Discovery BoxIsaiah 2:21 
Context2:21 so they themselves can go into the crevices of the rocky cliffs
and the openings under the rocky overhangs, 1
trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord 2
and his royal splendor,
when he rises up to terrify the earth. 3
Isaiah 3:9
Context3:9 The look on their faces 4 testifies to their guilt; 5
like the people of Sodom they openly boast of their sin. 6
Too bad for them! 7
For they bring disaster on themselves.
Isaiah 47:14
Context47:14 Look, they are like straw,
which the fire burns up;
they cannot rescue themselves
from the heat 8 of the flames.
There are no coals to warm them,
no firelight to enjoy. 9
Isaiah 56:2
Context56:2 The people who do this will be blessed, 10
the people who commit themselves to obedience, 11
who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it,
who refrain from doing anything that is wrong. 12
1 sn The precise point of vv. 20-21 is not entirely clear. Are they taking the idols into their hiding places with them, because they are so attached to their man-made images? Or are they discarding the idols along the way as they retreat into the darkest places they can find? In either case it is obvious that the gods are incapable of helping them.
2 tn Heb “from the dread of the Lord,” that is, from the dread that he produces in the objects of his judgment.” The words “trying to escape” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
3 tn Or “land.” It is not certain if these verses are describing the judgment of Judah (see vv. 6-9) or a more universal judgment on all proud men. Almost all English versions translate “earth,” taking this to refer to universal judgment.
4 sn This refers to their proud, arrogant demeanor.
5 tn Heb “answers against them”; NRSV “bears witness against them.”
6 tn Heb “their sin, like Sodom, they declare, they do not conceal [it].”
7 tn Heb “woe to their soul.”
8 tn Heb “hand,” here a metaphor for the strength or power of the flames.
9 tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “there is no coal [for?] their food, light to sit before it.” Some emend לַחְמָם (lakhmam, “their food”) to לְחֻמָּם (lÿkhummam, “to warm them”; see HALOT 328 s.v. חמם). This statement may allude to Isa 44:16, where idolaters are depicted warming themselves over a fire made from wood, part of which was used to form idols. The fire of divine judgment will be no such campfire; its flames will devour and destroy.
10 tn Heb “blessed is the man who does this.”
11 tn Heb “the son of mankind who takes hold of it.”
12 tn Heb and who keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
