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 40:1
Context40:1 “Comfort, comfort my people,”
says your 3 God.
Isaiah 54:2
Context54:2 Make your tent larger,
stretch your tent curtains farther out! 4
Spare no effort,
lengthen your ropes,
and pound your stakes deep. 5
Isaiah 59:2-3
Context59:2 But your sinful acts have alienated you from your God;
your sins have caused him to reject you and not listen to your prayers. 6
59:3 For your hands are stained with blood
and your fingers with sin;
your lips speak lies,
your tongue utters malicious words.
Isaiah 60:20
Context60:20 Your sun will no longer set;
your moon will not disappear; 7
the Lord will be your permanent source of light;
your time 8 of sorrow will be over.
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 The pronominal suffix is second masculine plural. The identity of the addressee is uncertain: (1) God’s people may be addressed, or (2) the unidentified heralds commanded to comfort Jerusalem.
4 tn Heb “the curtains of our dwelling places let them stretch out.”
5 tn Heb “your stakes strengthen.”
6 tn Heb “and your sins have caused [his] face to be hidden from you so as not to hear.”
7 sn In this verse “sun” and “moon” refer to the Lord’s light, which will replace the sun and moon (see v. 19). Light here symbolizes the restoration of divine blessing and prosperity in conjunction with the Lord’s presence. See 30:26.
8 tn Heb “days” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
