4:1 Seven women will grab hold of
one man at that time. 1
They will say, “We will provide 2 our own food,
we will provide 3 our own clothes;
but let us belong to you 4 –
take away our shame!” 5
25:9 At that time they will say, 6
“Look, here 7 is our God!
We waited for him and he delivered us.
Here 8 is the Lord! We waited for him.
Let’s rejoice and celebrate his deliverance!”
29:15 Those who try to hide their plans from the Lord are as good as dead, 9
who do their work in secret and boast, 10
“Who sees us? Who knows what we’re doing?” 11
32:15 This desolation will continue until new life is poured out on us from heaven. 12
Then the desert will become an orchard
and the orchard will be considered a forest. 13
36:11 Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, 14 for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect 15 in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”
43:9 All nations gather together,
the peoples assemble.
Who among them announced this?
Who predicted earlier events for us? 17
Let them produce their witnesses to testify they were right;
let them listen and affirm, ‘It is true.’
59:12 For you are aware of our many rebellious deeds, 18
and our sins testify against us;
indeed, we are aware of our rebellious deeds;
we know our sins all too well. 19
63:17 Why, Lord, do you make us stray 20 from your ways, 21
and make our minds stubborn so that we do not obey you? 22
Return for the sake of your servants,
the tribes of your inheritance!
64:6 We are all like one who is unclean,
all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. 23
We all wither like a leaf;
our sins carry us away like the wind.
1 tn Or “in that day” (ASV).
sn The seven to one ratio emphasizes the great disparity that will exist in the population due to the death of so many men in battle.
2 tn Heb “eat” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “buy.”
3 tn Heb “wear” (so NASB, NRSV); NCV “make.”
4 tn Heb “only let your name be called over us.” The Hebrew idiom “call the name over” indicates ownership. See 2 Sam 12:28, and BDB 896 s.v. I ָקרָא Niph. 2.d.(4). The language reflects the cultural reality of ancient Israel, where women were legally the property of their husbands.
5 sn This refers to the humiliation of being unmarried and childless. The women’s words reflect the cultural standards of ancient Israel, where a woman’s primary duties were to be a wife and mother.
6 tn Heb “and one will say in that day.”
7 tn Heb “this [one].”
8 tn Heb “this [one].”
9 tn Heb “Woe [to] those who deeply hide counsel from the Lord.” This probably alludes to political alliances made without seeking the Lord’s guidance. See 30:1-2 and 31:1.
10 tn Heb “and their works are in darkness and they say.”
11 tn The rhetorical questions suggest the answer, “no one.” They are confident that their deeds are hidden from others, including God.
12 tn Heb “until a spirit is emptied out on us from on high.” The words “this desolation will continue” are supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic purposes. The verb עָרָה (’arah), used here in the Niphal, normally means “lay bare, expose.” The term רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) is often understood here as a reference to the divine spirit (cf. 44:3 and NASB, NIV, CEV, NLT), but it appears here without an article (cf. NRSV “a spirit”), pronominal suffix, or a genitive (such as “of the Lord”). The translation assumes that it carries an impersonal nuance “vivacity, vigor” in this context.
13 sn The same statement appears in 29:17b, where, in conjunction with the preceding line, it appears to picture a reversal. Here it seems to depict supernatural growth. The desert will blossom into an orchard, and the trees of the orchard will multiply and grow tall, becoming a forest.
14 sn Aramaic was the diplomatic language of the Assyrian empire.
15 tn Or “in Hebrew” (NIV, NCV, NLT); NAB, NASB “in Judean.”
16 tn Heb “Have the gods of the nations rescued, each his land, from the hand of the king of Assyria?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course not!”
17 tn Heb “and the former things was causing us to hear?”
18 tn Heb “for many are our rebellious deeds before you.”
19 tn Heb “indeed [or “for”] our rebellious deeds (are) with us, and our sins, we know them.”
20 tn Some suggest a tolerative use of the Hiphil here, “[why do] you allow us to stray?” (cf. NLT). Though the Hiphil of תָעָה (ta’ah) appears to be tolerative in Jer 50:6, elsewhere it is preferable or necessary to take it as causative. See Isa 3:12; 9:15; and 30:28, as well as Gen 20:13; 2 Kgs 21:9; Job 12:24-25; Prov 12:26; Jer 23:13, 32; Hos 4:12; Amos 2:4; Mic 3:5.
21 tn This probably refers to God’s commands.
22 tn Heb “[Why do] you harden our heart[s] so as not to fear you.” The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
sn How direct this hardening is, one cannot be sure. The speaker may envision direct involvement on the Lord’s part. The Lord has brought the exile as judgment for the nation’s sin and now he continues to keep them at arm’s length by blinding them spiritually. The second half of 64:7 might support this, though the precise reading of the final verb is uncertain. On the other hand, the idiom of lament is sometimes ironic and hyperbolically deterministic. For example, Naomi lamented that Shaddai was directly opposing her and bringing her calamity (Ruth 1:20-21), while the author of Ps 88 directly attributes his horrible suffering and loneliness to God (see especially vv. 6-8, 16-18). Both individuals make little, if any, room for intermediate causes or the principle of sin and death which ravages the human race. In the same way, the speaker in Isa 63:17 (who evidences great spiritual sensitivity and is anything but “hardened”) may be referring to the hardships of exile, which discouraged and even embittered the people, causing many of them to retreat from their Yahwistic faith. In this case, the “hardening” in view is more indirect and can be lifted by the Lord’s intervention. Whether the hardening here is indirect or direct, it is important to recognize that the speaker sees it as one of the effects of rebellion against the Lord (note especially 64:5-6).
23 tn Heb “and like a garment of menstruation [are] all our righteous acts”; KJV, NIV “filthy rags”; ASV “a polluted garment.”