Isaiah 1:2
Context1:2 Listen, O heavens,
pay attention, O earth! 1
For the Lord speaks:
“I raised children, 2 I brought them up, 3
but 4 they have rebelled 5 against me!
Isaiah 1:17
Context1:17 Learn to do what is right!
Promote justice!
Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! 6
Take up the cause of the orphan!
Defend the rights of the widow! 7
Isaiah 2:10
Context2:10 Go up into the rocky cliffs,
hide in the ground.
Get away from the dreadful judgment of the Lord, 8
from his royal splendor!
Isaiah 5:11
Context5:11 Those who get up early to drink beer are as good as dead, 9
those who keep drinking long after dark
until they are intoxicated with wine. 10
Isaiah 7:6
Context7:6 They say, “Let’s attack Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it. 11 Then we’ll set up the son of Tabeel as its king.” 12
Isaiah 8:16
Context8:16 Tie up the scroll as legal evidence, 13
seal the official record of God’s instructions and give it to my followers. 14
Isaiah 9:3
Context9:3 You 15 have enlarged the nation;
you give them great joy. 16
They rejoice in your presence
as harvesters rejoice;
as warriors celebrate 17 when they divide up the plunder.
Isaiah 10:16
Context10:16 For this reason 18 the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, will make his healthy ones emaciated. 19 His majestic glory will go up in smoke. 20
Isaiah 13:17
Context13:17 Look, I am stirring up the Medes to attack them; 21
they are not concerned about silver,
nor are they interested in gold. 22
Isaiah 13:22
Context13:22 Wild dogs will yip in her ruined fortresses,
jackals will yelp in the once-splendid palaces. 23
Her time is almost up, 24
her days will not be prolonged. 25
Isaiah 14:8
Context14:8 The evergreens also rejoice over your demise, 26
as do the cedars of Lebanon, singing, 27
‘Since you fell asleep, 28
no woodsman comes up to chop us down!’ 29
Isaiah 15:6
Context15:6 For the waters of Nimrim are gone; 30
the grass is dried up,
the vegetation has disappeared,
and there are no plants.
Isaiah 22:1
Context22:1 Here is a message about the Valley of Vision: 31
What is the reason 32
that all of you go up to the rooftops?
Isaiah 22:9
Context22:9 You saw the many breaks
in the walls of the city of David; 33
you stored up water in the lower pool.
Isaiah 23:12
Context23:12 He said,
“You will no longer celebrate,
oppressed 34 virgin daughter Sidon!
Get up, travel to Cyprus,
but you will find no relief there.” 35
Isaiah 24:22
Context24:22 They will be imprisoned in a pit, 36
locked up in a prison,
and after staying there for a long time, 37 they will be punished. 38
Isaiah 25:7
Context25:7 On this mountain he will swallow up
the shroud that is over all the peoples, 39
the woven covering that is over all the nations; 40
Isaiah 32:7
Context32:7 A deceiver’s methods are evil; 41
he dreams up evil plans 42
to ruin the poor with lies,
even when the needy are in the right. 43
Isaiah 36:1
Context36:1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, 44 King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
Isaiah 37:14
Context37:14 Hezekiah took the letter 45 from the messengers and read it. 46 Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord.
Isaiah 40:7
Context40:7 The grass dries up,
the flowers wither,
when the wind sent by the Lord 47 blows on them.
Surely humanity 48 is like grass.
Isaiah 40:11
Context40:11 Like a shepherd he tends his flock;
he gathers up the lambs with his arm;
he carries them close to his heart; 49
he leads the ewes along.
Isaiah 51:15
Context51:15 I am the Lord your God,
who churns up the sea so that its waves surge.
The Lord who commands armies is his name!
Isaiah 53:4
Context53:4 But he lifted up our illnesses,
he carried our pain; 50
even though we thought he was being punished,
attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done. 51
Isaiah 57:20
Context57:20 But the wicked are like a surging sea
that is unable to be quiet;
its waves toss up mud and sand.
1 sn The personified heavens and earth are summoned to God’s courtroom as witnesses against God’s covenant people. Long before this Moses warned the people that the heavens and earth would be watching their actions (see Deut 4:26; 30:19; 31:28; 32:1).
