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 5:4
Context5:4 What more can I do for my vineyard
beyond what I have already done?
When I waited for it to produce edible grapes,
why did it produce sour ones instead?
Isaiah 5:19
Context5:19 They say, “Let him hurry, let him act quickly, 4
so we can see;
let the plan of the Holy One of Israel 5 take shape 6 and come to pass,
then we will know it!”
Isaiah 5:29
Context5:29 Their roar is like a lion’s;
they roar like young lions.
They growl and seize their prey;
they drag it away and no one can come to the rescue.
Isaiah 10:2
Context10:2 to keep the poor from getting fair treatment,
and to deprive 7 the oppressed among my people of justice,
so they can steal what widows own,
and loot what belongs to orphans. 8
Isaiah 20:6
Context20:6 At that time 9 those who live on this coast 10 will say, ‘Look what has happened to our source of hope to whom we fled for help, expecting to be rescued from the king of Assyria! How can we escape now?’”
Isaiah 47:10
Context47:10 You were complacent in your evil deeds; 11
you thought, 12 ‘No one sees me.’
Your self-professed 13 wisdom and knowledge lead you astray,
when you say, ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me!’ 14
Isaiah 49:20
Context49:20 Yet the children born during your time of bereavement
will say within your hearing,
‘This place is too cramped for us, 15
make room for us so we can live here.’ 16
Isaiah 50:4
Context50:4 The sovereign Lord has given me the capacity to be his spokesman, 17
so that I know how to help the weary. 18
He wakes me up every morning;
he makes me alert so I can listen attentively as disciples do. 19
Isaiah 51:23
Context51:23 I will put it into the hand of your tormentors 20
who said to you, ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you.’
You made your back like the ground,
and like the street for those who walked over you.”
Isaiah 55:3
Context55:3 Pay attention and come to me!
Listen, so you can live! 21
Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to 22 you,
just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. 23
Isaiah 64:5
Context64:5 You assist 24 those who delight in doing what is right, 25
who observe your commandments. 26
Look, you were angry because we violated them continually.
How then can we be saved? 27
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 tn Heb “let his work hurry, let it hasten.” The pronoun “his” refers to God, as the parallel line makes clear. The reference to his “work” alludes back to v. 12, which refers to his ‘work” of judgment. With these words the people challenged the prophet’s warning of approaching judgment. They were in essence saying that they saw no evidence that God was about to work in such a way.
5 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
6 tn Heb “draw near” (so NASB); NRSV “hasten to fulfillment.”
7 tn Or “rob” (ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV); KJV “take away the right from the poor.”
8 tn Heb “so that widows are their plunder, and they can loot orphans.”
sn On the socio-economic background of vv. 1-2, see the note at 1:23.
9 tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).
10 sn This probably refers to the coastal region of Philistia (cf. TEV).
11 tn Heb “you trusted in your evil”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “wickedness.”
12 tn Or “said”; NAB “said to yourself”’ NASB “said in your heart.”
13 tn The words “self-professed” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
15 tn Heb “me.” The singular is collective.
16 tn Heb “draw near to me so I can dwell.”
17 tn Heb “has given to me a tongue of disciples.”
sn Verses 4-11 contain the third of the so-called servant songs, which depict the career of the Lord’s special servant, envisioned as an ideal Israel (49:3) who rescues the exiles and fulfills God’s purposes for the world. Here the servant alludes to opposition (something hinted at in 49:4), but also expresses his determination to persevere with the Lord’s help.
18 tc Heb “to know [?] the weary with a word.” Comparing it with Arabic and Aramaic cognates yields the meaning of “help, sustain.” Nevertheless, the meaning of עוּת (’ut) is uncertain. The word occurs only here in the OT (see BDB 736 s.v.). Various scholars have suggested an emendation to עָנוֹת (’anot) from עָנָה (’anah, “answer”): “so that I know how to respond kindly to the weary.” Since the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa and the Vulgate support the MT reading, that reading is retained.
19 tn Heb “he arouses for me an ear, to hear like disciples.”
20 tn That is, to make them drink it.
21 tn The jussive with vav (ו) conjunctive following the imperative indicates purpose/result.
sn To live here refers to covenantal blessing, primarily material prosperity and national security (see vv. 4-5, 13, and Deut 30:6, 15, 19-20).
22 tn Or “an eternal covenant with.”
23 tn Heb “the reliable expressions of loyalty of David.” The syntactical relationship of חַסְדֵי (khasde, “expressions of loyalty”) to the preceding line is unclear. If the term is appositional to בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”), then the Lord here transfers the promises of the Davidic covenant to the entire nation. Another option is to take חַסְדֵי (khasde) as an adverbial accusative and to translate “according to the reliable covenantal promises.” In this case the new covenantal arrangement proposed here is viewed as an extension or perhaps fulfillment of the Davidic promises. A third option, the one reflected in the above translation, is to take the last line as comparative. In this case the new covenant being proposed is analogous to the Davidic covenant. Verses 4-5, which compare David’s international prominence to what Israel will experience, favors this view. In all three of these interpretations, “David” is an objective genitive; he is the recipient of covenantal promises. A fourth option would be to take David as a subjective genitive and understand the line as giving the basis for the preceding promise: “Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, because of David’s faithful acts of covenantal loyalty.”
24 tn Heb “meet [with kindness].”
25 tn Heb “the one who rejoices and does righteousness.”
26 tn Heb “in your ways they remember you.”
27 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “look, you were angry and we sinned against them continually [or perhaps, “in ancient times”] and we were delivered.” The statement makes little sense as it stands. The first vav [ו] consecutive (“and we sinned”) must introduce an explanatory clause here (see Num 1:48 and Isa 39:1 for other examples of this relatively rare use of the vav [ו] consecutive). The final verb (if rendered positively) makes no sense in this context – God’s anger at their sin resulted in judgment, not deliverance. One of the alternatives involves an emendation to וַנִּרְשָׁע (vannirsha’, “and we were evil”; LXX, NRSV, TEV). The Vulgate and the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa support the MT reading. One can either accept an emendation or cast the statement as a question (as above).
