6:5 I said, “Too bad for me! I am destroyed, 1 for my lips are contaminated by sin, 2 and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. 3 My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies.” 4
10:2 to keep the poor from getting fair treatment,
and to deprive 5 the oppressed among my people of justice,
so they can steal what widows own,
and loot what belongs to orphans. 6
10:4 You will have no place to go, except to kneel with the prisoners,
or to fall among those who have been killed. 7
Despite all this, his anger does not subside,
and his hand is ready to strike again. 8
13:4 9 There is a loud noise on the mountains –
it sounds like a large army! 10
There is great commotion among the kingdoms 11 –
nations are being assembled!
The Lord who commands armies is mustering
forces for battle.
16:4 Please let the Moabite fugitives live 12 among you.
Hide them 13 from the destroyer!”
Certainly 14 the one who applies pressure will cease, 15
the destroyer will come to an end,
those who trample will disappear 16 from the earth.
24:13 This is what will happen throughout 17 the earth,
among the nations.
It will be like when they beat an olive tree,
and just a few olives are left at the end of the harvest. 18
29:23 For when they see their children,
whom I will produce among them, 19
they will honor 20 my name.
They will honor the Holy One of Jacob; 21
they will respect 22 the God of Israel.
43:9 All nations gather together,
the peoples assemble.
Who among them announced this?
Who predicted earlier events for us? 23
Let them produce their witnesses to testify they were right;
let them listen and affirm, ‘It is true.’
48:14 All of you, gather together and listen!
Who among them 24 announced these things?
The Lord’s ally 25 will carry out his desire against Babylon;
he will exert his power against the Babylonians. 26
50:10 Who among you fears the Lord?
Who obeys 27 his servant?
Whoever walks in deep darkness, 28
without light,
should trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on his God.
51:5 I am ready to vindicate, 29
I am ready to deliver, 30
I will establish justice among the nations. 31
The coastlands 32 wait patiently for me;
they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power. 33
57:6 Among the smooth stones of the stream are the idols you love;
they, they are the object of your devotion. 34
You pour out liquid offerings to them,
you make an offering.
Because of these things I will seek vengeance. 35
58:9 Then you will call out, and the Lord will respond;
you will cry out, and he will reply, ‘Here I am.’
You must 36 remove the burdensome yoke from among you
and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully.
63:11 His people remembered the ancient times. 37
Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea,
along with the shepherd of 38 his flock?
Where is the one who placed his holy Spirit among them, 39
1 tn Isaiah uses the suffixed (perfect) form of the verb for rhetorical purposes. In this way his destruction is described as occurring or as already completed. Rather than understanding the verb as derived from דָּמַה (damah, “be destroyed”), some take it from a proposed homonymic root דמה, which would mean “be silent.” In this case, one might translate, “I must be silent.”
2 tn Heb “a man unclean of lips am I.” Isaiah is not qualified to praise the king. His lips (the instruments of praise) are “unclean” because he has been contaminated by sin.
3 tn Heb “and among a nation unclean of lips I live.”
4 tn Perhaps in this context, the title has a less militaristic connotation and pictures the Lord as the ruler of the heavenly assembly. See the note at 1:9.
5 tn Or “rob” (ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV); KJV “take away the right from the poor.”
6 tn Heb “so that widows are their plunder, and they can loot orphans.”
sn On the socio-economic background of vv. 1-2, see the note at 1:23.
7 tn Heb “except one kneels in the place of the prisoner, and in the place of the slain [who] fall.” On the force of בִּלְתִּי (bilti, “except”) and its logical connection to what precedes, see BDB 116 s.v. בֵלֶת. On the force of תַּחַת (takhat, “in the place of”) here, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:258, n. 6.
8 tn Heb “in all this his anger was not turned, and still his hand was outstretched”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “his had is stretched out still.”
sn See the note at 9:12.
