1:6 From the soles of your feet to your head,
there is no spot that is unharmed. 1
There are only bruises, cuts,
and open wounds.
They have not been cleansed 2 or bandaged,
nor have they been treated 3 with olive oil. 4
5:6 I will make it a wasteland;
no one will prune its vines or hoe its ground, 5
and thorns and briers will grow there.
I will order the clouds
not to drop any rain on it.
5:8 Those who accumulate houses are as good as dead, 6
those who also accumulate landed property 7
until there is no land left, 8
and you are the only landowners remaining within the land. 9
5:29 Their roar is like a lion’s;
they roar like young lions.
They growl and seize their prey;
they drag it away and no one can come to the rescue.
9:19 Because of the anger of the Lord who commands armies, the land was scorched, 10
and the people became fuel for the fire. 11
People had no compassion on one another. 12
10:4 You will have no place to go, except to kneel with the prisoners,
or to fall among those who have been killed. 13
Despite all this, his anger does not subside,
and his hand is ready to strike again. 14
10:14 My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest,
as one gathers up abandoned eggs,
I gathered up the whole earth.
There was no wing flapping,
or open mouth chirping.” 15
10:20 At that time 16 those left in Israel, those who remain of the family 17 of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. 18 Instead they will truly 19 rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 20
11:9 They will no longer injure or destroy
on my entire royal mountain. 21
For there will be universal submission to the Lord’s sovereignty,
just as the waters completely cover the sea. 22
13:10 Indeed the stars in the sky and their constellations
no longer give out their light; 23
the sun is darkened as soon as it rises,
and the moon does not shine. 24
14:31 Wail, O city gate!
Cry out, O city!
Melt with fear, 25 all you Philistines!
For out of the north comes a cloud of smoke,
and there are no stragglers in its ranks. 26
17:10 For you ignore 27 the God who rescues you;
you pay no attention to your strong protector. 28
So this is what happens:
You cultivate beautiful plants
and plant exotic vines. 29
25:2 Indeed, 30 you have made the city 31 into a heap of rubble,
the fortified town into a heap of ruins;
the fortress of foreigners 32 is no longer a city,
it will never be rebuilt.
30:10 They 33 say to the visionaries, “See no more visions!”
and to the seers, “Don’t relate messages to us about what is right! 34
Tell us nice things,
relate deceptive messages. 35
30:19 For people will live in Zion;
in Jerusalem 36 you will weep no more. 37
When he hears your cry of despair, he will indeed show you mercy;
when he hears it, he will respond to you. 38
40:28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is an eternal God,
the creator of the whole earth. 39
He does not get tired or weary;
there is no limit to his wisdom. 40
43:10 You are my witnesses,” says the Lord,
“my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may consider 41 and believe in me,
and understand that I am he.
No god was formed before me,
and none will outlive me. 42
44:6 This is what the Lord, Israel’s king, says,
their protector, 43 the Lord who commands armies:
“I am the first and I am the last,
there is no God but me.
44:8 Don’t panic! Don’t be afraid! 44
Did I not tell you beforehand and decree it?
You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me?
There is no other sheltering rock; 45 I know of none.
44:12 A blacksmith works with his tool 46
and forges metal over the coals.
He forms it 47 with hammers;
he makes it with his strong arm.
He gets hungry and loses his energy; 48
he drinks no water and gets tired.
47:1 “Fall down! Sit in the dirt,
O virgin 49 daughter Babylon!
Sit on the ground, not on a throne,
O daughter of the Babylonians!
Indeed, 50 you will no longer be called delicate and pampered.
47:6 I was angry at my people;
I defiled my special possession
and handed them over to you.
You showed them no mercy; 51
you even placed a very heavy burden on old people. 52
51:22 This is what your sovereign master, 53 the Lord your God, says:
“Look, I have removed from your hand
the cup of intoxicating wine, 54
the goblet full of my anger. 55
You will no longer have to drink it.
52:1 Wake up! Wake up!
Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion!
Put on your beautiful clothes,
O Jerusalem, 56 holy city!
For uncircumcised and unclean pagans
will no longer invade you.
53:9 They intended to bury him with criminals, 57
but he ended up in a rich man’s tomb, 58
because 59 he had committed no violent deeds,
nor had he spoken deceitfully.