2 tn Or “sons” (NAB, NASB).
sn “Father” and “son” occur as common terms in ancient Near Eastern treaties and covenants, delineating the suzerain and vassal as participants in the covenant relationship. The prophet uses these terms, the reference to heavens and earth as witnesses, and allusions to deuteronomic covenant curses (1:7-9, 19-20) to set his prophecy firmly against the backdrop of Israel’s covenantal relationship with Yahweh.
3 sn The normal word pair for giving birth to and raising children is יָלַד (yalad, “to give birth to”) and גָּדַל (gadal, “to grow, raise”). The pair גָּדַל and רוּם (rum, “to raise up”) probably occur here to highlight the fact that Yahweh made something important of Israel (cf. R. Mosis, TDOT 2:403).
4 sn Against the backdrop of Yahweh’s care for his chosen people, Israel’s rebellion represents abhorrent treachery. The conjunction prefixed to a nonverbal element highlights the sad contrast between Yahweh’s compassionate care for His people and Israel’s thankless rebellion.
5 sn To rebel carries the idea of “covenant treachery.” Although an act of פֶּשַׁע (pesha’, “rebellion”) often signifies a breach of the law, the legal offense also represents a violation of an existing covenantal relationship (E. Carpenter and M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 3:707).
6 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.”
7 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.
8 tn Heb “from the dread of the Lord,” that is, from the dread that he produces in the objects of his judgment.” The words “get away” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
9 tn Heb “Woe [to] those who arise early in the morning, [who] chase beer.”
10 tn Heb “[who] delay until dark, [until] wine enflames them.”
sn This verse does not condemn drinking per se, but refers to the carousing lifestyle of the rich bureaucrats, made possible by wealth taken from the poor. Their carousing is not the fundamental problem, but a disgusting symptom of the real disease – their social injustice.
11 tn Heb “and let us break it open for ourselves”; NASB “make for ourselves a breach in its walls”; NLT “fight our way into.”
12 tn Heb “and we will make the son of Tabeel king in its midst.”
sn The precise identity of this would-be puppet king is unknown. He may have been a Syrian official or the ruler of one of the small neighboring states. See Y. Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 370.
13 tn Heb “tie up [the] testimony.” The “testimony” probably refers to the prophetic messages God has given him. When the prophecies are fulfilled, he will be able to produce this official, written record to confirm the authenticity of his ministry and to prove to the people that God is sovereign over events.
14 tn Heb “seal [the] instruction among my followers.” The “instruction” probably refers to the prophet’s exhortations and warnings. When the people are judged for the sins, the prophet can produce these earlier messages and essentially say, “I told you so.” In this way he can authenticate his ministry and impress upon the people the reality of God’s authority over them.
15 sn The Lord is addressed directly in vv. 3-4.
16 tc The Hebrew consonantal text reads “You multiply the nation, you do not make great the joy.” The particle לֹא (lo’, “not”) is obviously incorrect; the marginal reading has לוֹ (lo, “to him”). In this case, one should translate, “You multiply the nation, you increase his (i.e., their) joy.” However, the parallelism is tighter if one emends הַגּוֹי לוֹ (hagoy lo, “the nation, to him”) to הַגִּילָה (haggilah, “the joy,” a noun attested in Isa 65:18), which corresponds to הַשִּׂמְחָה (hasimkhah, “the joy”) later in the verse (H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:386). As attractive as this reading is, it has not textual evidence supporting it. The MT reading (accepting the marginal reading “to him” for the negative particle “not”) affirms that Yahweh caused the nation to grow in population and increased their joy.
17 tn Heb “as they are happy.” The word “warriors” is supplied in the translation to clarify the word picture. This last simile comes close to reality, for vv. 4-5 indicate that the people have won a great military victory over their oppressors.
18 sn The irrational arrogance of the Assyrians (v. 15) will prompt the judgment about to be described.
19 tn Heb “will send leanness against his healthy ones”; NASB, NIV “will send a wasting disease.”
20 tc Heb “and in the place of his glory burning will burn, like the burning of fire.” The highly repetitive text (יֵקַד יְקֹד כִּיקוֹד אֵשׁ, yeqad yiqod kiqod ’esh) may be dittographic; if the second consonantal sequence יקד is omitted, the text would read “and in the place of his glory, it will burn like the burning of fire.”
