Discovery BoxIsaiah 1:19 
Context1:19 If you have a willing attitude and obey, 1
then you will again eat the good crops of the land.
Isaiah 3:10
Context3:10 Tell the innocent 2 it will go well with them, 3
for they will be rewarded for what they have done. 4
Isaiah 10:11
Context10:11 As I have done to Samaria and its idols,
so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.” 5
Isaiah 14:26
Context14:26 This is the plan I have devised for the whole earth;
my hand is ready to strike all the nations.” 6
Isaiah 15:7
Context15:7 For this reason what they have made and stored up,
they carry over the Stream of the Poplars.
Isaiah 22:10
Context22:10 You counted the houses in Jerusalem, 7
and demolished houses so you could have material to reinforce the wall. 8
Isaiah 24:5
Context24:5 The earth is defiled by 9 its inhabitants, 10
for they have violated laws,
disregarded the regulation, 11
and broken the permanent treaty. 12
Isaiah 26:13
Context26:13 O Lord, our God,
masters other than you have ruled us,
but we praise your name alone.
Isaiah 28:23
Context28:23 Pay attention and listen to my message! 13
Be attentive and listen to what I have to say! 14
Isaiah 33:13
Context33:13 You who are far away, listen to what I have done!
You who are close by, recognize my strength!”
Isaiah 33:24
Context33:24 No resident of Zion 15 will say, “I am ill”;
the people who live there will have their sin forgiven.
Isaiah 37:18
Context37:18 It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations 16 and their lands.
Isaiah 53:1
Context53:1 Who would have believed 17 what we 18 just heard? 19
When 20 was the Lord’s power 21 revealed through him?
Isaiah 64:10
Context64:10 Your chosen 22 cities have become a desert;
Zion has become a desert,
Jerusalem 23 is a desolate ruin.
1 tn Heb “listen”; KJV “obedient”; NASB “If you consent and obey.”
2 tn Or “the righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, TEV); NLT “those who are godly.”
3 tn Heb “that it is good.”
4 tn Heb “for the fruit of their deeds they will eat.”
5 tn The statement is constructed as a rhetorical question in the Hebrew text: “Is it not [true that] just as I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols?”
sn This statement indicates that the prophecy dates sometime between 722-701
6 tn Heb “and this is the hand that is outstretched over all the nations.”
7 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
8 tn Heb “you demolished the houses to fortify the wall.”
9 tn Heb “beneath”; cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV “under”; NAB “because of.”
10 sn Isa 26:21 suggests that the earth’s inhabitants defiled the earth by shedding the blood of their fellow human beings. See also Num 35:33-34, which assumes that bloodshed defiles a land.
11 tn Heb “moved past [the?] regulation.”
12 tn Or “everlasting covenant” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the ancient covenant”; CEV “their agreement that was to last forever.”
sn For a lengthy discussion of the identity of this covenant/treaty, see R. Chisholm, “The ‘Everlasting Covenant’ and the ‘City of Chaos’: Intentional Ambiguity and Irony in Isaiah 24,” CTR 6 (1993): 237-53. In this context, where judgment comes upon both the pagan nations and God’s covenant community, the phrase “permanent treaty” is intentionally ambiguous. For the nations this treaty is the Noahic mandate of Gen 9:1-7 with its specific stipulations and central regulation (Gen 9:7). By shedding blood, the warlike nations violated this treaty, which promotes population growth and prohibits murder. For Israel, which was also guilty of bloodshed (see Isa 1:15, 21; 4:4), this “permanent treaty” would refer more specifically to the Mosaic Law and its regulations prohibiting murder (Exod 20:13; Num 35:6-34), which are an extension of the Noahic mandate.
13 tn Heb “to my voice.”
14 tn Heb “to my word”; cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV “hear my speech.”
15 tn The words “of Zion” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
16 tn The Hebrew text here has “all the lands,” but the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:17 has “the nations.”
17 tn The perfect has a hypothetical force in this rhetorical question. For another example, see Gen 21:7.
18 sn The speaker shifts here from God to an unidentified group (note the first person plural pronouns throughout vv. 1-6). The content of the speech suggests that the prophet speaks here as representative of the sinful nation Israel. The group acknowledges its sin and recognizes that the servant suffered on their behalf.
19 tn The first half of v. 1 is traditionally translated, “Who has believed our report?” or “Who has believed our message?” as if the group speaking is lamenting that no one will believe what they have to say. But that doesn’t seem to be the point in this context. Here the group speaking does not cast itself in the role of a preacher or evangelist. No, they are repentant sinners, who finally see the light. The phrase “our report” can mean (1) the report which we deliver, or (2) the report which was delivered to us. The latter fits better here, where the report is most naturally taken as the announcement that has just been made in 52:13-15.
20 tn Heb “to whom” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
21 tn Heb “the arm of the Lord.” The “arm of the Lord” is a metaphor of military power; it pictures the Lord as a warrior who bares his arm, takes up his weapon, and crushes his enemies (cf. 51:9-10; 63:5-6). But Israel had not seen the Lord’s military power at work in the servant.
22 tn Heb “holy” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT); NIV “sacred.”
23 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
