5:25 So the Lord is furious 1 with his people;
he lifts 2 his hand and strikes them.
The mountains shake,
and corpses lie like manure 3 in the middle of the streets.
Despite all this, his anger does not subside,
and his hand is ready to strike again. 4
6:13 Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, 5 like one of the large sacred trees 6 or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. 7 That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family.” 8
9:17 So the sovereign master was not pleased 9 with their young men,
he took no pity 10 on their orphans and widows;
for the whole nation was godless 11 and did wicked things, 12
every mouth was speaking disgraceful words. 13
Despite all this, his anger does not subside,
and his hand is ready to strike again. 14
54:9 “As far as I am concerned, this is like in Noah’s time, 15
when I vowed that the waters of Noah’s flood 16 would never again cover the earth.
In the same way I have vowed that I will not be angry at you or shout at you.
65:20 Never again will one of her infants live just a few days 17
or an old man die before his time. 18
Indeed, no one will die before the age of a hundred, 19
anyone who fails to reach 20 the age of a hundred will be considered cursed.
1 tn Heb “the anger of the Lord rages.”
2 tn Or “extends”; KJV, ASV “he hath stretched forth.”
3 tn Or “garbage” (NCV, CEV, NLT); NAB, NASB, NIV “refuse.”
4 tn Heb “in all this his anger is not turned, and still his hand is outstretched.”
5 tn Or “be burned” (NRSV); NIV “laid waste.”
6 tn Heb “like a massive tree or like a big tree” (perhaps, “like a terebinth or like an oak”).
7 tn The Hebrew text has “which in the felling, a sacred pillar in them.” Some take מַצֶּבֶת (matsevet) as “stump,” and translate, “which, when chopped down, have a stump remaining in them.” But elsewhere מַצֶּבֶת refers to a memorial pillar (2 Sam 18:18) and the word resembles מַצֶּבָה (matsevah, “sacred pillar”). בָּם (bam, “in them”) may be a corruption of בָּמָה (bamah, “high place”; the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has במה). אֳשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) becomes a problem in this case, but one might emend the form to וּכְּאֲשֵׁרָה (ukÿ’asherah, “or like an Asherah pole”) and translate, “like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole.” Though the text is difficult, the references to sacred trees and a sacred pillar suggest that the destruction of a high place is in view, an apt metaphor for the judgment of idolatrous Judah.
8 tn Heb “a holy offspring [is] its sacred pillar.” If מַצֶּבֶת (matsevet) is taken as “stump,” one can see in this statement a brief glimpse of hope. The tree (the nation) is chopped down, but the stump (a righteous remnant) remains from which God can restore the nation. However, if מַצֶּבֶת is taken as “sacred pillar” (מַצֶּבָה, matsevah; see the previous note), it is much more difficult to take the final statement in a positive sense. In this case “holy offspring” alludes to God’s ideal for his covenant people, the offspring of the patriarchs. Ironically that “holy” nation is more like a “sacred pillar” and it will be thrown down like a sacred pillar from a high place and its land destroyed like the sacred trees located at such shrines. Understood in this way, the ironic statement is entirely negative in tone, just like the rest of the preceding announcement of judgment. It also reminds the people of their failure; they did not oppose pagan religion, instead they embraced it. Now they will be destroyed in the same way they should have destroyed paganism.
9 tn The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has לא יחמול (“he did not spare”) which is an obvious attempt to tighten the parallelism (note “he took no pity” in the next line). Instead of taking שָׂמַח (samakh) in one of its well attested senses (“rejoice over, be pleased with”), some propose, with support from Arabic, a rare homonymic root meaning “be merciful.”
10 tn The translation understands the prefixed verbs יִשְׂמַח (yismakh) and יְרַחֵם (yÿrakhem) as preterites without vav (ו) consecutive. (See v. 11 and the note on “he stirred up.”)
11 tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “profaned”; NIV “ungodly.”
12 tn מֵרַע (mera’) is a Hiphil participle from רָעַע (ra’a’, “be evil”). The intransitive Hiphil has an exhibitive force here, indicating that they exhibited outwardly the evidence of an inward condition by committing evil deeds.
13 tn Or “foolishness” (NASB), here in a moral-ethical sense.
14 tn Heb “in all this his anger is not turned, and still his hand is outstretched.”
sn See the note at 9:12.
15 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “For [or “indeed”] the waters of Noah [is] this to me.” כִּי־מֵי (ki-me, “for the waters of”) should be emended to כְּמֵי (kÿmey, “like the days of”), which is supported by the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa and all the ancient versions except LXX.
16 tn Heb “the waters of Noah” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).
17 tn Heb “and there will not be from there again a nursing infant of days,” i.e., one that lives just a few days.
18 tn Heb “or an old [man] who does not fill out his days.”
19 tn Heb “for the child as a son of one hundred years will die.” The point seems to be that those who die at the age of a hundred will be considered children, for the average life span will be much longer than that. The category “child” will be redefined in light of the expanded life spans that will characterize this new era.
20 tn Heb “the one who misses.” חָטָא (khata’) is used here in its basic sense of “miss the mark.” See HALOT 305 s.v. חטא. Another option is to translate, “and the sinner who reaches the age of a hundred will be cursed.”