Discovery BoxIsaiah 28:6 
Context28:6 He will give discernment to the one who makes judicial decisions,
and strength to those who defend the city from attackers. 1
Isaiah 37:22
Context37:22 this is what the Lord says about him: 2
“The virgin daughter Zion 3
despises you – she makes fun of you;
daughter Jerusalem
shakes her head after you. 4
Isaiah 44:14
Context44:14 He cuts down cedars
and acquires a cypress 5 or an oak.
He gets 6 trees from the forest;
he plants a cedar 7 and the rain makes it grow.
Isaiah 44:25
Context44:25 who frustrates the omens of the empty talkers 8
and humiliates 9 the omen readers,
who overturns the counsel of the wise men 10
and makes their advice 11 seem foolish,
Isaiah 64:2
Context64:2 (64:1) As when fire ignites dry wood,
or fire makes water boil,
let your adversaries know who you are, 12
and may the nations shake at your presence!
Isaiah 64:7
Context64:7 No one invokes 13 your name,
or makes an effort 14 to take hold of you.
For you have rejected us 15
and handed us over to our own sins. 16
1 tn Heb “and [he will become] a spirit of justice for the one who sits [i.e., presides] over judgment, // and strength [for] the ones who turn back battle at the city gate.” The Lord will provide internal stability and national security.
2 tn Heb “this is the word which the Lord has spoken about him.”
3 sn Zion (Jerusalem) is pictured here as a young, vulnerable daughter whose purity is being threatened by the would-be Assyrian rapist. The personification hints at the reality which the young girls of the city would face if the Assyrians conquer it.
4 sn Shaking the head was a mocking gesture of derision.
5 tn It is not certain what type of tree this otherwise unattested noun refers to. Cf. ASV “a holm-tree” (NRSV similar).
6 tn Heb “strengthens for himself,” i.e., “secures for himself” (see BDB 55 s.v. אָמֵץ Pi.2).
7 tn Some prefer to emend אֹרֶן (’oren) to אֶרֶז (’erez, “cedar”), but the otherwise unattested noun appears to have an Akkadian cognate, meaning “cedar.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 44-45. HALOT 90 s.v. I אֹרֶן offers the meaning “laurel.”
8 tc The Hebrew text has בַּדִּים (baddim), perhaps meaning “empty talkers” (BDB 95 s.v. III בַּד). In the four other occurrences of this word (Job 11:3; Isa 16:6; Jer 48:30; 50:36) the context does not make the meaning of the term very clear. Its primary point appears to be that the words spoken are meaningless or false. In light of its parallelism with “omen readers,” some have proposed an emendation to בָּרִים (barim, “seers”). The Mesopotamian baru-priests were divination specialists who played an important role in court life. See R. Wilson, Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel, 93-98. Rather than supporting an emendation, J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:189, n. 79) suggests that Isaiah used בַּדִּים purposively as a derisive wordplay on the Akkadian word baru (in light of the close similarity of the d and r consonants).
9 tn Or “makes fools of” (NIV, NRSV); NAB and NASB both similar.
10 tn Heb “who turns back the wise” (so NRSV); NIV “overthrows the learning of the wise”; TEV “The words of the wise I refute.”
11 tn Heb “their knowledge” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).
12 tn Heb “to make known your name to your adversaries.” Perhaps the infinitive construct with preposition -לְ (lamed) should be construed with “come down” in v. 1a, or subordinated to the following line: “To make known your name to your adversaries, let the nations shake from before you.”
13 tn Or “calls out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “calls on.”
14 tn Or “rouses himself”; NASB “arouses himself.”
15 tn Heb “for you have hidden your face from us.”
16 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and you caused us to melt in the hand of our sin.” The verb וַתְּמוּגֵנוּ (vattÿmugenu) is a Qal preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the root מוּג (mug, “melt”). However, elsewhere the Qal of this verb is intransitive. If the verbal root מוּג (mug) is retained here, the form should be emended to a Polel pattern (וַתְּמֹגְגֵנוּ, vattÿmogÿgenu). The translation assumes an emendation to וַתְּמַגְּנֵנוּ (vattÿmaggÿnenu, “and you handed us over”). This form is a Piel preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the verbal root מִגֵּן (miggen, “hand over, surrender”; see HALOT 545 s.v. מגן and BDB 171 s.v. מָגָן). The point is that God has abandoned them to their sinful ways and no longer seeks reconciliation.
