1:5 1 Why do you insist on being battered?
Why do you continue to rebel? 2
Your head has a massive wound, 3
your whole body is weak. 4
1:20 But if you refuse and rebel,
you will be devoured 5 by the sword.”
Know for certain that the Lord has spoken. 6
1:21 How tragic that the once-faithful city
has become a prostitute! 7
She was once a center of 8 justice,
fairness resided in her,
but now only murderers. 9
2:12 Indeed, the Lord who commands armies has planned a day of judgment, 10
for 11 all the high and mighty,
for all who are proud – they will be humiliated;
3:15 Why do you crush my people
and grind the faces of the poor?” 12
The sovereign Lord who commands armies 13 has spoken.
6:12 and the Lord has sent the people off to a distant place,
and the very heart of the land is completely abandoned. 15
12:2 Look, God is my deliverer! 16
I will trust in him 17 and not fear.
For the Lord gives me strength and protects me; 18
he has become my deliverer.” 19
14:27 Indeed, 20 the Lord who commands armies has a plan,
and who can possibly frustrate it?
His hand is ready to strike,
and who can possibly stop it? 21
14:32 How will they respond to the messengers of this nation? 22
Indeed, the Lord has made Zion secure;
the oppressed among his people will find safety in her.
15:6 For the waters of Nimrim are gone; 23
the grass is dried up,
the vegetation has disappeared,
and there are no plants.
16:7 So Moab wails over its demise 24 –
they all wail!
Completely devastated, they moan
about what has happened to the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth. 25
19:12 But where, oh where, are your wise men? 26
Let them tell you, let them find out
what the Lord who commands armies has planned for Egypt.
19:14 The Lord has made them undiscerning; 27
they lead Egypt astray in all she does,
so that she is like a drunk sliding around in his own vomit. 28
21:16 For this is what the sovereign master 29 has told me: “Within exactly one year 30 all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end.
34:5 He says, 31 “Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers. 32
Look, it now descends on Edom, 33
on the people I will annihilate in judgment.”
34:8 For the Lord has planned a day of revenge, 34
a time when he will repay Edom for her hostility toward Zion. 35
38:15 What can I say?
He has decreed and acted. 36
I will walk slowly all my years because I am overcome with grief. 37
40:5 The splendor 38 of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people 39 will see it at the same time.
For 40 the Lord has decreed it.” 41
46:10 who announces the end from the beginning
and reveals beforehand 42 what has not yet occurred,
who says, ‘My plan will be realized,
I will accomplish what I desire,’
59:15 Honesty has disappeared;
the one who tries to avoid evil is robbed.
The Lord watches and is displeased, 43
for there is no justice.
61:9 Their descendants will be known among the nations,
their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will recognize that
the Lord has blessed them.” 44
64:11 Our holy temple, our pride and joy, 45
the place where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned with fire;
all our prized possessions have been destroyed. 46
1 sn In vv. 5-9 Isaiah addresses the battered nation (5-8) and speaks as their representative (9).
2 tn Heb “Why are you still beaten? [Why] do you continue rebellion?” The rhetorical questions express the prophet’s disbelief over Israel’s apparent masochism and obsession with sin. The interrogative construction in the first line does double duty in the parallelism. H. Wildberger (Isaiah, 1:18) offers another alternative by translating the two statements with one question: “Why do you still wish to be struck that you persist in revolt?”
3 tn Heb “all the head is ill”; NRSV “the whole head is sick”; CEV “Your head is badly bruised.”
4 tn Heb “and all the heart is faint.” The “heart” here stands for bodily strength and energy, as suggested by the context and usage elsewhere (see Jer 8:18; Lam 1:22).
5 sn The wordplay in the Hebrew draws attention to the options. The people can obey, in which case they will “eat” v. 19 (תֹּאכֵלוּ [to’khelu], Qal active participle of אָכַל) God’s blessing, or they can disobey, in which case they will be devoured (Heb “eaten,” תְּאֻכְּלוּ, [tÿ’ukkÿlu], Qal passive/Pual of אָכַל) by God’s judgment.
6 tn Heb “for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” The introductory כִּי (ki) may be asseverative (as reflected in the translation) or causal/explanatory, explaining why the option chosen by the people will become reality (it is guaranteed by the divine word).
