. 15-16.
23 tn Heb “the wisdom of their wise ones will perish, the discernment of their discerning ones will keep hidden.”
24 tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Lord speaks at this point.
25 tn Heb “indeed [or “for”] my sword is drenched in the heavens.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has תראה (“[my sword] appeared [in the heavens]”), but this is apparently an attempt to make sense out of a difficult metaphor. Cf. NIV “My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens.”
sn In v. 4 the “host of the heaven” refers to the heavenly luminaries (stars and planets, see, among others, Deut 4:19; 17:3; 2 Kgs 17:16; 21:3, 5; 23:4-5; 2 Chr 33:3, 5) that populate the divine/heavenly assembly in mythological and prescientific Israelite thought (see Job 38:7; Isa 14:13). As in 24:21, they are viewed here as opposing God and being defeated in battle.
26 sn Edom is mentioned here as epitomizing the hostile nations that oppose God.
27 tn Heb “for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”
28 tn Heb “the shadow on the steps which [the sun] had gone down, on the steps of Ahaz, with the sun, back ten steps.”
sn These steps probably functioned as a type of sundial. See HALOT 614 s.v. מַעֲלָה and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 256.
29 tn Heb “and the sun returned ten steps on the steps which it had gone down.”
30 tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Piel from שָׁוַה (shavah). There are two homonyms שָׁוַה, one meaning in the Piel “level, smooth out,” the other “set, place.” Neither fits in v. 13. It is likely that the original reading was שִׁוַּעְתִּי (shivva’ti, “I cry out”) from the verbal root שָׁוַע (shava’), which occurs exclusively in the Piel.
31 tn Heb “from day to night you bring me to an end.”
32 tn Heb “Look, for peace bitterness was to me bitter”; NAB “thus is my bitterness transformed into peace.”
33 tc The Hebrew text reads, “you loved my soul,” but this does not fit syntactically with the following prepositional phrase. חָשַׁקְתָּ (khashaqta, “you loved”), may reflect an aural error; most emend the form to חָשַׂכְת, (khasakht, “you held back”).
34 tn בְּלִי (bÿli) most often appears as a negation, meaning “without,” suggesting the meaning “nothingness, oblivion,” here. Some translate “decay” or “destruction.”
35 tn Heb “for you threw behind your back all my sins.”
36 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Isaiah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
37 tn Heb “O worm Jacob” (NAB, NIV). The worm metaphor suggests that Jacob is insignificant and despised.
38 tn On the basis of the parallelism (note “worm”) and an alleged Akkadian cognate, some read “louse” or “weevil.” Cf. NAB “O maggot Israel”; NRSV “you insect Israel.”
39 tn Heb “your kinsman redeemer.” A גָּאַל (ga’al, “kinsman redeemer”) was a protector of the extended family’s interests.
40 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
41 tn Heb “Forever I [will be] permanent queen”; NIV “the eternal queen”; CEV “queen forever.”
42 tn Heb “you did not set these things upon your heart [or “mind”].”
43 tn Heb “you did not remember its outcome”; NAB “you disregarded their outcome.”
44 tn Heb “are created” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “They are brand new.”
45 tn Heb “look”; KJV, NASB “Behold.”
46 tn Heb “beforehand your ear did not open.”
47 tn Heb “deceiving, you deceive.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.
48 tn Or “called” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
49 tn Perhaps, “rubies” (so ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
50 tn On the meaning of אֶקְדָּח (’eqdakh), which occurs only here, see HALOT 82 s.v.
51 tn Heb “border” (so ASV); NASB “your entire wall.”
52 tn Heb “delightful”; KJV “pleasant.”
53 tn Or “holy place, sanctuary.”
54 tn Heb “the place of my feet.” See Ezek 43:7, where the Lord’s throne is called the “place of the soles of my feet.”
55 tn Heb “Instead of your being abandoned and despised, with no one passing through, I will make you.”
56 sn The speaker here is probably the prophet.
57 tn Heb “all day and all night continually they do not keep silent.” The following lines suggest that they pray for the Lord’s intervention and restoration of the city.
58 tn Or “invoke”; NIV “call on”; NASB, NRSV “remind.”
59 tn Heb “who walked [in] the way that is not good, after their thoughts.”
60 sn This hyperbolic statement likens the coming transformation of Jerusalem (see vv. 18-19) to a new creation of the cosmos.
61 tn Or perhaps, “the former things” (so ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “The events of the past.”
62 tn Heb “and they will not come up on the mind.”