Discovery BoxIsaiah 5:2 
Context5:2 He built a hedge around it, 1 removed its stones,
and planted a vine.
He built a tower in the middle of it,
and constructed a winepress.
He waited for it to produce edible grapes,
but it produced sour ones instead. 2
Isaiah 14:25
Context14:25 I will break Assyria 3 in my land,
I will trample them 4 underfoot on my hills.
Their yoke will be removed from my people,
the burden will be lifted from their shoulders. 5
Isaiah 51:22
Context51:22 This is what your sovereign master, 6 the Lord your God, says:
“Look, I have removed from your hand
the cup of intoxicating wine, 7
the goblet full of my anger. 8
You will no longer have to drink it.
1 tn Or, “dug it up” (so NIV); KJV “fenced it.’ See HALOT 810 s.v. עזק.
2 tn Heb “wild grapes,” i.e., sour ones (also in v. 4).
sn At this point the love song turns sour as the Lord himself breaks in and completes the story (see vv. 3-6). In the final line of v. 2 the love song presented to the Lord becomes a judgment speech by the Lord.
3 tn Heb “to break Assyria.”
4 tn Heb “him.” This is a collective singular referring to the nation, or a reference to the king of Assyria who by metonymy stands for the entire nation.
5 tn Heb “and his [i.e., Assyria’s] yoke will be removed from them [the people?], and his [Assyria’s] burden from his [the nation’s?] shoulder will be removed.” There are no antecedents in this oracle for the suffixes in the phrases “from them” and “from his shoulder.” Since the Lord’s land and hills are referred to in the preceding line and the statement seems to echo 10:27, it is likely that God’s people are the referents of the suffixes; the translation uses “my people” to indicate this.
6 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
7 tn Heb “the cup of [= that causes] staggering” (so ASV, NAB, NRSV); NASB “the cup of reeling.”
8 tn Heb “the goblet of the cup of my anger.”
