10:3 What will you do on judgment day, 2
when destruction arrives from a distant place?
To whom will you run for help?
Where will you leave your wealth?
13:3 I have given orders to my chosen soldiers; 3
I have summoned the warriors through whom I will vent my anger, 4
my boasting, arrogant ones. 5
28:9 Who is the Lord 6 trying to teach?
To whom is he explaining a message? 7
Those just weaned from milk!
Those just taken from their mother’s breast! 8
40:14 From whom does he receive directions? 13
Who 14 teaches him the correct way to do things, 15
or imparts knowledge to him,
or instructs him in skillful design? 16
48:12 Listen to me, O Jacob,
Israel, whom I summoned!
I am the one;
I am present at the very beginning
and at the very end. 17
1 tn Heb “for us.” The plural pronoun refers to the Lord, the seraphs, and the rest of the heavenly assembly.
2 tn Heb “the day of visitation” (so KJV, ASV), that is, the day when God arrives to execute justice on the oppressors.
3 tn Heb “my consecrated ones,” i.e., those who have been set apart by God for the special task of carrying out his judgment.
4 tn Heb “my warriors with respect to my anger.”
5 tn Heb “the boasting ones of my pride”; cf. ASV, NASB, NRSV “my proudly exulting ones.”
6 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “Who is he teaching knowledge? For whom is he explaining a message?” The translation assumes that the Lord is the subject of the verbs “teaching” and “explaining,” and that the prophet is asking the questions. See v. 12. According to some vv. 9-10 record the people’s sarcastic response to the Lord’s message through Isaiah.
8 tn Heb “from the breasts.” The words “their mother’s” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The translation assumes that this is the prophet’s answer to the questions asked in the first half of the verse. The Lord is trying to instruct people who are “infants” morally and ethically.
9 tn Heb “you say only a word of lips, counsel and might for battle.” Sennacherib’s message appears to be in broken Hebrew at this point. The phrase “word of lips” refers to mere or empty talk in Prov 14:23.
10 tn Heb “fathers” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); NIV “forefathers”; NCV “ancestors.”
11 tn Heb “Did the gods of the nations whom my fathers destroyed rescue them – Gozan and Haran, and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who are in Telassar?”
12 tn Heb “Some of your sons, who go out from you, whom you father.”
13 tn Heb “With whom did he consult, so that he gave discernment to him?”
14 tn Heb “and taught him.” The vav (ו) consecutive with prefixed verbal form continues the previous line. The translation employs an interrogative pronoun for stylistic reasons.
15 tn The phrase אֹרַח מִשְׁפָּט (’orakh mishpat) could be translated “path of justice” (so NASB, NRSV), but in this context, where creative ability and skill is in view, the phrase is better understood in the sense of “the way that is proper or fitting” (see BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 6); cf. NIV, NCV “the right way.”
16 tn Heb “or the way of understanding causes him to know?”
sn The implied answer to the rhetorical questions in vv. 13-14 is, “No one.” In contrast to Marduk, the creator-god of Mesopotamian myths who receives help from the god of wisdom, the Lord neither needs nor receives any such advice or help. See R. Whybray, Heavenly Counsellor (SOTSMS), 64-77.
17 tn Heb “I [am] he, I [am the] first, also I [am the] last.”