Isaiah 7:4

7:4 Tell him, ‘Make sure you stay calm! ¹  Don’t be afraid! Don’t be intimidated ²  by these two stubs of smoking logs, ³  or by the raging anger of Rezin, Syria, and the son of Remaliah.

Isaiah 30:10

30:10 They ⁴  say to the visionaries, “See no more visions!”

and to the seers, “Don’t relate messages to us about what is right! ⁵ 

Tell us nice things,

relate deceptive messages. ⁶ 

Isaiah 36:7

36:7 Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar.’

Isaiah 37:6

37:6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘This is what the Lord says: “Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard – these insults the king of Assyria’s servants have hurled against me. ⁷ 

Isaiah 37:10

37:10 “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”

Isaiah 38:5

38:5 “Go and tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor ⁸  David says: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will add fifteen years to your life,

Isaiah 40:2

40:2 “Speak kindly to ⁹  Jerusalem, ¹⁰  and tell her

that her time of warfare is over, ¹¹ 

that her punishment is completed. ¹² 

For the Lord has made her pay double ¹³  for all her sins.”

Isaiah 44:8

44:8 Don’t panic! Don’t be afraid! ¹⁴ 

Did I not tell you beforehand and decree it?

You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me?

There is no other sheltering rock; ¹⁵  I know of none.

Isaiah 45:19

45:19 I have not spoken in secret,

in some hidden place. ¹⁶ 

I did not tell Jacob’s descendants,

‘Seek me in vain!’ ¹⁷ 

I am the Lord,

the one who speaks honestly,

who makes reliable announcements. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 59:4

59:4 No one is concerned about justice; ¹⁹ 

no one sets forth his case truthfully.

They depend on false words ²⁰  and tell lies;

they conceive of oppression ²¹ 

and give birth to sin.

Isaiah 59:13

59:13 We have rebelled and tried to deceive the Lord;

we turned back from following our God.

We stir up ²²  oppression and rebellion;

we tell lies we concocted in our minds. ²³ 

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¹ tn Heb “guard yourself and be quiet,” but the two verbs should be coordinated.

² tn Heb “and let not your heart be weak”; ASV “neither let thy heart be faint.”

³ sn The derogatory metaphor indicates that the power of Rezin and Pekah is ready to die out.

⁴ tn Heb “who” (so NASB, NRSV). A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁵ tn Heb “Do not see for us right things.”

⁶ tn Heb “Tell us smooth things, see deceptive things.”

⁷ tn Heb “by which the servants of the king of Assyria have insulted me.”

⁸ tn Heb “father” (so KJV, NAB, NIV).

⁹ tn Heb “speak to the heart of Jerusalem.” Jerusalem is personified as a woman.

¹⁰ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹¹ tn Heb “that she is filled [with] her warfare.” Some understand צָבָא (tsavah, “warfare”) as meaning “hard service” or “compulsory labor” in this context.

¹² tn Heb “that her punishment is accepted [as satisfactory].”

¹³ tn Heb “for she has received from the hand of the Lord double.” The principle of the double portion in punishment is also seen in Jer 16:18; 17:18 and Rev 18:6. For examples of the double portion in Israelite law, see Exod 22:4, 7, 9 (double restitution by a thief) and Deut 21:17 (double inheritance portion for the firstborn).

¹⁴ tn BDB 923 s.v. רָהָה derives this verb from an otherwise unattested root, while HALOT 403 s.v. יָרָה defines it as “be stupefied” on the basis of an Arabic cognate. The form is likely a corruption of תיראו, the reading attested in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a.

¹⁵ tn Heb “rock” or “rocky cliff,” a title that depicts God as a protective refuge in his role as sovereign king; thus the translation “sheltering rock.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “in a place of a land of darkness” (ASV similar); NASB “in some dark land.”

¹⁷ tn “In vain” translates תֹהוּ (tohu), used here as an adverbial accusative: “for nothing.”

¹⁸ tn The translation above assumes that צֶדֶק (tsedeq) and מֵישָׁרִים (mesharim) are adverbial accusatives (see 33:15). If they are taken as direct objects, indicating the content of what is spoken, one might translate, “who proclaims deliverance, who announces justice.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “no one pleads with justice.”

²⁰ tn Heb “nothing”; NAB “emptiness.”

²¹ tn Or “trouble” (NIV), or “harm.”

²² tn Heb “speaking.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

²³ tn Heb “conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.”