Discovery BoxIsaiah 18:5 
Context18:5 For before the harvest, when the bud has sprouted,
and the ripening fruit appears, 1
he will cut off the unproductive shoots 2 with pruning knives;
he will prune the tendrils. 3
Isaiah 22:2
Context22:2 The noisy city is full of raucous sounds;
the town is filled with revelry. 4
Your slain were not cut down by the sword;
they did not die in battle. 5
Isaiah 37:7
Context37:7 Look, I will take control of his mind; 6 he will receive a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down 7 with a sword in his own land.”’”
Isaiah 53:8
Context53:8 He was led away after an unjust trial 8 –
but who even cared? 9
Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living; 10
because of the rebellion of his own 11 people he was wounded.
1 tn Heb “and the unripe, ripening fruit is maturing.”
2 tn On the meaning of זַלְזַל (zalzal, “shoot [of the vine] without fruit buds”) see HALOT 272 s.v. *זַלְזַל.
3 tn Heb “the tendrils he will remove, he will cut off.”
4 tn Heb “the boisterous town.” The phrase is parallel to “the noisy city” in the preceding line.
5 sn Apparently they died from starvation during the siege that preceded the final conquest of the city. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:409.
6 tn Heb “I will put in him a spirit.” The precise sense of רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) is uncertain in this context. It may refer to a spiritual being who will take control of his mind (see 1 Kgs 22:19), or it could refer to a disposition of concern and fear. In either case the Lord’s sovereignty over the king is apparent.
7 tn Heb “cause him to fall” (so KJV, ASV, NAB), that is, “kill him.”
8 tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The present translation assumes that מִן (min) here has an instrumental sense (“by, through”) and understands עֹצֶר וּמִמִּשְׁפָּט (’otser umimmishpat, “coercion and legal decision”) as a hendiadys meaning “coercive legal decision,” thus “an unjust trial.” Other interpretive options include: (1) “without [for this sense of מִן, see BDB 578 s.v. 1.b] hindrance and proper judicial process,” i.e., “unfairly and with no one to defend him,” (2) “from [in the sense of “after,” see BDB 581 s.v. 4.b] arrest and judgment.”
9 tn Heb “and his generation, who considers?” (NASB similar). Some understand “his generation” as a reference to descendants. In this case the question would suggest that he will have none. However, אֶת (’et) may be taken here as specifying a new subject (see BDB 85 s.v. I אֵת 3). If “his generation” refers to the servant’s contemporary generation, one may then translate, “As for his contemporary generation, who took note?” The point would be that few were concerned about the harsh treatment he received.
10 sn The “land of the living” is an idiom for the sphere where people live, in contrast to the underworld realm of the dead. See, for example, Ezek 32:23-27.
11 tn The Hebrew text reads “my people,” a reading followed by most English versions, but this is problematic in a context where the first person plural predominates, and where God does not appear to speak again until v. 11b. Therefore, it is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa עמו (“his people”). In this case, the group speaking in these verses is identified as the servant’s people (compare פְּשָׁעֵנוּ [pÿsha’enu, “our rebellious deeds”] in v. 5 with פֶּשַׁע עַמִּי [pesha’ ’ammi, “the rebellion of his people”] in v. 8).
