5:7 Indeed 1 Israel 2 is the vineyard of the Lord who commands armies,
the people 3 of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight.
He waited for justice, but look what he got – disobedience! 4
He waited for fairness, but look what he got – cries for help! 5
6:13 Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, 6 like one of the large sacred trees 7 or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. 8 That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family.” 9
14:23 “I will turn her into a place that is overrun with wild animals 11
and covered with pools of stagnant water.
I will get rid of her, just as one sweeps away dirt with a broom,” 12
says the Lord who commands armies.
18:7 At that time
tribute will be brought to the Lord who commands armies,
by a people that are tall and smooth-skinned,
a people that are feared far and wide,
a nation strong and victorious,
whose land rivers divide. 13
The tribute 14 will be brought to the place where the Lord who commands armies has chosen to reside, on Mount Zion. 15
22:16 ‘What right do you have to be here? What relatives do you have buried here? 16
Why 17 do you chisel out a tomb for yourself here?
He chisels out his burial site in an elevated place,
he carves out his tomb on a cliff.
22:25 “At that time,” 18 says the Lord who commands armies, “the peg fastened into a solid place will come loose. It will be cut off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off.” 19 Indeed, 20 the Lord has spoken.
26:21 For look, the Lord is coming out of the place where he lives, 21
to punish the sin of those who live on the earth.
The earth will display the blood shed on it;
it will no longer cover up its slain. 22
38:12 My dwelling place 23 is removed and taken away 24 from me
like a shepherd’s tent.
I rolled up my life like a weaver rolls cloth; 25
from the loom he cuts me off. 26
You turn day into night and end my life. 27
50:11 Look, all of you who start a fire
and who equip yourselves with 28 flaming arrows, 29
walk 30 in the light 31 of the fire you started
and among the flaming arrows you ignited! 32
This is what you will receive from me: 33
you will lie down in a place of pain. 34
57:15 For this is what the high and exalted one says,
the one who rules 35 forever, whose name is holy:
“I dwell in an exalted and holy place,
but also with the discouraged and humiliated, 36
in order to cheer up the humiliated
and to encourage the discouraged. 37
1 tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).
2 tn Heb “the house of Israel” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
3 tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.
4 tn Heb “but, look, disobedience.” The precise meaning of מִשְׂפָּח (mishpakh), which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. Some have suggested a meaning “bloodshed.” The term is obviously chosen for its wordplay value; it sounds very much like מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, “justice”). The sound play draws attention to the point being made; the people have not met the Lord’s expectations.
5 tn Heb “but, look, a cry for help.” The verb (“he waited”) does double duty in the parallelism. צְעָקָה (tsa’qah) refers to the cries for help made by the oppressed. It sounds very much like צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “fairness”). The sound play draws attention to the point being made; the people have not met the Lord’s expectations.
6 tn Or “be burned” (NRSV); NIV “laid waste.”
7 tn Heb “like a massive tree or like a big tree” (perhaps, “like a terebinth or like an oak”).
8 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.
9 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.
10 tn Heb “and the house of Jacob will take possession of them [i.e., the nations], on the land of the Lord, as male servants and female servants.”
11 tn Heb “I will make her into a possession of wild animals.” It is uncertain what type of animal קִפֹּד (qippod) refers to. Some suggest a rodent (cf. NASB, NRSV “hedgehog”), others an owl (cf, NAB, NIV, TEV).
12 tn Heb “I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction.”
13 tn On the interpretive difficulties of this verse, see the notes at v. 2, where the same terminology is used.
14 tn The words “the tribute” are repeated here in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Heb “to the place of the name of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts], Mount Zion.”
16 tn Heb “What to you here? And who to you here?” The point of the second question is not entirely clear. The interpretation reflected in the translation is based on the following context, which suggests that Shebna has no right to think of himself so highly and arrange such an extravagant burial place for himself.
17 tn Heb “that you chisel out.”
18 tn Or “In that day” (KJV).
19 sn Eliakim’s authority, though seemingly secure, will eventually be removed, and with it his family’s prominence.
20 tn Or “for” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).
21 tn Heb “out of his place” (so KJV, ASV).
22 sn This implies that rampant bloodshed is one of the reasons for divine judgment. See the note at 24:5.
23 tn According to HALOT 217 s.v. דּוֹר this noun is a hapax legomenon meaning “dwelling place,” derived from a verbal root meaning “live” (see Ps 84:10). For an interpretation that understands the form as the well-attested noun meaning “generation,” see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:679, n. 4.
24 tn The verb form appears to be a Niphal from גָּלָה (galah), which normally means “uncovered, revealed” in the Niphal. Because of the following reference to a shepherd’s tent, some prefer to emend the form to וְנָגַל, a Niphal from גָלָל (galal, “roll”) and translate “is rolled [or “folded”] up.”
25 tn Heb “I rolled up, like a weaver, my life” (so ASV).
26 sn For a discussion of the imagery employed here, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:684.
27 tn Heb “from day to night you bring me to an end.”
28 tc Several more recent commentators have proposed an emendation of מְאַזְּרֵי (mÿ’azzÿre, “who put on”) to מְאִירִי (mÿ’iri, “who light”). However, both Qumran scrolls of Isaiah and the Vulgate support the MT reading (cf. NIV, ESV).
29 tn On the meaning of זִיקוֹת (ziqot, “flaming arrows”), see HALOT 268 s.v. זִיקוֹת.
30 tn The imperative is probably rhetorical and has a predictive force.
31 tn Or perhaps, “flame” (so ASV).
32 sn Perhaps the servant here speaks to his enemies and warns them that they will self-destruct.
33 tn Heb “from my hand” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
34 sn The imagery may be that of a person who becomes ill and is forced to lie down in pain on a sickbed. Some see this as an allusion to a fiery place of damnation because of the imagery employed earlier in the verse.
35 tn Heb “the one who dwells forever.” שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ’ad) is sometimes translated “the one who lives forever,” and understood as a reference to God’s eternal existence. However, the immediately preceding and following descriptions (“high and exalted” and “holy”) emphasize his sovereign rule. In the next line, he declares, “I dwell in an exalted and holy [place],” which refers to the place from which he rules. Therefore it is more likely that שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ’ad) means “I dwell [in my lofty palace] forever” and refers to God’s eternal kingship.
36 tn Heb “and also with the crushed and lowly of spirit.” This may refer to the repentant who have humbled themselves (see 66:2) or more generally to the exiles who have experienced discouragement and humiliation.
37 tn Heb “to restore the lowly of spirit and to restore the heart of the crushed.”