Discovery BoxIsaiah 6:1 
Context6:1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death, 1 I saw the sovereign master 2 seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple.
Isaiah 7:6
Context7:6 They say, “Let’s attack Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it. 3 Then we’ll set up the son of Tabeel as its king.” 4
Isaiah 7:17
Context7:17 The Lord will bring on you, your people, and your father’s family a time 5 unlike any since Ephraim departed from Judah – the king of Assyria!” 6
Isaiah 8:21
Context8:21 They will pass through the land 7 destitute and starving. Their hunger will make them angry, 8 and they will curse their king and their God 9 as they look upward.
Isaiah 14:4
Context14:4 you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words: 10
“Look how the oppressor has met his end!
Hostility 11 has ceased!
Isaiah 19:4
Context19:4 I will hand Egypt over to a harsh master;
a powerful king will rule over them,”
says the sovereign master, 12 the Lord who commands armies.
Isaiah 36:8
Context36:8 Now make a deal with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them.
Isaiah 36:14
Context36:14 This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you!
Isaiah 37:21
Context37:21 Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Because you prayed to me concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria, 13
Isaiah 39:7
Context39:7 ‘Some of your very own descendants whom you father 14 will be taken away and will be made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”
Isaiah 57:9
Context57:9 You take olive oil as tribute 15 to your king, 16
along with many perfumes. 17
You send your messengers to a distant place;
you go all the way to Sheol. 18
1 sn That is, approximately 740
2 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 8, 11 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
3 tn Heb “and let us break it open for ourselves”; NASB “make for ourselves a breach in its walls”; NLT “fight our way into.”
4 tn Heb “and we will make the son of Tabeel king in its midst.”
sn The precise identity of this would-be puppet king is unknown. He may have been a Syrian official or the ruler of one of the small neighboring states. See Y. Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 370.
5 tn Heb “days” (so KJV, NAB); NASB, NRSV “such days.”
6 sn Initially the prophecy appears to be a message of salvation. Immanuel seems to have a positive ring to it, sour milk and honey elsewhere symbolize prosperity and blessing (see Deut 32:13-14; Job 20:17), verse 16 announces the defeat of Judah’s enemies, and verse 17a could be taken as predicting a return to the glorious days of David and Solomon. However, the message turns sour in verses 17b-25. God will be with his people in judgment, as well as salvation. The curds and honey will be signs of deprivation, not prosperity, the relief announced in verse 16 will be short-lived, and the new era will be characterized by unprecedented humiliation, not a return to glory. Because of Ahaz’s refusal to trust the Lord, potential blessing would be transformed into a curse, just as Isaiah turns an apparent prophecy of salvation into a message of judgment. Because the words “the king of Assyria” are rather awkwardly tacked on to the end of the sentence, some regard them as a later addition. However, the very awkwardness facilitates the prophet’s rhetorical strategy here, as he suddenly turns what sounds like a positive message into a judgment speech. Actually, “the king of Assyria,” stands in apposition to the earlier object “days,” and specifies who the main character of these coming “days” will be.
7 tn Heb “he will pass through it.” The subject of the collective singular verb is the nation. (See the preceding note.) The immediately preceding context supplies no antecedent for “it” (a third feminine singular suffix in the Hebrew text); the suffix may refer to the land, which would be a reasonable referent with a verb of motion. Note also that אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”) does appear at the beginning of the next verse.
8 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
9 tn Or “gods” (NAB, NRSV, CEV).
10 tn Heb “you will lift up this taunt over the king of Babylon, saying.”
11 tc The word in the Hebrew text (מַדְהֵבָה, madhevah) is unattested elsewhere and of uncertain meaning. Many (following the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa) assume a dalet-resh (ד-ר) confusion and emend the form to מַרְהֵבָה (marhevah, “onslaught”). See HALOT 548 s.v. II *מִדָּה and HALOT 633 s.v. *מַרְהֵבָה.
12 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
13 tn The parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:20 reads, “That which you prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.” The verb “I have heard” does not appear in Isa 37:21, where אֲשֶׁר (’asher) probably has a causal sense: “because.”
14 tn Heb “Some of your sons, who go out from you, whom you father.”
15 tn Heb “you journey with oil.”
16 tn Heb “the king.” Since the context refers to idolatry and child sacrifice (see v. 5), some emend מֶלֶך (melekh, “king”) to “Molech.” Perhaps Israel’s devotion to her idols is likened here to a subject taking tribute to a ruler.
17 tn Heb “and you multiply your perfumes.”
18 sn Israel’s devotion to her idols is inordinate, irrational, and self-destructive.