54:17 No weapon forged to be used against you will succeed;
you will refute everyone who tries to accuse you. 60
This is what the Lord will do for his servants –
I will vindicate them,” 61
says the Lord.
55:11 In the same way, the promise that I make
does not return to me, having accomplished nothing. 62
No, it is realized as I desire
and is fulfilled as I intend.” 63
56:3 No foreigner who becomes a follower of 64 the Lord should say,
‘The Lord will certainly 65 exclude me from his people.’
The eunuch should not say,
‘Look, I am like a dried-up tree.’”
58:6 No, this is the kind of fast I want. 66
I want you 67 to remove the sinful chains,
to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke,
to set free the oppressed, 68
and to break every burdensome yoke.
60:18 Sounds of violence 69 will no longer be heard in your land,
or the sounds of 70 destruction and devastation within your borders.
You will name your walls, ‘Deliverance,’
and your gates, ‘Praise.’
60:19 The sun will no longer supply light for you by day,
nor will the moon’s brightness shine on you;
the Lord will be your permanent source of light –
the splendor of your God will shine upon you. 71
65:25 A wolf and a lamb will graze together; 72
a lion, like an ox, will eat straw, 73
and a snake’s food will be dirt. 74
They will no longer injure or destroy
on my entire royal mountain,” 75 says the Lord.
1 tn Heb “there is not in it health”; NAB “there is no sound spot.”
2 tn Heb “pressed out.”
3 tn Heb “softened” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “soothed.”
4 sn This verse describes wounds like those one would receive in battle. These wounds are comprehensive and without remedy.
5 tn Heb “it will not be pruned or hoed” (so NASB); ASV and NRSV both similar.
6 tn Heb “Woe [to] those who make a house touch a house.” The exclamation הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) was used in funeral laments (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5) and carries the connotation of death.
7 tn Heb “[who] bring a field near a field.”
sn This verse does not condemn real estate endeavors per se, but refers to the way in which the rich bureaucrats of Judah accumulated property by exploiting the poor, in violation of the covenantal principle that the land belonged to God and that every family was to have its own portion of land. See the note at 1:23.
8 tn Heb “until the end of the place”; NASB “until there is no more room.”
9 tn Heb “and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.”
10 tn The precise meaning of the verb עְתַּם (’ÿtam), which occurs only here, is uncertain, though the context strongly suggests that it means “burn, scorch.”
11 sn The uncontrollable fire of the people’s wickedness (v. 18) is intensified by the fire of the Lord’s judgment (v. 19). God allows (or causes) their wickedness to become self-destructive as civil strife and civil war break out in the land.
12 tn Heb “men were not showing compassion to their brothers.” The idiom “men to their brothers” is idiomatic for reciprocity. The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite without vav (ו) consecutive or an imperfect used in a customary sense, describing continual or repeated behavior in past time.
13 tn Heb “except one kneels in the place of the prisoner, and in the place of the slain [who] fall.” On the force of בִּלְתִּי (bilti, “except”) and its logical connection to what precedes, see BDB 116 s.v. בֵלֶת. On the force of תַּחַת (takhat, “in the place of”) here, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:258, n. 6.
14 tn Heb “in all this his anger was not turned, and still his hand was outstretched”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “his had is stretched out still.”
sn See the note at 9:12.
15 sn The Assyrians’ conquests were relatively unopposed, like robbing a bird’s nest of its eggs when the mother bird is absent.
16 tn Or “in that day.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
17 tn Heb “house” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
18 tn Heb “on one who strikes him down.” This individual is the king (“foreign leader”) of the oppressing nation (which NLT specifies as “the Assyrians”).
19 tn Or “sincerely”; KJV, ASV, NAB, NRSV “in truth.”
20 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
21 tn Heb “in all my holy mountain.” In the most basic sense the Lord’s “holy mountain” is the mountain from which he rules over his kingdom (see Ezek 28:14, 16). More specifically it probably refers to Mount Zion/Jerusalem or to the entire land of Israel (see Pss 2:6; 15:1; 43:3; Isa 56:7; 57:13; Ezek 20:40; Ob 16; Zeph 3:11). If the Lord’s universal kingdom is in view in this context (see the note on “earth” at v. 4), then the phrase would probably be metonymic here, standing for God’s worldwide dominion (see the next line).
