Discovery BoxIsaiah 6:13 
Context6:13 Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, 1 like one of the large sacred trees 2 or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. 3 That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family.” 4
Isaiah 10:24
Context10:24 So 5 here is what the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, says: “My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of Assyria, even though they beat you with a club and lift their cudgel against you as Egypt did. 6
Isaiah 28:7
Context28:7 Even these men 7 stagger because of wine,
they stumble around because of beer –
priests and prophets stagger because of beer,
they are confused 8 because of wine,
they stumble around because of beer;
they stagger while seeing prophetic visions, 9
they totter while making legal decisions. 10
Isaiah 46:7
Context46:7 They put it on their shoulder and carry it;
they put it in its place and it just stands there;
it does not 11 move from its place.
Even when someone cries out to it, it does not reply;
it does not deliver him from his distress.
1 tn Or “be burned” (NRSV); NIV “laid waste.”
2 tn Heb “like a massive tree or like a big tree” (perhaps, “like a terebinth or like an oak”).
3 tn The Hebrew text has “which in the felling, a sacred pillar in them.” Some take מַצֶּבֶת (matsevet) as “stump,” and translate, “which, when chopped down, have a stump remaining in them.” But elsewhere מַצֶּבֶת refers to a memorial pillar (2 Sam 18:18) and the word resembles מַצֶּבָה (matsevah, “sacred pillar”). בָּם (bam, “in them”) may be a corruption of בָּמָה (bamah, “high place”; the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has במה). אֳשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) becomes a problem in this case, but one might emend the form to וּכְּאֲשֵׁרָה (ukÿ’asherah, “or like an Asherah pole”) and translate, “like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole.” Though the text is difficult, the references to sacred trees and a sacred pillar suggest that the destruction of a high place is in view, an apt metaphor for the judgment of idolatrous Judah.
4 tn Heb “a holy offspring [is] its sacred pillar.” If מַצֶּבֶת (matsevet) is taken as “stump,” one can see in this statement a brief glimpse of hope. The tree (the nation) is chopped down, but the stump (a righteous remnant) remains from which God can restore the nation. However, if מַצֶּבֶת is taken as “sacred pillar” (מַצֶּבָה, matsevah; see the previous note), it is much more difficult to take the final statement in a positive sense. In this case “holy offspring” alludes to God’s ideal for his covenant people, the offspring of the patriarchs. Ironically that “holy” nation is more like a “sacred pillar” and it will be thrown down like a sacred pillar from a high place and its land destroyed like the sacred trees located at such shrines. Understood in this way, the ironic statement is entirely negative in tone, just like the rest of the preceding announcement of judgment. It also reminds the people of their failure; they did not oppose pagan religion, instead they embraced it. Now they will be destroyed in the same way they should have destroyed paganism.
5 tn Heb “therefore.” The message that follows is one of encouragement, for it focuses on the eventual destruction of the Assyrians. Consequently “therefore” relates back to vv. 5-21, not to vv. 22-23, which must be viewed as a brief parenthesis in an otherwise positive speech.
6 tn Heb “in the way [or “manner”] of Egypt.”
7 tn Heb “these.” The demonstrative pronoun anticipates “priests and prophets” two lines later.
8 tn According to HALOT 135 s.v. III בלע, the verb form is derived from בָּלַע (bala’, “confuse”), not the more common בָּלַע (“swallow”). See earlier notes at 3:12 and 9:16.
9 tn Heb “in the seeing.”
10 tn Heb “[in] giving a decision.”
11 tn Or perhaps, “cannot,” here and in the following two lines. The imperfect forms can indicate capability.