7 tn Heb “How she has become a prostitute, the faithful city!” The exclamatory אֵיכָה (’ekhah, “how!”) is used several times as the beginning of a lament (see Lam 1:1; 2;1; 4:1-2). Unlike a number of other OT passages that link references to Israel’s harlotry to idolatry, Isaiah here makes the connection with social and moral violations.
8 tn Heb “filled with.”
9 tn Or “assassins.” This refers to the oppressive rich and/or their henchmen. R. Ortlund (Whoredom, 78) posits that it serves as a synecdoche for all varieties of criminals, the worst being mentioned to imply all lesser ones. Since Isaiah often addressed his strongest rebuke to the rulers and leaders of Israel, he may have in mind the officials who bore the responsibility to uphold justice and righteousness.
10 tn Heb “indeed [or “for”] the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] has a day.”
11 tn Or “against” (NAB, NASB, NRSV).
12 sn The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s outrage at what the leaders have done to the poor. He finds it almost unbelievable that they would have the audacity to treat his people in this manner.
13 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 1:9.
sn The use of this title, which also appears in v. 1, forms an inclusio around vv. 1-15. The speech begins and ends with a reference to “the master, the Lord who commands armies.”
14 tn Or “ritually cleansed,” or “atoned for” (NIV).
15 tn Heb “and great is the abandonment in the midst of the land.”
16 tn Or “salvation” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).
17 tn The words “in him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
18 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.
19 tn Or “salvation” (so many English versions, e.g., KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “my savior.”
20 tn Or “For” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
21 tn Heb “His hand is outstretched and who will turn it back?”
22 sn The question forces the Philistines to consider the dilemma they will face – surrender and oppression, or battle and death.
23 tn Heb “are waste places”; cf. NRSV “are a desolation.”
24 tn Heb “So Moab wails for Moab.”
25 tn The Hebrew text has, “for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth you [masculine plural] moan, surely destroyed.” The “raisin cakes” could have cultic significance (see Hos 3:1), but the next verse focuses on agricultural disaster, so here the raisin cakes are mentioned as an example of the fine foods that are no longer available (see 2 Sam 6:19; Song 2:5) because the vines have been destroyed by the invader (see v. 8). Some prefer to take אֲשִׁישֵׁי (’ashishe, “raisin cakes of”) as “men of” (see HALOT 95 s.v. *אָשִׁישׁ; cf. NIV). The verb form תֶהְגּוּ (tehgu, “you moan”) is probably the result of dittography (note that the preceding word ends in tav [ת]) and should be emended to הגו (a perfect, third plural form), “they moan.”
26 tn Heb “Where are they? Where are your wise men?” The juxtaposition of the interrogative pronouns is emphatic. See HALOT 38 s.v. אֶי.
27 tn Heb “the Lord has mixed into her midst a spirit of blindness.”
28 tn Heb “like the going astray of a drunkard in his vomit.”
29 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
30 tn Heb “in still a year, like the years of a hired worker.” See the note at 16:14.
31 tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Lord speaks at this point.
32 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.
33 sn Edom is mentioned here as epitomizing the hostile nations that oppose God.
34 tn Heb “for a day of vengeance [is] for the Lord.”
35 tn Heb “a year of repayment for the strife of Zion.” The translation assumes that רִיב (riv) refers to Edom’s hostility toward Zion. Another option is to understand רִיב (riv) as referring to the Lord’s taking up Zion’s cause. In this case one might translate, “a time when he will repay Edom and vindicate Zion.”
36 tn Heb “and he has spoken and he has acted.”
37 tn Heb “because of the bitterness of my soul.”
38 tn Or “glory.” The Lord’s “glory” is his theophanic radiance and royal splendor (see Isa 6:3; 24:23; 35:2; 60:1; 66:18-19).
39 tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, ASV, NASB); NAB, NIV “mankind”; TEV “the whole human race.”
40 tn Or “indeed.”
41 tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
42 tn Or “from long ago”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “from ancient times.”
43 tn Heb “and it is displeasing in his eyes.”
44 tn Heb “all who see them will recognize them, that they [are] descendants [whom] the Lord has blessed.”
45 tn Heb “our source of pride.”
46 tn Or “all that we valued has become a ruin.”