Discovery BoxIsaiah 1:17 
Context1:17 Learn to do what is right!
Promote justice!
Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! 1
Take up the cause of the orphan!
Defend the rights of the widow! 2
Isaiah 14:32
Context14:32 How will they respond to the messengers of this nation? 3
Indeed, the Lord has made Zion secure;
the oppressed among his people will find safety in her.
Isaiah 23:12
Context23:12 He said,
“You will no longer celebrate,
oppressed 4 virgin daughter Sidon!
Get up, travel to Cyprus,
but you will find no relief there.” 5
Isaiah 49:13
ContextRejoice, O earth!
Let the mountains give a joyful shout!
For the Lord consoles his people
and shows compassion to the 7 oppressed.
Isaiah 52:4
Context52:4 For this is what the sovereign Lord says:
“In the beginning my people went to live temporarily in Egypt;
Assyria oppressed them for no good reason.
Isaiah 58:10
Context58:10 You must 8 actively help the hungry
and feed the oppressed. 9
Then your light will dispel the darkness, 10
and your darkness will be transformed into noonday. 11
1 tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The translation assumes an emendation of חָמוֹץ (khamots, “oppressor [?]”) to חָמוּץ (khamuts, “oppressed”), a passive participle from II חָמַץ (khamats, “oppress”; HALOT 329 s.v. II חמץ) and takes the verb II אָשַׁר (’ashar) in the sense of “make happy” (the delocutive Piel, meaning “call/pronounce happy,” is metonymic here, referring to actually effecting happiness). The parallelism favors this interpretation, for the next two lines speak of positive actions on behalf of the destitute. The other option is to retain the MT pointing and translate, “set right the oppressor,” but the nuance “set right” is not clearly attested elsewhere for the verb I אשׁר. This verb does appear as a participle in Isa 3:12 and 9:16 with the meaning “to lead or guide.” If it can mean to “lead” or “rebuke/redirect” in this verse, the prophet could be contrasting this appeal for societal reformation (v. 17c) with a command to reorder their personal lives (v. 17a-b). J. A. Motyer (The Prophecy of Isaiah, 47) suggests that these three statements (v. 17a-c) provide “the contrast between the two ends of imperfect society, the oppressor and the needy, the one inflicting and the other suffering the hurt. Isaiah looks for a transformed society wherever it needs transforming.”
2 tn This word refers to a woman who has lost her husband, by death or divorce. The orphan and widow are often mentioned in the OT as epitomizing the helpless and impoverished who have been left without the necessities of life due to the loss of a family provider.
3 sn The question forces the Philistines to consider the dilemma they will face – surrender and oppression, or battle and death.
4 tn Or “violated, raped,” the point being that Daughter Sidon has lost her virginity in the most brutal manner possible.
5 tn Heb “[to the] Kittim, get up, cross over; even there there will be no rest for you.” On “Kittim” see the note on “Cyprus” at v. 1.
6 tn Or “O heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
7 tn Heb “his” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
8 tn Heb “if you.” See the note on “you must” in v. 9b.
9 tn Heb “If you furnish for the hungry [with] your being, and the appetite of the oppressed you satisfy.”
10 tn Heb “will rise in the darkness.”
11 tn Heb “and your darkness [will be] like noonday.”
