2:10 Go up into the rocky cliffs,
hide in the ground.
Get away from the dreadful judgment of the Lord, 1
from his royal splendor!
2:12 Indeed, the Lord who commands armies has planned a day of judgment, 2
for 3 all the high and mighty,
for all who are proud – they will be humiliated;
10:3 What will you do on judgment day, 4
when destruction arrives from a distant place?
To whom will you run for help?
Where will you leave your wealth?
13:5 They come from a distant land,
from the horizon. 5
It is the Lord with his instruments of judgment, 6
coming to destroy the whole earth. 7
13:6 Wail, for the Lord’s day of judgment 8 is near;
it comes with all the destructive power of the sovereign judge. 9
13:9 Look, the Lord’s day of judgment 10 is coming;
it is a day of cruelty and savage, raging anger, 11
destroying 12 the earth 13
and annihilating its sinners.
26:20 Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms!
Close your doors behind you!
Hide for a little while,
until his angry judgment is over! 14
28:18 Your treaty with death will be dissolved; 15
your agreement 16 with Sheol will not last. 17
When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by, 18
you will be overrun by it. 19
34:5 He says, 20 “Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers. 21
Look, it now descends on Edom, 22
on the people I will annihilate in judgment.”
59:18 He repays them for what they have done,
dispensing angry judgment to his adversaries
and punishing his enemies. 23
He repays the coastlands. 24
1 tn Heb “from the dread of the Lord,” that is, from the dread that he produces in the objects of his judgment.” The words “get away” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
2 tn Heb “indeed [or “for”] the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] has a day.”
3 tn Or “against” (NAB, NASB, NRSV).
4 tn Heb “the day of visitation” (so KJV, ASV), that is, the day when God arrives to execute justice on the oppressors.
5 tn Heb “from the end of the sky.”
6 tn Or “anger”; cf. KJV, ASV “the weapons of his indignation.”
7 tn Or perhaps, “land” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NLT). Even though the heading and subsequent context (see v. 17) indicate Babylon’s judgment is in view, the chapter has a cosmic flavor that suggests that the coming judgment is universal in scope. Perhaps Babylon’s downfall occurs in conjunction with a wider judgment, or the cosmic style is poetic hyperbole used to emphasize the magnitude and importance of the coming event.
8 tn Heb “the day of the Lord” (so KJV, NAB).
9 tn Heb “like destruction from the sovereign judge it comes.” The comparative preposition (כְּ, kÿ) has here the rhetorical nuance, “in every way like.” The point is that the destruction unleashed will have all the earmarks of divine judgment. One could paraphrase, “it comes as only destructive divine judgment can.” On this use of the preposition in general, see GKC 376 §118.x.
sn The divine name used here is שַׁדַּי (shaddai, “Shaddai”). Shaddai (or El Shaddai) is the sovereign king/judge of the world who grants life/blesses and kills/judges. In Genesis he blesses the patriarchs with fertility and promises numerous descendants. Outside Genesis he both blesses/protects and takes away life/happiness. The patriarchs knew God primarily as El Shaddai (Exod 6:3). While the origin and meaning of this name is uncertain (see discussion below) its significance is clear. The name is used in contexts where God appears as the source of fertility and life. In Gen 17:1-8 he appears to Abram, introduces himself as El Shaddai, and announces his intention to make the patriarch fruitful. In the role of El Shaddai God repeats these words (now elevated to the status of a decree) to Jacob (35:11). Earlier Isaac had pronounced a blessing upon Jacob in which he asked El Shaddai to make Jacob fruitful (28:3). Jacob later prays that his sons will be treated with mercy when they return to Egypt with Benjamin (43:14). The fertility theme is not as apparent here, though one must remember that Jacob viewed Benjamin as the sole remaining son of the favored and once-barren Rachel (cf. 29:31; 30:22-24; 35:16-18). It is quite natural that he would appeal to El Shaddai to preserve Benjamin’s life, for it was El Shaddai’s miraculous power which made it possible for Rachel to give him sons in the first place. In 48:3 Jacob, prior to blessing Joseph’s sons, tells him how El Shaddai appeared to him at Bethel (cf. chapter 28) and promised to make him fruitful. When blessing Joseph on his deathbed Jacob refers to Shaddai (we should probably read “El Shaddai,” along with a few Hebrew
10 tn Heb “the day of the Lord.”
11 tn Heb “[with] cruelty, and fury, and rage of anger.” Three synonyms for “anger” are piled up at the end of the line to emphasize the extraordinary degree of divine anger that will be exhibited in this judgment.
12 tn Heb “making desolate.”
13 tn Or “land” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT).
14 tn Heb “until anger passes by.”
15 tn On the meaning of כָּפַר (kafar) in this context, see HALOT 494 s.v. I כפר and J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:515, n. 9.
16 tn Normally the noun חָזוּת (khazut) means “vision.” See the note at v. 15.
17 tn Or “will not stand” (NIV, NRSV).
18 tn See the note at v. 15.
19 tn Heb “you will become a trampling place for it.”
20 tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Lord speaks at this point.
21 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.
22 sn Edom is mentioned here as epitomizing the hostile nations that oppose God.
23 tn Heb “in accordance with deeds, so he repays, anger to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies.”
24 tn Or “islands” (KJV, NIV).