Discovery BoxIsaiah 1:7 
Context1:7 Your land is devastated,
your cities burned with fire.
Right before your eyes your crops
are being destroyed by foreign invaders. 1
They leave behind devastation and destruction. 2
Isaiah 1:31
Context1:31 The powerful will be like 3 a thread of yarn,
their deeds like a spark;
both will burn together,
and no one will put out the fire.
Isaiah 9:5
Context9:5 Indeed every boot that marches and shakes the earth 4
and every garment dragged through blood
is used as fuel for the fire.
Isaiah 9:18
Context9:18 For 5 evil burned like a fire, 6
it consumed thorns and briers;
it burned up the thickets of the forest,
and they went up in smoke. 7
Isaiah 27:4
Context27:4 I am not angry.
I wish I could confront some thorns and briers!
Then I would march against them 8 for battle;
I would set them 9 all on fire,
Isaiah 30:27
Context30:27 Look, the name 10 of the Lord comes from a distant place
in raging anger and awesome splendor. 11
He speaks angrily
and his word is like destructive fire. 12
Isaiah 30:30
Context30:30 The Lord will give a mighty shout 13
and intervene in power, 14
with furious anger and flaming, destructive fire, 15
with a driving rainstorm and hailstones.
Isaiah 33:12
Context33:12 The nations will be burned to ashes; 16
like thorn bushes that have been cut down, they will be set on fire.
Isaiah 54:16
Context54:16 Look, I create the craftsman,
who fans the coals into a fire
and forges a weapon. 17
I create the destroyer so he might devastate.
Isaiah 64:11
Context64:11 Our holy temple, our pride and joy, 18
the place where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned with fire;
all our prized possessions have been destroyed. 19
Isaiah 66:15
Context66:15 For look, the Lord comes with fire,
his chariots come like a windstorm, 20
to reveal his raging anger,
his battle cry, and his flaming arrows. 21
1 tn Heb “As for your land, before you foreigners are devouring it.”
2 tn Heb “and [there is] devastation like an overthrow by foreigners.” The comparative preposition כְּ (kÿ, “like, as”) has here the rhetorical nuance, “in every way like.” The point is that the land has all the earmarks of a destructive foreign invasion because that is what has indeed happened. One could paraphrase, “it is desolate as it can only be when foreigners destroy.” On this use of the preposition in general, see GKC 376 §118.x. Many also prefer to emend “foreigners” here to “Sodom,” though there is no external attestation for such a reading in the
3 tn Heb “will become” (so NASB, NIV).
4 tn Heb “Indeed every boot marching with shaking.” On the meaning of סְאוֹן (sÿ’on, “boot”) and the related denominative verb, both of which occur only here, see HALOT 738 s.v. סְאוֹן.
5 tn Or “Indeed” (cf. NIV “Surely”). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
6 sn Evil was uncontrollable and destructive, and so can be compared to a forest fire.
7 tn Heb “and they swirled [with] the rising of the smoke” (cf. NRSV).
8 tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense. For other examples of a cohortative expressing resolve after a hypothetical statement introduced by נָתַן with מִי (miwith natan), see Judg 9:29; Jer 9:1-2; Ps 55:6.
9 tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense.
10 sn The “name” of the Lord sometimes stands by metonymy for the Lord himself, see Exod 23:21; Lev 24:11; Pss 54:1 (54:3 HT); 124:8. In Isa 30:27 the point is that he reveals that aspect of his character which his name suggests – he comes as Yahweh (“he is present”), the ever present helper of his people who annihilates their enemies and delivers them. The name “Yahweh” originated in a context where God assured a fearful Moses that he would be with him as he confronted Pharaoh and delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt. See Exod 3.
11 tn Heb “his anger burns, and heaviness of elevation.” The meaning of the phrase “heaviness of elevation” is unclear, for מַשָּׂאָה (masa’ah, “elevation”) occurs only here. Some understand the term as referring to a cloud (elevated above the earth’s surface), in which case one might translate, “and in heavy clouds” (cf. NAB “with lowering clouds”). Others relate the noun to מָשָׂא (masa’, “burden”) and interpret it as a reference to judgment. In this case one might translate, “and with severe judgment.” The present translation assumes that the noun refers to his glory and that “heaviness” emphasizes its degree.
12 tn Heb “his lips are full of anger, and his tongue is like consuming fire.” The Lord’s lips and tongue are used metonymically for his word (or perhaps his battle cry; see v. 31).
13 tn Heb “the Lord will cause the splendor of his voice to be heard.”
14 tn Heb “and reveal the lowering of his arm.”
15 tn Heb “and a flame of consuming fire.”
16 tn Heb “will be a burning to lime.” See Amos 2:1.
17 tn Heb “who brings out an implement for his work.”
18 tn Heb “our source of pride.”
19 tn Or “all that we valued has become a ruin.”
20 sn Chariots are like a windstorm in their swift movement and in the way that they kick up dust.
21 tn Heb “to cause to return with the rage of his anger, and his battle cry [or “rebuke”] with flames of fire.”
