3:14 The Lord comes to pronounce judgment
on the leaders of his people and their officials.
He says, 1 “It is you 2 who have ruined 3 the vineyard! 4
You have stashed in your houses what you have stolen from the poor. 5
10:2 to keep the poor from getting fair treatment,
and to deprive 6 the oppressed among my people of justice,
so they can steal what widows own,
and loot what belongs to orphans. 7
11:4 He will treat the poor fairly, 8
and make right decisions 9 for the downtrodden of the earth. 10
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, 11
and order the wicked to be executed. 12
25:4 For you are a protector for the poor,
a protector for the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the rainstorm,
a shade from the heat.
Though the breath of tyrants 13 is like a winter rainstorm, 14
41:17 The oppressed and the poor look for water, but there is none;
their tongues are parched from thirst.
I, the Lord, will respond to their prayers; 15
I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them.
61:1 The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me,
because the Lord has chosen 16 me. 17
He has commissioned 18 me to encourage 19 the poor,
to help 20 the brokenhearted,
to decree the release of captives,
and the freeing of prisoners,
1 tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
2 tn The pronominal element is masculine plural; the leaders are addressed.
3 tn The verb בָּעַר (ba’ar, “graze, ruin”; HALOT 146 s.v. II בער) is a homonym of the more common בָּעַר (ba’ar, “burn”; see HALOT 145 s.v. I בער).
4 sn The vineyard is a metaphor for the nation here. See 5:1-7.
5 tn Heb “the plunder of the poor [is] in your houses” (so NASB).
6 tn Or “rob” (ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV); KJV “take away the right from the poor.”
7 tn Heb “so that widows are their plunder, and they can loot orphans.”
sn On the socio-economic background of vv. 1-2, see the note at 1:23.
8 tn Heb “with justice” (so NAB) or “with righteousness” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
9 tn Heb “make decisions with rectitude”; cf. ASV, NRSV “and decide with equity.”
10 tn Or “land” (NAB, NCV, CEV). It is uncertain if the passage is picturing universal dominion or focusing on the king’s rule over his covenant people. The reference to God’s “holy mountain” in v. 9 and the description of renewed Israelite conquests in v. 14 suggest the latter, though v. 10 seems to refer to a universal kingdom (see 2:2-4).
11 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and he will strike the earth with the scepter of his mouth.” Some have suggested that in this context אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) as an object of judgment seems too broad in scope. The parallelism is tighter if one emends the word to ץ(י)עָרִ (’arits, “potentate, tyrant”). The phrase “scepter of his mouth” refers to the royal (note “scepter”) decrees that he proclaims with his mouth. Because these decrees will have authority and power (see v. 2) behind them, they can be described as “striking” the tyrants down. Nevertheless, the MT reading may not need emending. Isaiah refers to the entire “earth” as the object of God’s judgment in several places without specifying the wicked as the object of the judgment (Isa 24:17-21; 26:9, 21; 28:22; cf. 13:11).
12 tn Heb “and by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.” The “breath of his lips” refers to his speech, specifically in this context his official decrees that the wicked oppressors be eliminated from his realm. See the preceding note.
13 tn Or perhaps, “the violent”; NIV, NRSV “the ruthless.”
14 tc The Hebrew text has, “like a rainstorm of a wall,” which might be interpreted to mean, “like a rainstorm battering against a wall.” The translation assumes an emendation of קִיר (qir, “wall”) to קֹר (qor, “cold, winter”; cf. Gen 8:22). See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:457, n. 6, for discussion.
15 tn Heb “will answer them” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
16 tn Heb “anointed,” i.e., designated to carry out an assigned task.
17 sn The speaker is not identified, but he is distinct from the Lord and from Zion’s suffering people. He possesses the divine spirit, is God’s spokesman, and is sent to release prisoners from bondage. The evidence suggests he is the Lord’s special servant, described earlier in the servant songs (see 42:1-4, 7; 49:2, 9; 50:4; see also 51:16).
18 tn Or “sent” (NAB); NCV “has appointed me.”
19 tn Or “proclaim good news to.”
20 tn Heb “to bind up [the wounds of].”