4:5 Then the Lord will create
over all of Mount Zion 1
and over its convocations
a cloud and smoke by day
and a bright flame of fire by night; 2
indeed a canopy will accompany the Lord’s glorious presence. 3
9:19 Because of the anger of the Lord who commands armies, the land was scorched, 4
and the people became fuel for the fire. 5
People had no compassion on one another. 6
10:17 The light of Israel 7 will become a fire,
their Holy One 8 will become a flame;
it will burn and consume the Assyrian king’s 9 briers
and his thorns in one day.
26:11 O Lord, you are ready to act, 10
but they don’t even notice.
They will see and be put to shame by your angry judgment against humankind, 11
yes, fire will consume your enemies. 12
29:6 Judgment will come from the Lord who commands armies, 13
accompanied by thunder, earthquake, and a loud noise,
by a strong gale, a windstorm, and a consuming flame of fire.
31:9 They will surrender their stronghold 14 because of fear; 15
their officers will be afraid of the Lord’s battle flag.” 16
This is what the Lord says –
the one whose fire is in Zion,
whose firepot is in Jerusalem. 17
43:2 When you pass through the waters, I am with you;
when you pass 18 through the streams, they will not overwhelm you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;
the flames will not harm 19 you.
47:14 Look, they are like straw,
which the fire burns up;
they cannot rescue themselves
from the heat 20 of the flames.
There are no coals to warm them,
no firelight to enjoy. 21
65:5 They say, ‘Keep to yourself!
Don’t get near me, for I am holier than you!’
These people are like smoke in my nostrils,
like a fire that keeps burning all day long.
1 tn Heb “over all the place, Mount Zion.” Cf. NLT “Jerusalem”; CEV “the whole city.”
2 tn Heb “a cloud by day, and smoke, and brightness of fire, a flame by night.” Though the accents in the Hebrew text suggest otherwise, it might be preferable to take “smoke” with what follows, since one would expect smoke to accompany fire.
sn The imagery of the cloud by day and fire by night recalls the days of Moses, when a cloud and fire were tangible reminders that the Lord was guiding and protecting his people (Exod 13:21-22; 14:19, 24). In the future age envisioned in Isa 4, the Lord’s protective presence will be a reality.
3 tn Heb “indeed (or “for”) over all the glory, a canopy.” This may allude to Exod 40:34-35, where a cloud overshadows the meeting tent as it is filled with God’s glory.
4 tn The precise meaning of the verb עְתַּם (’ÿtam), which occurs only here, is uncertain, though the context strongly suggests that it means “burn, scorch.”
5 sn The uncontrollable fire of the people’s wickedness (v. 18) is intensified by the fire of the Lord’s judgment (v. 19). God allows (or causes) their wickedness to become self-destructive as civil strife and civil war break out in the land.
6 tn Heb “men were not showing compassion to their brothers.” The idiom “men to their brothers” is idiomatic for reciprocity. The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite without vav (ו) consecutive or an imperfect used in a customary sense, describing continual or repeated behavior in past time.
7 tn In this context the “Light of Israel” is a divine title (note the parallel title “his holy one”). The title points to God’s royal splendor, which overshadows and, when transformed into fire, destroys the “majestic glory” of the king of Assyria (v. 16b).
8 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
9 tn Heb “his.” In vv. 17-19 the Assyrian king and his empire is compared to a great forest and orchard that are destroyed by fire (symbolic of the Lord).
10 tn Heb “O Lord, your hand is lifted up.”
11 tn Heb “They will see and be ashamed of zeal of people.” Some take the prefixed verbs as jussives and translate the statement as a prayer, “Let them see and be put to shame.” The meaning of the phrase קִנְאַת־עָם (qin’at-’am, “zeal of people”) is unclear. The translation assumes that this refers to God’s angry judgment upon people. Another option is to understand the phrase as referring to God’s zealous, protective love of his covenant people. In this case one might translate, “by your zealous devotion to your people.”
12 tn Heb “yes, fire, your enemies, will consume them.” Many understand the prefixed verb form to be jussive and translate, “let [fire] consume” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV). The mem suffixed to the verb may be enclitic; if a pronominal suffix, it refers back to “your enemies.”
13 tn Heb “from the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] there will be visitation.” The third feminine singular passive verb form תִּפָּקֵד (tippaqed, “she/it will be visited”) is used here in an impersonal sense. See GKC 459 §144.b.
14 tn Heb “rocky cliff” (cf. ASV, NASB “rock”), viewed metaphorically as a place of defense and security.
15 tn Heb “His rocky cliff, because of fear, will pass away [i.e., “perish”].”
16 tn Heb “and they will be afraid of the flag, his officers.”
17 sn The “fire” and “firepot” here symbolize divine judgment, which is heating up like a fire in Jerusalem, waiting to be used against the Assyrians when they attack the city.
18 tn The verb is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
19 tn Heb “burn” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV, NLT “consume”; NIV “set you ablaze.”
20 tn Heb “hand,” here a metaphor for the strength or power of the flames.
21 tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “there is no coal [for?] their food, light to sit before it.” Some emend לַחְמָם (lakhmam, “their food”) to לְחֻמָּם (lÿkhummam, “to warm them”; see HALOT 328 s.v. חמם). This statement may allude to Isa 44:16, where idolaters are depicted warming themselves over a fire made from wood, part of which was used to form idols. The fire of divine judgment will be no such campfire; its flames will devour and destroy.
22 tn Heb “for their worm will not die.”
23 tn Heb “and their fire will not be extinguished.”
24 tn Heb “and they will be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
sn This verse depicts a huge mass burial site where the seemingly endless pile of maggot-infested corpses are being burned.