¹ tn Heb “and it will become [a place for] grazing.” בָּעַר (ba’ar, “grazing”) is a homonym of the more often used verb “to burn.”

² tn Heb “and it will become a trampled place” (NASB “trampled ground”).

³ tn Heb “it will not be pruned or hoed” (so NASB); ASV and NRSV both similar.

⁴ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who make a house touch a house.” The exclamation הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) was used in funeral laments (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5) and carries the connotation of death.

⁵ tn Heb “[who] bring a field near a field.”

sn This verse does not condemn real estate endeavors per se, but refers to the way in which the rich bureaucrats of Judah accumulated property by exploiting the poor, in violation of the covenantal principle that the land belonged to God and that every family was to have its own portion of land. See the note at 1:23.

⁶ tn Heb “until the end of the place”; NASB “until there is no more room.”

⁷ tn Heb “and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.”

⁸ sn The Assyrians’ conquests were relatively unopposed, like robbing a bird’s nest of its eggs when the mother bird is absent.

⁹ tn Heb “in all my holy mountain.” In the most basic sense the Lord’s “holy mountain” is the mountain from which he rules over his kingdom (see Ezek 28:14, 16). More specifically it probably refers to Mount Zion/Jerusalem or to the entire land of Israel (see Pss 2:6; 15:1; 43:3; Isa 56:7; 57:13; Ezek 20:40; Ob 16; Zeph 3:11). If the Lord’s universal kingdom is in view in this context (see the note on “earth” at v. 4), then the phrase would probably be metonymic here, standing for God’s worldwide dominion (see the next line).

¹⁰ tn Heb “for the earth will be full of knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” The translation assumes that a universal kingdom is depicted here, but אֶרֶץ (’erets) could be translated “land” (see the note at v. 4). “Knowledge of the Lord” refers here to a recognition of the Lord’s sovereignty which results in a willingness to submit to his authority. See the note at v. 2.

¹¹ tn Or “despair” (see HALOT 555 s.v. מוג). The form נָמוֹג (namog) should be taken here as an infinitive absolute functioning as an imperative. See GKC 199-200 §72.v.

¹² tn Heb “and there is no one going alone in his appointed places.” The meaning of this line is uncertain. בּוֹדֵד (boded) appears to be a participle from בָּדַד (badad, “be separate”; see BDB 94 s.v. בָּדַד). מוֹעָד (mo’ad) may mean “assembly” or, by extension, “multitude” (see HALOT 558 s.v. *מוֹעָד), but the referent of the third masculine pronominal suffix attached to the noun is unclear. It probably refers to the “nation” mentioned in the next line.

¹³ tn Heb “in three years, like the years of a hired worker.” The three years must be reckoned exactly, just as a hired worker would carefully keep track of the time he had agreed to work for an employer in exchange for a predetermined wage.

¹⁴ tn Heb “and the splendor of Moab will be disgraced with all the great multitude, and a small little remnant will not be strong.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “at the time of evening, look, sudden terror.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “before morning he is not.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “this is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who loot us.”

¹⁸ tn This word is sometimes used of a sacred pillar associated with pagan worship, but here it is associated with the worship of the Lord.

¹⁹ tn The text could be translated, “and Egypt will serve Assyria” (cf. NAB), but subjugation of one nation to the other does not seem to be a theme in vv. 23-25. Rather the nations are viewed as equals before the Lord (v. 25). Therefore it is better to take אֶת (’et) in v. 23b as a preposition, “together with,” rather than the accusative sign. The names of the two countries are understood to refer by metonymy to their respective inhabitants.

²⁰ sn That is, Mount Zion (see 24:23); cf. TEV; NLT “In Jerusalem.”

²¹ tn Heb “And the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] will make for all the nations on this mountain a banquet of meats, a banquet of wine dregs, meats filled with marrow, dregs that are filtered.”

²² tn Heb “But there [as] a mighty one [will be] the Lord for us.”

²³ tn Heb “a place of rivers, streams wide of hands [i.e., on both sides].”

²⁴ tn Heb “a ship of rowing will not go into it.”

²⁵ tn Heb “and a mighty ship will not pass through it.”

²⁶ tn קָאַת (qa’at) refers to some type of bird (cf. Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (see Zeph 2:14). קִפּוֹד (qippod) may also refer to a type of bird (NAB “hoot owl”; NIV “screech owl”; TEV “ravens”), but some have suggested a rodent may be in view (cf. NCV “small animals”; ASV “porcupine”; NASB, NRSV “hedgehog”).

²⁷ tn Heb “will possess it” (so NIV).

²⁸ tn The Hebrew text has יַנְשׁוֹף וְעֹרֵב (yanshof vÿ’orev). Both the יַנְשׁוֹף (“owl”; see Lev 11:17; Deut 14:16) and עֹרֵב (“raven”; Lev 11:15; Deut 14:14) were types of wild birds.

²⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³⁰ tn Heb “stones,” i.e., the stones used in a plumb bob.

³¹ sn The metaphor in v. 11b emphasizes that God has carefully planned Edom’s demise.

³² tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and there will be there a road and a way, and the Way of Holiness it will be called.” וְדֶרֶךְ (vÿderekh, “and a/the way”) is accidentally duplicated; the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does not reflect the repetition of the phrase.

³³ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The text reads literally “and it is for them, the one who walks [on the] way.” In this context those authorized to use the Way of Holiness would be morally upright people who are the recipients of God’s deliverance, in contrast to the morally impure and foolish who are excluded from the new covenant community.

³⁴ tn In this context “fools” are those who are morally corrupt, not those with limited intellectual capacity.

³⁵ tn Traditionally, “the angel of the Lord” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

³⁶ tn The word “troops” is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.

³⁷ tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.

³⁸ tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies”; NLT “they found corpses everywhere.”

³⁹ tn Heb “the ends of the earth,” but this is a merism, where the earth’s extremities stand for its entirety, i.e., the extremities and everything in between them.

⁴⁰ sn Exiled Israel’s complaint (v. 27) implies that God might be limited in some way. Perhaps he, like so many of the pagan gods, has died. Or perhaps his jurisdiction is limited to Judah and does not include Babylon. Maybe he is unable to devise an adequate plan to rescue his people, or is unable to execute it. But v. 28 affirms that he is not limited temporally or spatially nor is his power and wisdom restricted in any way. He can and will deliver his people, if they respond in hopeful faith (v. 31a).

⁴¹ tn Heb “will answer them” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

⁴² tn Heb “his praise.” The phrase stands parallel to “new song” in the previous line.

⁴³ tn Heb “and its fullness”; NASB, NIV “and all that is in it.”

⁴⁴ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “distant coastlands.”

⁴⁵ tn Heb “his kinsman redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

⁴⁶ tn Heb “hand,” here a metaphor for the strength or power of the flames.

⁴⁷ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “there is no coal [for?] their food, light to sit before it.” Some emend לַחְמָם (lakhmam, “their food”) to לְחֻמָּם (lÿkhummam, “to warm them”; see HALOT 328 s.v. חמם). This statement may allude to Isa 44:16, where idolaters are depicted warming themselves over a fire made from wood, part of which was used to form idols. The fire of divine judgment will be no such campfire; its flames will devour and destroy.

⁴⁸ tn Heb “from the time of its occurring.”

⁴⁹ sn The speaker here is not identified specifically, but he is probably Cyrus, the Lord’s “ally” mentioned in vv. 14-15.

⁵⁰ tn Heb “it.” The third feminine singular pronominal suffix probably refers to the land which contains the aforementioned mountains.