21 tn Heb “against them”; NLT “against Babylon.”
22 sn They cannot be bought off, for they have a lust for bloodshed.
23 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “wild dogs will yip among his widows, and jackals in the palaces of pleasure.” The verb “yip” is supplied in the second line; it does double duty in the parallel structure. “His widows” makes little sense in this context; many emend the form (אַלְמנוֹתָיו, ’almnotayv) to the graphically similar אַרְמְנוֹתֶיהָ (’armÿnoteha, “her fortresses”), a reading that is assumed in the present translation. The use of “widows” may represent an intentional wordplay on “fortresses,” indicating that the fortresses are like dejected widows (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:308, n. 1).
24 tn Heb “near to come is her time.”
25 sn When was the prophecy of Babylon’s fall fulfilled? Some argue that the prophecy was fulfilled in 689
26 tn Heb “concerning you.”
27 tn The word “singing” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. Note that the personified trees speak in the second half of the verse.
28 tn Heb “lay down” (in death); cf. NAB “laid to rest.”
29 tn Heb “the [wood]cutter does not come up against us.”
30 tn Heb “are waste places”; cf. NRSV “are a desolation.”
31 sn The following message pertains to Jerusalem. The significance of referring to the city as the Valley of Vision is uncertain. Perhaps the Hinnom Valley is in view, but why it is associated with a prophetic revelatory “vision” is not entirely clear. Maybe the Hinnom Valley is called this because the destruction that will take place there is the focal point of this prophetic message (see v. 5).
32 tn Heb “What to you, then?”
33 tn Heb “the breaks of the city of David, you saw that they were many.”
34 tn Or “violated, raped,” the point being that Daughter Sidon has lost her virginity in the most brutal manner possible.
35 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.
36 tn Heb “they will be gathered [in] a gathering [as] a prisoner in a cistern.” It is tempting to eliminate אֲסֵפָה (’asefah, “a gathering”) as dittographic or as a gloss, but sound repetition is one of the main characteristics of the style of this section of the chapter.
37 tn Heb “and after a multitude of days.”
38 tn Heb “visited” (so KJV, ASV). This verse can mean to visit for good or for evil. The translation assumes the latter, based on v. 21a. However, BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד B.Niph.2 suggests the meaning “visit graciously” here, in which case one might translate “they will be released.”
39 tn The Hebrew text reads, “the face of the shroud, the shroud over all the nations.” Some emend the second הַלּוֹט (hallot) to a passive participle הַלּוּט (hallut, “that is wrapped”).
40 sn The point of the imagery is unclear. Perhaps the shroud/covering referred to was associated with death in some way (see v. 8).
41 tn Heb “as for a deceiver, his implements [or “weapons”] are evil.”
42 tn Or “he plans evil things”; NIV “he makes up evil schemes.”
43 tn Heb “to ruin the poor with words of falsehood, even when the needy speak what is just.”
44 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
45 tc The Hebrew text has the plural, “letters.” The final mem (ם) may be dittographic (note the initial mem on the form that immediately follows). Some Greek and Aramaic witnesses have the singular. If so, one still has to deal with the yod that is part of the plural ending. J. N. Oswalt refers to various commentators who have suggested ways to understand the plural form (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:652).
46 tn In the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:14 the verb has the plural suffix, “them,” but this probably reflects a later harmonization to the preceding textual corruption (of “letter” to “letters”).
47 tn The Hebrew text has רוּחַ יְהוָה (ruakh yehvah), which in this context probably does not refer to the Lord’s personal Spirit. The phrase is better translated “the breath of the Lord,” or “the wind of [i.e., sent by] the Lord.” The Lord’s sovereign control over nature, including the hot desert winds that dry up vegetation, is in view here (cf. Ps 147:18; Isa 59:19).
48 tn Heb “the people” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
49 tn Heb “in his bosom” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV), an expression which reflects closeness and protective care.
50 sn Illness and pain stand by metonymy (or perhaps as metaphors) for sin and its effects, as vv. 11-12 make clear.
51 tn The words “for something he had done” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The group now realizes he suffered because of his identification with them, not simply because he was a special target of divine anger.