3:10 Tell the innocent 1 it will go well with them, 2
for they will be rewarded for what they have done. 3
10:19 There will be so few trees left in his forest,
a child will be able to count them. 4
14:6 It 5 furiously struck down nations
with unceasing blows. 6
It angrily ruled over nations,
oppressing them without restraint. 7
14:10 All of them respond to you, saying:
‘You too have become weak like us!
You have become just like us!
14:18 8 As for all the kings of the nations,
all of them 9 lie down in splendor, 10
each in his own tomb. 11
41:12 When you will look for your opponents, 13 you will not find them;
your enemies 14 will be reduced to absolutely nothing.
41:29 Look, all of them are nothing, 15
their accomplishments are nonexistent;
their metal images lack any real substance. 16
48:13 Yes, my hand founded the earth;
my right hand spread out the sky.
I summon them;
they stand together.
56:8 The sovereign Lord says this,
the one who gathers the dispersed of Israel:
“I will still gather them up.” 17
63:6 I trampled nations in my anger,
I made them drunk 18 in my rage,
I splashed their blood on the ground.” 19
63:10 But they rebelled and offended 20 his holy Spirit, 21
so he turned into an enemy
and fought against them.
63:13 who led them through the deep water?
Like a horse running on flat land 22 they did not stumble.
63:19 We existed from ancient times, 23
but you did not rule over them,
they were not your subjects. 24
1 tn Or “the righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, TEV); NLT “those who are godly.”
2 tn Heb “that it is good.”
3 tn Heb “for the fruit of their deeds they will eat.”
4 tn Heb “and the rest of the trees of his forest will be counted, and a child will record them.”
5 tn Or perhaps, “he” (cf. KJV; NCV “the king of Babylon”). The present translation understands the referent of the pronoun (“it”) to be the “club/scepter” of the preceding line.
6 tn Heb “it was striking down nations in fury [with] a blow without ceasing.” The participle (“striking down”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.
7 tn Heb “it was ruling in anger nations [with] oppression without restraint.” The participle (“ruling”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.
8 sn It is unclear where the quotation of the kings, begun in v. 10b, ends. However, the reference to the “kings of the nations” in v. 18 (see also v. 9) seems to indicate that the quotation has ended at this point and that Israel’s direct taunt (cf. vv. 4b-10a) has resumed. In fact the references to the “kings of the nations” may form a stylistic inclusio or frame around the quotation.
9 tc The phrase “all of them” does not appear in the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa.
10 sn This refers to the typically extravagant burial of kings.
11 tn Heb “house” (so KJV, ASV), but in this context a tomb is in view. Note the verb “lie down” in the preceding line and the reference to a “grave” in the next line.
12 tc If original to Isaiah 38, vv. 21-22 have obviously been misplaced in the course of the text’s transmission, and would most naturally be placed here, between Isa 38:6 and 38:7. See 2 Kgs 20:7-8, where these verses are placed at this point in the narrative, not at the end. Another possibility is that these verses were not in the original account, and a scribe, familiar with the 2 Kgs version of the story, appended vv. 21-22 to the end of the account in Isaiah 38.
13 tn Heb “the men of your struggle”; NASB “those who quarrel with you.”
14 tn Heb “the men of your battle”; NAB “who do battle with you.”
15 tc The Hebrew text has אָוֶן (’aven, “deception,” i.e., “false”), but the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has אין (“nothing”), which forms a better parallel with אֶפֶס (’efes, “nothing”) in the next line. See also 40:17 and 41:12.
16 tn Heb “their statues are wind and nothing”; NASB “wind and emptiness”; NIV “wind and confusion.”
17 tn The meaning of the statement is unclear. The text reads literally, “Still I will gather upon him to his gathered ones.” Perhaps the preposition -לְ (lamed) before “gathered ones” introduces the object of the verb, as in Jer 49:5. The third masculine singular suffix on both עָלָיו (’alayv) and נִקְבָּצָיו (niqbatsayv) probably refers to “Israel.” In this case one can translate literally, “Still I will gather to him his gathered ones.”
18 sn See Isa 49:26 and 51:23 for similar imagery.
19 tn Heb “and I brought down to the ground their juice.” “Juice” refers to their blood (see v. 3).
20 tn Or “grieved, hurt the feelings of.”
21 sn The phrase “holy Spirit” occurs in the OT only here (in v. 11 as well) and in Ps 51:11 (51:13 HT), where it is associated with the divine presence.
22 tn Heb “in the desert [or “steppe”].”
23 tn Heb “we were from antiquity” (see v. 16). The collocation עוֹלָם + מִן + הָיָה (hayah + min + ’olam) occurs only here.
24 tn Heb “you did not rule them, your name was not called over them.” The expression “the name is called over” indicates ownership; see the note at 4:1. As these two lines stand they are very difficult to interpret. They appear to be stating that the adversaries just mentioned in v. 18 have not been subject to the Lord’s rule in the past, perhaps explaining why they could commit the atrocity described in v. 18b.