¹ sn Having summoned the witnesses and announced the Lord’s accusation against Israel, Isaiah mourns the nation’s impending doom. The third person references to the Lord in the second half of the verse suggest that the quotation from the Lord (cf. vv. 2-3) has concluded.

² tn Heb “Woe [to the] sinful nation.” The Hebrew term הוֹי, (hoy, “woe, ah”) was used in funeral laments (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5) and carries the connotation of death. In highly dramatic fashion the prophet acts out Israel’s funeral in advance, emphasizing that their demise is inevitable if they do not repent soon.

³ tn Or “sons” (NASB). The prophet contrasts four terms of privilege – nation, people, offspring, children – with four terms that depict Israel’s sinful condition in Isaiah’s day – sinful, evil, wrong, wicked (see J. A. Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, 43).

⁴ sn Holy One of Israel is one of Isaiah’s favorite divine titles for God. It pictures the Lord as the sovereign king who rules over his covenant people and exercises moral authority over them.

⁵ tn Heb “they are estranged backward.” The LXX omits this statement, which presents syntactical problems and seems to be outside the synonymous parallelistic structure of the verse.

⁶ tn Heb “a tongue of fire” (so NASB), referring to a tongue-shaped flame.

⁷ sn They are compared to a flowering plant that withers quickly in a hot, arid climate.

⁸ tn Heb “the word.”

⁹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

¹⁰ tn Or “be burned” (NRSV); NIV “laid waste.”

¹¹ tn Heb “like a massive tree or like a big tree” (perhaps, “like a terebinth or like an oak”).

¹² tn The Hebrew text has “which in the felling, a sacred pillar in them.” Some take מַצֶּבֶת (matsevet) as “stump,” and translate, “which, when chopped down, have a stump remaining in them.” But elsewhere מַצֶּבֶת refers to a memorial pillar (2 Sam 18:18) and the word resembles מַצֶּבָה (matsevah, “sacred pillar”). בָּם (bam, “in them”) may be a corruption of בָּמָה (bamah, “high place”; the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has במה). אֳשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) becomes a problem in this case, but one might emend the form to וּכְּאֲשֵׁרָה (ukÿ’asherah, “or like an Asherah pole”) and translate, “like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole.” Though the text is difficult, the references to sacred trees and a sacred pillar suggest that the destruction of a high place is in view, an apt metaphor for the judgment of idolatrous Judah.

¹³ tn Heb “a holy offspring [is] its sacred pillar.” If מַצֶּבֶת (matsevet) is taken as “stump,” one can see in this statement a brief glimpse of hope. The tree (the nation) is chopped down, but the stump (a righteous remnant) remains from which God can restore the nation. However, if מַצֶּבֶת is taken as “sacred pillar” (מַצֶּבָה, matsevah; see the previous note), it is much more difficult to take the final statement in a positive sense. In this case “holy offspring” alludes to God’s ideal for his covenant people, the offspring of the patriarchs. Ironically that “holy” nation is more like a “sacred pillar” and it will be thrown down like a sacred pillar from a high place and its land destroyed like the sacred trees located at such shrines. Understood in this way, the ironic statement is entirely negative in tone, just like the rest of the preceding announcement of judgment. It also reminds the people of their failure; they did not oppose pagan religion, instead they embraced it. Now they will be destroyed in the same way they should have destroyed paganism.

¹⁴ tn Heb “I will make her into a possession of wild animals.” It is uncertain what type of animal קִפֹּד (qippod) refers to. Some suggest a rodent (cf. NASB, NRSV “hedgehog”), others an owl (cf, NAB, NIV, TEV).

¹⁵ tn Heb “I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “Its shattering is like the shattering of a jug of [i.e., “made by”] potters, [so] shattered one cannot save [any of it].”

¹⁷ tn The words “large enough” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

¹⁸ tn Heb “to remove fire from the place of kindling.”

¹⁹ tn On the meaning of גֶבֶא (geveh, “cistern”) see HALOT 170 s.v.

²⁰ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who go down to Egypt for help.”

²¹ tn Heb “and trust in chariots for they are many.”

²² tn Heb “and in horsemen for they are very strong [or “numerous”].”

²³ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

²⁴ tn The words “who announced it” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The interrogative particle and verb are understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line).

²⁵ tn There is no formal interrogative sign here, but the context seems to indicate these are rhetorical questions. See GKC 473 §150.a.

²⁶ tn Heb “Declare! Bring near!”; NASB “Declare and set forth your case.” See 41:21.

²⁷ tn Or “a righteous God and deliverer”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “a righteous God and a Savior.”

²⁸ tn Heb “from the womb” (so KJV, NASB).

²⁹ tn The words “he did this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct of purpose is subordinated to the previous statement.

³⁰ tn The vav (ו) + imperfect is translated here as a result clause; one might interpret it as indicating purpose, “and so I might be honored.”

³¹ tn Heb “and my God is [perhaps, “having been”] my strength.” The disjunctive structure (vav [ו] + subject + verb) is interpreted here as indicating a causal circumstantial clause.

³² tn The Hebrew text has קִבּוּצַיִךְ (qibbutsayikh, “your gatherings”), an otherwise unattested noun from the verbal root קָבַץ (qavats, “gather”). Perhaps this alludes to their religious assemblies and by metonymy to their rituals. Since idolatry is a prominent theme in the context, some understand this as a reference to a collection of idols. The second half of the verse also favors this view.

³³ tn Heb “all of them a wind lifts up.”

³⁴ tn Heb “a breath takes [them] away.”

³⁵ tn Or “seeks refuge in me.” “Seeking refuge” is a metonymy for “being loyal to.”

³⁶ tn Heb “possess, own.” The point seems to be that he will have free access to God’s presence, as if God’s temple mount were his personal possession.

³⁷ tn Or “islands” (NIV); CEV “distant islands”; TEV “distant lands.”

³⁸ tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” See the note at 2:16.

³⁹ tn Heb “to the name of the Lord your God.”

⁴⁰ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

⁴¹ sn Nations, headed by Edom, are the object of the Lord’s anger (see v. 6). He compares military slaughter to stomping on grapes in a vat.

⁴² tn Heb “and I stained.” For discussion of the difficult verb form, see HALOT 170 s.v. II גאל. Perhaps the form is mixed, combining the first person forms of the imperfect (note the alef prefix) and perfect (note the תי- ending).

⁴³ tn The precise meaning of the noun is uncertain. It occurs only here and in 3:4 (but see the note there). It appears to be derived from the verbal root עָלַל (’alal), which can carry the nuance “deal severely.”

⁴⁴ tn Heb “that which is evil in my eyes.”

⁴⁵ tn Heb “land,” but here אֶרֶץ (’erets) stands metonymically for an organized nation (see the following line).