9 sn In vv. 4-10 the prophet appears to be speaking, since the Lord is referred to in the third person. However, since the Lord refers to himself in the third person later in this chapter (see v. 13), it is possible that he speaks throughout the chapter.
10 tn Heb “a sound, a roar [is] on the mountains, like many people.”
11 tn Heb “a sound, tumult of kingdoms.”
12 tn That is, “live as resident foreigners.”
13 tn Heb “Be a hiding place for them.”
14 tn The present translation understands כִּי (ki) as asseverative, but one could take it as explanatory (“for,” KJV, NASB) or temporal (“when,” NAB, NRSV). In the latter case, v. 4b would be logically connected to v. 5.
15 tn A perfect verbal form is used here and in the next two lines for rhetorical effect; the demise of the oppressor(s) is described as if it had already occurred.
16 tc The Hebrew text has, “they will be finished, the one who tramples, from the earth.” The plural verb form תַּמּוּ, (tammu, “disappear”) could be emended to agree with the singular subject רֹמֵס (romes, “the one who tramples”) or the participle can be emended to a plural (רֹמֵסִם, romesim) to agree with the verb. The translation assumes the latter. Haplography of mem (ם) seems likely; note that the word after רֹמֵס begins with a mem.
17 tn Heb “in the midst of” (so KJV, ASV, NASB).
18 sn The judgment will severely reduce the earth’s population. See v. 6.
19 tn Heb “for when he sees his children, the work of my hands in his midst.”
20 tn Or “treat as holy” (also in the following line); NASB, NRSV “will sanctify.”
21 sn Holy One of Jacob is similar to the phrase “Holy One of Israel” common throughout Isaiah; see the sn at Isa 1:4.
22 tn Or “fear,” in the sense of “stand in awe of.”
23 tn Heb “and the former things was causing us to hear?”
24 sn This probably refers to the idol gods (see v. 5).
25 tn Or “friend,” or “covenant partner.”
sn The
26 tn Heb “and his arm [against] the Babylonians.”
27 tn Heb “[who] listens to the voice of his servant?” The interrogative is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
28 tn The plural indicates degree. Darkness may refer to exile and/or moral evil.
29 tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”] is near.”
30 tn Heb “my deliverance goes forth.”
31 tn Heb “and my arms will judge [on behalf of] nations.”
32 tn Or “islands” (NIV); TEV “Distant lands.”
33 tn Heb “for my arm” (so NIV, NRSV).
34 tn Heb “among the smooth stones of the stream [is] your portion, they, they [are] your lot.” The next line indicates idols are in view.
35 tn The text reads literally, “Because of these am I relenting?” If the prefixed interrogative particle is retained at the beginning of the sentence, then the question would be rhetorical, with the Niphal of נָחָם (nakham) probably being used in the sense of “relent, change one’s mind.” One could translate: “Because of these things, how can I relent?” However, the initial letter he may be dittographic (note the final he [ה] on the preceding word). In this case one may understand the verb in the sense of “console oneself, seek vengeance,” as in 1:24.
36 tn Heb “if you.” In the Hebrew text vv. 9b-10 are one long conditional sentence. The protasis (“if” clauses appear in vv. 9b-10a), with the apodosis (“then” clause) appearing in v. 10b.
37 tn Heb “and he remembered the days of antiquity, Moses, his people.” The syntax of the statement is unclear. The translation assumes that “his people” is the subject of the verb “remembered.” If original, “Moses” is in apposition to “the days of antiquity,” more precisely identifying the time period referred to. However, the syntactical awkwardness suggests that “Moses” may have been an early marginal note (perhaps identifying “the shepherd of his flock” two lines later) that has worked its way into the text.
38 tn The Hebrew text has a plural form, which if retained and taken as a numerical plural, would probably refer to Moses, Aaron, and the Israelite tribal leaders at the time of the Exodus. Most prefer to emend the form to the singular (רָעָה, ra’ah) and understand this as a reference just to Moses.
39 sn See the note at v. 10.