Isaiah 1:7

1:7 Your land is devastated,

your cities burned with fire.

Right before your eyes your crops

are being destroyed by foreign invaders. 1 

They leave behind devastation and destruction. 2 

Isaiah 10:3

10:3 What will you do on judgment day, 3 

when destruction arrives from a distant place?

To whom will you run for help?

Where will you leave your wealth?

Isaiah 24:1

The Lord Will Judge the Earth

24:1 Look, the Lord is ready to devastate the earth

and leave it in ruins;

he will mar its surface

and scatter its inhabitants.

Isaiah 37:32

37:32 “For a remnant will leave Jerusalem;

survivors will come out of Mount Zion.

The intense devotion of the Lord who commands armies 4  will accomplish this.

Isaiah 48:20

48:20 Leave Babylon!

Flee from the Babylonians!

Announce it with a shout of joy!

Make this known!

Proclaim it throughout the earth! 5 

Say, ‘The Lord protects 6  his servant Jacob.

Isaiah 52:12

52:12 Yet do not depart quickly

or leave in a panic. 7 

For the Lord goes before you;

the God of Israel is your rear guard.

1 tn Heb “As for your land, before you foreigners are devouring it.”

2 tn Heb “and [there is] devastation like an overthrow by foreigners.” The comparative preposition כְּ (kÿ, “like, as”) has here the rhetorical nuance, “in every way like.” The point is that the land has all the earmarks of a destructive foreign invasion because that is what has indeed happened. One could paraphrase, “it is desolate as it can only be when foreigners destroy.” On this use of the preposition in general, see GKC 376 §118.x. Many also prefer to emend “foreigners” here to “Sodom,” though there is no external attestation for such a reading in the mss or ancient versions. Such an emendation finds support from the following context (vv. 9-10) and usage of the preceding noun מַהְפֵּכָה (mahpekhah, “overthrow”). In its five other uses, this noun is associated with the destruction of Sodom. If one accepts the emendation, then one might translate, “the devastation resembles the destruction of Sodom.”

3 tn Heb “the day of visitation” (so KJV, ASV), that is, the day when God arrives to execute justice on the oppressors.

4 tn Heb “the zeal of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].” In this context the Lord’s “zeal” refers to his intense devotion to and love for his people which prompts him to protect and restore them.

5 tn Heb “to the end of the earth” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

6 tn Heb “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.

7 tn Heb “or go in flight”; NAB “leave in headlong flight.”