Discovery BoxIsaiah 1:15 
Context1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I look the other way; 1
when you offer your many prayers,
I do not listen,
because your hands are covered with blood. 2
Isaiah 4:4
Context4:4 At that time 3 the sovereign master 4 will wash the excrement 5 from Zion’s women,
he will rinse the bloodstains from Jerusalem’s midst, 6
as he comes to judge
and to bring devastation. 7
Isaiah 9:4
Context9:4 For their oppressive yoke
and the club that strikes their shoulders,
the cudgel the oppressor uses on them, 8
you have shattered, as in the day of Midian’s defeat. 9
Isaiah 26:21
Context26:21 For look, the Lord is coming out of the place where he lives, 10
to punish the sin of those who live on the earth.
The earth will display the blood shed on it;
it will no longer cover up its slain. 11
Isaiah 33:15
Context33:15 The one who lives 12 uprightly 13
and speaks honestly;
the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures
and rejects a bribe; 14
the one who does not plot violent crimes 15
and does not seek to harm others 16 –
Isaiah 34:3
Context34:3 Their slain will be left unburied, 17
their corpses will stink; 18
the hills will soak up their blood. 19
Isaiah 34:6-7
Context34:6 The Lord’s sword is dripping with blood,
it is covered 20 with fat;
it drips 21 with the blood of young rams and goats
and is covered 22 with the fat of rams’ kidneys.
For the Lord is holding a sacrifice 23 in Bozrah, 24
a bloody 25 slaughter in the land of Edom.
34:7 Wild oxen will be slaughtered 26 along with them,
as well as strong bulls. 27
Their land is drenched with blood,
their soil is covered with fat.
1 tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”
2 sn This does not just refer to the blood of sacrificial animals, but also the blood, as it were, of their innocent victims. By depriving the poor and destitute of proper legal recourse and adequate access to the economic system, the oppressors have, for all intents and purposes, “killed” their victims.
3 tn Heb “when” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); CEV “after”; NRSV “once.”
4 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).
5 tn The word refers elsewhere to vomit (Isa 28:8) and fecal material (Isa 36:12). Many English versions render this somewhat euphemistically as “filth” (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV). Ironically in God’s sight the beautiful jewelry described earlier is nothing but vomit and feces, for it symbolizes the moral decay of the city’s residents (cf. NLT “moral filth”).
6 sn See 1:21 for a related concept.
7 tn Heb “by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.” The precise meaning of the second half of the verse is uncertain. רוּחַ (ruakh) can be understood as “wind” in which case the passage pictures the Lord using a destructive wind as an instrument of judgment. However, this would create a mixed metaphor, for the first half of the verse uses the imagery of washing and rinsing to depict judgment. Perhaps the image would be that of a windstorm accompanied by heavy rain. רוּחַ can also mean “spirit,” in which case the verse may be referring to the Lord’s Spirit or, more likely, to a disposition that the Lord brings to the task of judgment. It is also uncertain if בָּעַר (ba’ar) here means “burning” or “sweeping away, devastating.”
8 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.
9 sn This alludes to Gideon’s victory over Midian (Judg 7-8), when the Lord delivered Israel from an oppressive foreign invader.
10 tn Heb “out of his place” (so KJV, ASV).
11 sn This implies that rampant bloodshed is one of the reasons for divine judgment. See the note at 24:5.
12 tn Heb “walks” (so NASB, NIV).
13 tn Or, possibly, “justly”; NAB “who practices virtue.”
14 tn Heb “[who] shakes off his hands from grabbing hold of a bribe.”
15 tn Heb “[who] shuts his ear from listening to bloodshed.”
16 tn Heb “[who] closes his eyes from seeing evil.”
17 tn Heb “will be cast aside”; NASB, NIV “thrown out.”
18 tn Heb “[as for] their corpses, their stench will arise.”
19 tn Heb “hills will dissolve from their blood.”
20 tn The verb is a rare Hotpaal passive form. See GKC 150 §54.h.
21 tn The words “it drips” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
22 tn The words “and is covered” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
23 tn Heb “for there is a sacrifice to the Lord.”
24 sn The Lord’s judgment of Edom is compared to a bloody sacrificial scene.
25 tn Heb “great” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
26 tn Heb “will go down”; NAB “shall be struck down.”
27 tn Heb “and bulls along with strong ones.” Perhaps this refers to the leaders.
