Discovery BoxIsaiah 28:15 
Context28:15 For you say,
“We have made a treaty with death,
with Sheol 1 we have made an agreement. 2
When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by 3
it will not reach us.
For we have made a lie our refuge,
we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.” 4
Isaiah 31:6
Context31:6 You Israelites! Return to the one against whom you have so blatantly rebelled! 5
Isaiah 34:12
Context34:12 Her nobles will have nothing left to call a kingdom
and all her officials will disappear. 6
Isaiah 35:3
Context35:3 Strengthen the hands that have gone limp,
steady the knees that shake! 7
Isaiah 41:8
Context41:8 “You, my servant Israel,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
offspring of Abraham my friend, 8
Isaiah 49:16
Context49:16 Look, I have inscribed your name 9 on my palms;
your walls are constantly before me.
1 sn Sheol is the underworld, land of the dead, according to the OT world view.
2 tn Elsewhere the noun חֹזֶה (khozeh) refers to a prophet who sees visions. In v. 18 the related term חָזוּת (khazut, “vision”) is used. The parallelism in both verses (note “treaty”) seems to demand a meaning “agreement” for both nouns. Perhaps חֹזֶה and חזוּת are used in a metonymic sense in vv. 15 and 18. Another option is to propose a homonymic root. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:514, and HALOT 301 s.v. II חֹזֶה.
3 tn Heb “the overwhelming scourge, when it passes by” (NRSV similar).
4 sn “Lie” and “deceitful word” would not be the terms used by the people. They would likely use the words “promise” and “reliable word,” but the prophet substitutes “lie” and “deceitful word” to emphasize that this treaty with death will really prove to be disappointing.
5 tn Heb “Return to the one [against] whom the sons of Israel made deep rebellion.” The syntax is awkward here. A preposition is omitted by ellipsis after the verb (see GKC 446 §138.f, n. 2), and there is a shift from direct address (note the second plural imperative “return”) to the third person (note “they made deep”). For other examples of abrupt shifts in person in poetic style, see GKC 462 §144.p.
6 tn Heb “will be nothing”; NCV, TEV, NLT “will all be gone.”
7 tn Heb “staggering knees”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “feeble knees”; NIV “knees that give way.”
8 tn Or perhaps, “covenantal partner” (see 1 Kgs 5:15 HT [5:1 ET]; 2 Chr 20:7).
9 tn Heb “you.” Here the pronoun is put by metonymy for the person’s name.
