9:7 His dominion will be vast 1
and he will bring immeasurable prosperity. 2
He will rule on David’s throne
and over David’s kingdom, 3
establishing it 4 and strengthening it
by promoting justice and fairness, 5
from this time forward and forevermore.
The Lord’s intense devotion to his people 6 will accomplish this.
25:6 The Lord who commands armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain. 7
At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine –
tender meat and choicest wine. 8
28:13 So the Lord’s word to them will sound like
meaningless gibberish,
senseless babbling,
a syllable here, a syllable there. 9
As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk, 10
and be injured, ensnared, and captured. 11
31:3 The Egyptians are mere humans, not God;
their horses are made of flesh, not spirit.
The Lord will strike with 12 his hand;
the one who helps will stumble
and the one being helped will fall.
Together they will perish. 13
37:36 The Lord’s messenger 14 went out and killed 185,000 troops 15 in the Assyrian camp. When they 16 got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses! 17
42:24 Who handed Jacob over to the robber?
Who handed Israel over to the looters? 18
Was it not the Lord, against whom we sinned?
They refused to follow his commands;
they disobeyed his law. 19
51:11 Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return;
they will enter Zion with a happy shout.
Unending joy will crown them, 20
happiness and joy will overwhelm 21 them;
grief and suffering will disappear. 22
1 tc The Hebrew text has לְםַרְבֵּה (lÿmarbeh), which is a corrupt reading. לם is dittographic; note the preceding word, שָׁלוֹם (shalom). The corrected text reads literally, “great is the dominion.”
2 tn Heb “and to peace there will be no end” (KJV and ASV both similar). On the political and socio-economic sense of שָׁלוֹם (shalom) in this context, see the note at v. 6 on “Prince of Peace.”
3 tn Heb “over the throne of David, and over his kingdom.” The referent of the pronoun “his” (i.e., David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn The feminine singular pronominal suffix on this form and the following one (translated “it” both times) refers back to the grammatically feminine noun “kingdom.”
5 tn Heb “with/by justice and fairness”; ASV “with justice and with righteousness.”
6 tn Heb “the zeal of the Lord.” In this context the Lord’s “zeal” refers to his intense devotion to and love for his people which prompts him to vindicate them and to fulfill his promises to David and the nation.
7 sn That is, Mount Zion (see 24:23); cf. TEV; NLT “In Jerusalem.”
8 tn Heb “And the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] will make for all the nations on this mountain a banquet of meats, a banquet of wine dregs, meats filled with marrow, dregs that are filtered.”
9 tn Heb “And the word of the Lord will be to them, ‘tsahv latsahv,’ etc.” See the note at v. 10. In this case the “Lord’s word” is not the foreigner’s strange sounding words (as in v. 10), but the Lord’s repeated appeals to them (like the one quoted in v. 12). As time goes on, the Lord’s appeals through the prophets will have no impact on the people; they will regard prophetic preaching as gibberish.
10 tn Heb “as a result they will go and stumble backward.” Perhaps an infant falling as it attempts to learn to walk is the background image here (cf. v. 9b). The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) could be taken as indicating purpose (“in order that”), rather than simple result. In this case the people’s insensitivity to the message is caused by the Lord as a means of expediting their downfall.
11 sn When divine warnings and appeals become gibberish to the spiritually insensitive, they have no guidance and are doomed to destruction.
12 tn Heb “will extend”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV “stretch out.”
13 tn Heb “together all of them will come to an end.”
14 tn Traditionally, “the angel of the Lord” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
15 tn The word “troops” is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.
16 tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.
17 tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies”; NLT “they found corpses everywhere.”
18 tn Heb “Who gave to the robber Jacob, and Israel to the looters?” In the first line the consonantal text (Kethib) has מְשׁוֹסֶה (mÿshoseh), a Polel participle from שָׁסָה (shasah, “plunder”). The marginal reading (Qere) is מְשִׁיסָּה (mÿshissah), a noun meaning “plunder.” In this case one could translate “Who handed Jacob over as plunder?”
19 tn Heb “they were not willing in his ways to walk, and they did not listen to his law.”
20 tn Heb “[will be] on their head[s].” “Joy” may be likened here to a crown (cf. 2 Sam 1:10). The statement may also be an ironic twist on the idiom “earth/dust on the head” (cf. 2 Sam 1:2; 13:19; 15:32; Job 2:12), referring to a mourning practice.
21 tn Heb “overtake” (so NIV); NASB “they will obtain.”
22 tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee.”