9:4 For their oppressive yoke
and the club that strikes their shoulders,
the cudgel the oppressor uses on them, 1
you have shattered, as in the day of Midian’s defeat. 2
22:5 For the sovereign master, 3 the Lord who commands armies,
has planned a day of panic, defeat, and confusion. 4
In the Valley of Vision 5 people shout 6
and cry out to the hill. 7
1 tn Heb “for the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the scepter of the oppressor against him.” The singular pronouns are collective, referring to the people. The oppressed nation is compared to an ox weighed down by a heavy yoke and an animal that is prodded and beaten.
2 sn This alludes to Gideon’s victory over Midian (Judg 7-8), when the Lord delivered Israel from an oppressive foreign invader.
3 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 12, 14, 15 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
4 tn Heb “For [there is] a day of panic, and trampling, and confusion for the master, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].”
5 tn The traditional accentuation of the Hebrew text suggests that this phrase goes with what precedes.
6 tn The precise meaning of this statement is unclear. Some take קִר (qir) as “wall” and interpret the verb to mean “tear down.” However, tighter parallelism (note the reference to crying for help in the next line) is achieved if one takes both the verb and noun from a root, attested in Ugaritic and Arabic, meaning “make a sound.” See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:404, n. 5.
7 sn Perhaps “the hill” refers to the temple mount.