2:2 In the future 1
the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure 2
as the most important of mountains,
and will be the most prominent of hills. 3
All the nations will stream to it,
13:10 Indeed the stars in the sky and their constellations
no longer give out their light; 4
the sun is darkened as soon as it rises,
and the moon does not shine. 5
24:5 The earth is defiled by 6 its inhabitants, 7
for they have violated laws,
disregarded the regulation, 8
and broken the permanent treaty. 9
35:9 No lions will be there,
no ferocious wild animals will be on it 10 –
they will not be found there.
Those delivered from bondage will travel on it,
56:2 The people who do this will be blessed, 11
the people who commit themselves to obedience, 12
who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it,
who refrain from doing anything that is wrong. 13
1 tn Heb “in the end of the days.” This phrase may refer generally to the future, or more technically to the final period of history. See BDB 31 s.v. ַאחֲרִית. The verse begins with a verb that functions as a “discourse particle” and is not translated. In numerous places throughout the OT, the “to be” verb with a prefixed conjunction (וְהָיָה [vÿhayah] and וַיְהִי [vayÿhi]) occurs in this fashion to introduce a circumstantial clause and does not require translation.
2 tn Or “be established” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).
3 tn Heb “as the chief of the mountains, and will be lifted up above the hills.” The image of Mount Zion being elevated above other mountains and hills pictures the prominence it will attain in the future.
4 tn Heb “do not flash forth their light.”
5 tn Heb “does not shed forth its light.”
6 tn Heb “beneath”; cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV “under”; NAB “because of.”
7 sn Isa 26:21 suggests that the earth’s inhabitants defiled the earth by shedding the blood of their fellow human beings. See also Num 35:33-34, which assumes that bloodshed defiles a land.
8 tn Heb “moved past [the?] regulation.”
9 tn Or “everlasting covenant” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the ancient covenant”; CEV “their agreement that was to last forever.”
sn For a lengthy discussion of the identity of this covenant/treaty, see R. Chisholm, “The ‘Everlasting Covenant’ and the ‘City of Chaos’: Intentional Ambiguity and Irony in Isaiah 24,” CTR 6 (1993): 237-53. In this context, where judgment comes upon both the pagan nations and God’s covenant community, the phrase “permanent treaty” is intentionally ambiguous. For the nations this treaty is the Noahic mandate of Gen 9:1-7 with its specific stipulations and central regulation (Gen 9:7). By shedding blood, the warlike nations violated this treaty, which promotes population growth and prohibits murder. For Israel, which was also guilty of bloodshed (see Isa 1:15, 21; 4:4), this “permanent treaty” would refer more specifically to the Mosaic Law and its regulations prohibiting murder (Exod 20:13; Num 35:6-34), which are an extension of the Noahic mandate.
10 tn Heb “will go up on it”; TEV “will pass that way.”
11 tn Heb “blessed is the man who does this.”
12 tn Heb “the son of mankind who takes hold of it.”
13 tn Heb and who keeps his hand from doing any evil.”