22 tn Heb “for the earth will be full of knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” The translation assumes that a universal kingdom is depicted here, but אֶרֶץ (’erets) could be translated “land” (see the note at v. 4). “Knowledge of the Lord” refers here to a recognition of the Lord’s sovereignty which results in a willingness to submit to his authority. See the note at v. 2.
23 tn Heb “do not flash forth their light.”
24 tn Heb “does not shed forth its light.”
25 tn Or “despair” (see HALOT 555 s.v. מוג). The form נָמוֹג (namog) should be taken here as an infinitive absolute functioning as an imperative. See GKC 199-200 §72.v.
26 tn Heb “and there is no one going alone in his appointed places.” The meaning of this line is uncertain. בּוֹדֵד (boded) appears to be a participle from בָּדַד (badad, “be separate”; see BDB 94 s.v. בָּדַד). מוֹעָד (mo’ad) may mean “assembly” or, by extension, “multitude” (see HALOT 558 s.v. *מוֹעָד), but the referent of the third masculine pronominal suffix attached to the noun is unclear. It probably refers to the “nation” mentioned in the next line.
27 tn Heb “you have forgotten” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).
28 tn Heb “and the rocky cliff of your strength you do not remember.”
29 tn Heb “a vine, a strange one.” The substantival adjective זָר (zar) functions here as an appositional genitive. It could refer to a cultic plant of some type, associated with a pagan rite. But it is more likely that it refers to an exotic, or imported, type of vine, one that is foreign (i.e., “strange”) to Israel.
30 tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).
31 tn The Hebrew text has “you have made from the city.” The prefixed mem (מ) on עִיר (’ir, “city”) was probably originally an enclitic mem suffixed to the preceding verb. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:456, n. 3.
32 tc Some with support from the LXX emend זָרִים (zarim, “foreigners”) to זֵדִים (zedim, “the insolent”).
33 tn Heb “who” (so NASB, NRSV). A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.
34 tn Heb “Do not see for us right things.”
35 tn Heb “Tell us smooth things, see deceptive things.”
36 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
37 tn Heb “For people in Zion will live, in Jerusalem, you will weep no more.” The phrase “in Jerusalem” could be taken with what precedes. Some prefer to emend יֵשֵׁב (yeshev, “will live,” a Qal imperfect) to יֹשֵׁב (yoshev, a Qal active participle) and translate “For [you] people in Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more.”
38 tn Heb “he will indeed show you mercy at the sound of your crying out; when he hears, he will answer you.”
39 tn Heb “the ends of the earth,” but this is a merism, where the earth’s extremities stand for its entirety, i.e., the extremities and everything in between them.
40 sn Exiled Israel’s complaint (v. 27) implies that God might be limited in some way. Perhaps he, like so many of the pagan gods, has died. Or perhaps his jurisdiction is limited to Judah and does not include Babylon. Maybe he is unable to devise an adequate plan to rescue his people, or is unable to execute it. But v. 28 affirms that he is not limited temporally or spatially nor is his power and wisdom restricted in any way. He can and will deliver his people, if they respond in hopeful faith (v. 31a).
41 tn Or “know” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
42 tn Heb “and after me, there will not be”; NASB “there will be none after Me.”
43 tn Heb “his kinsman redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
44 tn BDB 923 s.v. רָהָה derives this verb from an otherwise unattested root, while HALOT 403 s.v. יָרָה defines it as “be stupefied” on the basis of an Arabic cognate. The form is likely a corruption of תיראו, the reading attested in the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa.
45 tn Heb “rock” or “rocky cliff,” a title that depicts God as a protective refuge in his role as sovereign king; thus the translation “sheltering rock.”
46 tn The noun מַעֲצָד (ma’atsad), which refers to some type of tool used for cutting, occurs only here and in Jer 10:3. See HALOT 615 s.v. מַעֲצָד.
47 tn Some English versions take the pronoun “it” to refer to an idol being fashioned by the blacksmith (cf. NIV, NCV, CEV). NLT understands the referent to be “a sharp tool,” which is then used by the carpenter in the following verse to carve an idol from wood.
48 tn Heb “and there is no strength”; NASB “his strength fails.”
49 tn בְּתוּלַה (bÿtulah) often refers to a virgin, but the phrase “virgin daughter” is apparently stylized (see also 23:12; 37:22). In the extended metaphor of this chapter, where Babylon is personified as a queen (vv. 5, 7), she is depicted as being both a wife and mother (vv. 8-9).
