Discovery BoxIsaiah 5:25 
Context5:25 So the Lord is furious 1 with his people;
he lifts 2 his hand and strikes them.
The mountains shake,
and corpses lie like manure 3 in the middle of the streets.
Despite all this, his anger does not subside,
and his hand is ready to strike again. 4
Isaiah 14:19
Context14:19 But you have been thrown out of your grave
like a shoot that is thrown away. 5
You lie among 6 the slain,
among those who have been slashed by the sword,
among those headed for 7 the stones of the pit, 8
as if you were a mangled corpse. 9
Isaiah 28:15
Context28:15 For you say,
“We have made a treaty with death,
with Sheol 10 we have made an agreement. 11
When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by 12
it will not reach us.
For we have made a lie our refuge,
we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.” 13
Isaiah 29:4
Context29:4 You will fall;
while lying on the ground 14 you will speak;
from the dust where you lie, your words will be heard. 15
Your voice will sound like a spirit speaking from the underworld; 16
from the dust you will chirp as if muttering an incantation. 17
Isaiah 50:11
Context50:11 Look, all of you who start a fire
and who equip yourselves with 18 flaming arrows, 19
walk 20 in the light 21 of the fire you started
and among the flaming arrows you ignited! 22
This is what you will receive from me: 23
you will lie down in a place of pain. 24
1 tn Heb “the anger of the Lord rages.”
2 tn Or “extends”; KJV, ASV “he hath stretched forth.”
3 tn Or “garbage” (NCV, CEV, NLT); NAB, NASB, NIV “refuse.”
4 tn Heb “in all this his anger is not turned, and still his hand is outstretched.”
5 tn Heb “like a shoot that is abhorred.” The simile seems a bit odd; apparently it refers to a small shoot that is trimmed from a plant and tossed away. Some prefer to emend נֵצֶר (netser, “shoot”); some propose נֵפֶל (nefel, “miscarriage”). In this case one might paraphrase: “like a horrible-looking fetus that is delivered when a woman miscarries.”
6 tn Heb “are clothed with.”
7 tn Heb “those going down to.”
8 tn בּוֹר (bor) literally means “cistern”; cisterns were constructed from stones. On the metaphorical use of “cistern” for the underworld, see the note at v. 15.
9 tn Heb “like a trampled corpse.” Some take this line with what follows.
10 sn Sheol is the underworld, land of the dead, according to the OT world view.
11 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.
12 tn Heb “the overwhelming scourge, when it passes by” (NRSV similar).
13 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.
14 tn Heb “from the ground” (so NIV, NCV).
15 tn Heb “and from the dust your word will be low.”
16 tn Heb “and your voice will be like a ritual pit from the earth.” The Hebrew אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. See the note on “incantations” in 8:19. Here the word is used metonymically for the voice that emerges from such a pit.
17 tn Heb “and from the dust your word will chirp.” The words “as if muttering an incantation” are supplied in the translation for clarification. See the parallelism and 8:19.
18 tc Several more recent commentators have proposed an emendation of מְאַזְּרֵי (mÿ’azzÿre, “who put on”) to מְאִירִי (mÿ’iri, “who light”). However, both Qumran scrolls of Isaiah and the Vulgate support the MT reading (cf. NIV, ESV).
19 tn On the meaning of זִיקוֹת (ziqot, “flaming arrows”), see HALOT 268 s.v. זִיקוֹת.
20 tn The imperative is probably rhetorical and has a predictive force.
21 tn Or perhaps, “flame” (so ASV).
22 sn Perhaps the servant here speaks to his enemies and warns them that they will self-destruct.
23 tn Heb “from my hand” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
24 sn The imagery may be that of a person who becomes ill and is forced to lie down in pain on a sickbed. Some see this as an allusion to a fiery place of damnation because of the imagery employed earlier in the verse.
