Discovery BoxIsaiah 23:13 
Context23:13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans,
these people who have lost their identity! 1
The Assyrians have made it a home for wild animals.
They erected their siege towers, 2
demolished 3 its fortresses,
and turned it into a heap of ruins. 4
Isaiah 30:14
Context30:14 It shatters in pieces like a clay jar,
so shattered to bits that none of it can be salvaged. 5
Among its fragments one cannot find a shard large enough 6
to scoop a hot coal from a fire 7
or to skim off water from a cistern.” 8
Isaiah 36:11
Context36:11 Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, 9 for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect 10 in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”
Isaiah 37:26
Context37:26 11 Certainly you must have heard! 12
Long ago I worked it out,
in ancient times I planned 13 it,
and now I am bringing it to pass.
The plan is this:
Fortified cities will crash
into heaps of ruins. 14
Isaiah 40:22
Context40:22 He is the one who sits on the earth’s horizon; 15
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him. 16
He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain, 17
and spreads it out 18 like a pitched tent. 19
Isaiah 44:8
Context44:8 Don’t panic! Don’t be afraid! 20
Did I not tell you beforehand and decree it?
You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me?
There is no other sheltering rock; 21 I know of none.
Isaiah 55:11
Context55:11 In the same way, the promise that I make
does not return to me, having accomplished nothing. 22
No, it is realized as I desire
and is fulfilled as I intend.” 23
1 tn Heb “this people [that] is not.”
2 tn For the meaning of this word, see HALOT 118 s.v. *בַּחוּן.
3 tn Or “laid bare.” For the meaning of this word, see HALOT 889 s.v. ערר.
4 sn This verse probably refers to the Assyrian destruction of Babylon.
5 tn Heb “Its shattering is like the shattering of a jug of [i.e., “made by”] potters, [so] shattered one cannot save [any of it].”
6 tn The words “large enough” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
7 tn Heb “to remove fire from the place of kindling.”
8 tn On the meaning of גֶבֶא (geveh, “cistern”) see HALOT 170 s.v.
9 sn Aramaic was the diplomatic language of the Assyrian empire.
10 tn Or “in Hebrew” (NIV, NCV, NLT); NAB, NASB “in Judean.”
11 tn Having quoted the Assyrian king’s arrogant words in vv. 23-24, the Lord now speaks to the king.
12 tn Heb “Have you not heard?” The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s amazement that anyone might be ignorant of what he is about to say.
13 tn Heb “formed” (so KJV, ASV).
14 tn Heb “and it is to cause to crash into heaps of ruins fortified cities.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb תְהִי (tÿhi) is the implied plan, referred to in the preceding lines with third feminine singular pronominal suffixes.
15 tn Heb “the circle of the earth” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
16 tn The words “before him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
17 tn The otherwise unattested noun דֹּק (doq), translated here “thin curtain,” is apparently derived from the verbal root דקק (“crush”) from which is derived the adjective דַּק (daq, “thin”; see HALOT 229 s.v. דקק). The nuance “curtain” is implied from the parallelism (see “tent” in the next line).
18 tn The meaning of the otherwise unattested verb מָתַח (matakh, “spread out”) is determined from the parallelism (note the corresponding verb “stretch out” in the previous line) and supported by later Hebrew and Aramaic cognates. See HALOT 654 s.v. *מתה.
19 tn Heb “like a tent [in which] to live”; NAB, NASB “like a tent to dwell (live NIV, NRSV) in.”
20 tn BDB 923 s.v. רָהָה derives this verb from an otherwise unattested root, while HALOT 403 s.v. יָרָה defines it as “be stupefied” on the basis of an Arabic cognate. The form is likely a corruption of תיראו, the reading attested in the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa.
21 tn Heb “rock” or “rocky cliff,” a title that depicts God as a protective refuge in his role as sovereign king; thus the translation “sheltering rock.”
22 tn Heb “so is the word which goes out from my mouth, it does not return to empty.” “Word” refers here to divine promises, like the ones made just prior to and after this (see vv. 7b, 12-13).
23 tn Heb “but it accomplishes what I desire, and succeeds [on the mission] which I send it.”
sn Verses 8-11 focus on the reliability of the divine word and support the promises before (vv. 3-5, 7b) and after (vv. 12-13) this. Israel can be certain that repentance will bring forgiveness and a new covenantal relationship because God’s promises are reliable. In contrast to human plans (or “thoughts”), which are destined to fail (Ps 94:11) apart from divine approval (Prov 19:21), and human deeds (or “ways”), which are evil and lead to destruction (Prov 1:15-19; 3:31-33; 4:19), God’s plans are realized and his deeds accomplish something positive.
