Discovery BoxIsaiah 4:5 
Context4:5 Then the Lord will create
over all of Mount Zion 1
and over its convocations
a cloud and smoke by day
and a bright flame of fire by night; 2
indeed a canopy will accompany the Lord’s glorious presence. 3
Isaiah 8:18
Context8:18 Look, I and the sons whom the Lord has given me 4 are reminders and object lessons 5 in Israel, sent from the Lord who commands armies, who lives on Mount Zion.
Isaiah 10:12
Context10:12 But when 6 the sovereign master 7 finishes judging 8 Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I 9 will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays. 10
Isaiah 24:23
Context24:23 The full moon will be covered up, 11
the bright sun 12 will be darkened; 13
for the Lord who commands armies will rule 14
on Mount Zion in Jerusalem 15
in the presence of his assembly, in majestic splendor. 16
Isaiah 28:21
Context28:21 For the Lord will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim, 17
he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon, 18
to accomplish his work,
his peculiar work,
to perform his task,
his strange task. 19
1 tn Heb “over all the place, Mount Zion.” Cf. NLT “Jerusalem”; CEV “the whole city.”
2 tn Heb “a cloud by day, and smoke, and brightness of fire, a flame by night.” Though the accents in the Hebrew text suggest otherwise, it might be preferable to take “smoke” with what follows, since one would expect smoke to accompany fire.
sn The imagery of the cloud by day and fire by night recalls the days of Moses, when a cloud and fire were tangible reminders that the Lord was guiding and protecting his people (Exod 13:21-22; 14:19, 24). In the future age envisioned in Isa 4, the Lord’s protective presence will be a reality.
3 tn Heb “indeed (or “for”) over all the glory, a canopy.” This may allude to Exod 40:34-35, where a cloud overshadows the meeting tent as it is filled with God’s glory.
4 sn This refers to Shear-jashub (7:3) and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (8:1, 3).
5 tn Or “signs and portents” (NAB, NRSV). The names of all three individuals has symbolic value. Isaiah’s name (which meant “the Lord delivers”) was a reminder that the Lord was the nation’s only source of protection; Shear-jashub’s name was meant, at least originally, to encourage Ahaz (see the note at 7:3), and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz’s name was a guarantee that God would defeat Israel and Syria (see the note at 8:4). The word מוֹפֶת (mofet, “portent”) can often refer to some miraculous event, but in 20:3 it is used, along with its synonym אוֹת (’ot, “sign”) of Isaiah’s walking around half-naked as an object lesson of what would soon happen to the Egyptians.
6 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
7 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 16, 23, 24, 33 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
8 tn Heb “his work on/against.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV “on”; NIV “against.”
9 tn The Lord is speaking here, as in vv. 5-6a.
10 tn Heb “I will visit [judgment] on the fruit of the greatness of the heart of the king of Assyria, and on the glory of the height of his eyes.” The proud Assyrian king is likened to a large, beautiful fruit tree.
11 tn Heb “will be ashamed.”
12 tn Or “glow of the sun.”
13 tn Heb “will be ashamed” (so NCV).
14 tn Or “take his throne,” “become king.”
15 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
16 tn Heb “and before his elders [in] splendor.”
17 sn This probably alludes to David’s victory over the Philistines at Baal Perazim. See 2 Sam 5:20.
18 sn This probably alludes to the Lord’s victory over the Canaanites at Gibeon, during the days of Joshua. See Josh 10:10-11.
19 sn God’s judgment of his own people is called “his peculiar work” and “his strange task,” because he must deal with them the way he treated their enemies in the past.
