6:13 Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, 1 like one of the large sacred trees 2 or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. 3 That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family.” 4
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. 5
The tribute 6 will be brought to the place where the Lord who commands armies has chosen to reside, on Mount Zion. 7
49:7 This is what the Lord,
the protector 8 of Israel, their Holy One, 9 says
to the one who is despised 10 and rejected 11 by nations, 12
a servant of rulers:
“Kings will see and rise in respect, 13
princes will bow down,
because of the faithful Lord,
the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”
65:22 No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, 14
or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, 15
for my people will live as long as trees, 16
and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. 17
1 tn Or “be burned” (NRSV); NIV “laid waste.”
2 tn Heb “like a massive tree or like a big tree” (perhaps, “like a terebinth or like an oak”).
3 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.
4 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.
5 tn On the interpretive difficulties of this verse, see the notes at v. 2, where the same terminology is used.
6 tn The words “the tribute” are repeated here in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “to the place of the name of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts], Mount Zion.”
8 tn Heb “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
9 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
10 tc The Hebrew text reads literally “to [one who] despises life.” It is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa לבזוי, which should be vocalized as a passive participle, לִבְזוּי (livzuy, “to the one despised with respect to life” [נֶפֶשׁ is a genitive of specification]). The consonantal sequence וי was probably misread as ה in the MT tradition. The contextual argument favors the 1QIsaa reading. As J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:294) points out, the three terse phrases “convey a picture of lowliness, worthlessness, and helplessness.”
11 tn MT’s Piel participle (“to the one who rejects”) does not fit contextually. The form should be revocalized as a Pual, “to the one rejected.”
12 tn Parallelism (see “rulers,” “kings,” “princes”) suggests that the singular גּוֹי (goy) be emended to a plural or understood in a collective sense (see 55:5).
13 tn For this sense of קוּם (qum), see Gen 19:1; 23:7; 33:10; Lev 19:32; 1 Sam 20:41; 25:41; 1 Kgs 2:19; Job 29:8.
14 tn Heb “they will not build, and another live [in it].”
15 tn Heb “they will not plant, and another eat.”
16 tn Heb “for like the days of the tree [will be] the days of my people.”
17 tn Heb “the work of their hands” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “their hard-won gains.”