50 tn Or “For” (NASB, NRSV).
51 tn Or “compassion.”
52 tn Heb “on the old you made very heavy your yoke.”
53 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
54 tn Heb “the cup of [= that causes] staggering” (so ASV, NAB, NRSV); NASB “the cup of reeling.”
55 tn Heb “the goblet of the cup of my anger.”
56 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
57 tn Heb “one assigned his grave with criminals.” The subject of the singular is impersonal; English typically uses “they” in such constructions.
58 tn This line reads literally, “and with the rich in his death.” בְּמֹתָיו (bÿmotayv) combines a preposition, a plural form of the noun מוֹת (mot), and a third masculine singular suffix. The plural of the noun is problematic and the יו may be the result of virtual dittography. The form should probably be emended to בָּמָתוֹ (bamato, singular noun). The relationship between this line and the preceding one is uncertain. The parallelism appears to be synonymous (note “his grave” and “in his death”), but “criminals” and “the rich” hardly make a compatible pair in this context, for they would not be buried in the same kind of tomb. Some emend עָשִׁיר (’ashir, “rich”) to עָשֵׂי רָע (’ase ra’, “doers of evil”) but the absence of the ayin (ע) is not readily explained in this graphic environment. Others suggest an emendation to שְׂעִירִים (sÿ’irim, “he-goats, demons”), but the meaning in this case is not entirely transparent and the proposal assumes that the form suffered from both transposition and the inexplicable loss of a final mem. Still others relate עָשִׁיר (’ashir) to an alleged Arabic cognate meaning “mob.” See HALOT 896 s.v. עָשִׁיר. Perhaps the parallelism is antithetical, rather than synonymous. In this case, the point is made that the servant’s burial in a rich man’s tomb, in contrast to a criminal’s burial, was appropriate, for he had done nothing wrong.
59 tn If the second line is antithetical, then עַל (’al) is probably causal here, explaining why the servant was buried in a rich man’s tomb, rather than that of criminal. If the first two lines are synonymous, then עַל is probably concessive: “even though….”
60 tn Heb “and every tongue that rises up for judgment with you will prove to be guilty.”
61 tn Heb “this is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication from me.”
62 tn Heb “so is the word which goes out from my mouth, it does not return to empty.” “Word” refers here to divine promises, like the ones made just prior to and after this (see vv. 7b, 12-13).
63 tn Heb “but it accomplishes what I desire, and succeeds [on the mission] which I send it.”
sn Verses 8-11 focus on the reliability of the divine word and support the promises before (vv. 3-5, 7b) and after (vv. 12-13) this. Israel can be certain that repentance will bring forgiveness and a new covenantal relationship because God’s promises are reliable. In contrast to human plans (or “thoughts”), which are destined to fail (Ps 94:11) apart from divine approval (Prov 19:21), and human deeds (or “ways”), which are evil and lead to destruction (Prov 1:15-19; 3:31-33; 4:19), God’s plans are realized and his deeds accomplish something positive.
64 tn Heb “who attaches himself to.”
65 tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.
66 tn Heb “Is this not a fast I choose?” “No” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
67 tn The words “I want you” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
68 tn Heb “crushed.”
69 tn The words “sounds of” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
70 tn The words “sounds of” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
71 tn Heb “and your God for your splendor.”
72 sn A similar statement appears in 11:6.
73 sn These words also appear in 11:7.
74 sn Some see an allusion to Gen 3:14 (note “you will eat dirt”). The point would be that even in this new era the snake (often taken as a symbol of Satan) remains under God’s curse. However, it is unlikely that such an allusion exists. Even if there is an echo of Gen 3:14, the primary allusion is to 11:8, where snakes are pictured as no longer dangerous. They will no longer attack other living creatures, but will be content to crawl along the ground. (The statement “you will eat dirt” in Gen 3:14 means “you will crawl on the ground.” In the same way the statement “dirt will be its food” in Isa 65:25 means “it will crawl on the ground.”)
75 tn Heb “in all my holy mountain.” These same words appear in 11:9. See the note there.
sn As in 11:1-9 the prophet anticipates a time when the categories predator-prey no longer exist. See the note at the end of 11:8.