Discovery BoxIsaiah 7:25 
Context7:25 They will stay away from all the hills that were cultivated, for fear of the thorns and briers. 1 Cattle will graze there and sheep will trample on them. 2
Isaiah 9:9
Context9:9 All the people were aware 3 of it,
the people of Ephraim and those living in Samaria. 4
Yet with pride and an arrogant attitude, they said, 5
Isaiah 12:1
Context12:1 At that time 6 you will say:
“I praise you, O Lord,
for even though you were angry with me,
your anger subsided, and you consoled me.
Isaiah 13:19
Context13:19 Babylon, the most admired 7 of kingdoms,
the Chaldeans’ source of honor and pride, 8
will be destroyed by God
just as Sodom and Gomorrah were. 9
Isaiah 14:3
Context14:3 When the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and anxiety, 10 and from the hard labor which you were made to perform,
Isaiah 26:17
Context26:17 As when a pregnant woman gets ready to deliver
and strains and cries out because of her labor pains,
so were we because of you, O Lord.
Isaiah 37:12
Context37:12 Were the nations whom my predecessors 11 destroyed – the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar – rescued by their gods? 12
Isaiah 40:15
Context40:15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales.
He lifts 13 the coastlands 14 as if they were dust.
Isaiah 41:11
Context41:11 Look, all who were angry at you will be ashamed and humiliated;
your adversaries 15 will be reduced to nothing 16 and perish.
Isaiah 52:14
Context52:14 (just as many were horrified by the sight of you) 17
he was so disfigured 18 he no longer looked like a man; 19
Isaiah 60:15
Context60:15 You were once abandoned
and despised, with no one passing through,
but I will make you 20 a permanent source of pride
and joy to coming generations.
Isaiah 61:4
Context61:4 They will rebuild the perpetual ruins
and restore the places that were desolate; 21
they will reestablish the ruined cities,
the places that have been desolate since ancient times.
1 tn Heb “and all the hills which were hoed with a hoe, you will not go there [for] fear of the thorns and briers.”
2 tn Heb “and it will become a pasture for cattle and a trampling place for sheep.”
sn At this point one is able to summarize the content of the “sign” (vv. 14-15) as follows: A young woman known to be present when Isaiah delivered this message to Ahaz (perhaps a member of the royal family or the prophetess mentioned in 8:3) would soon give birth to a boy whom the mother would name Immanuel, “God is with us.” Eventually Immanuel would be forced to eat sour milk and honey, which would enable him to make correct moral decisions. How would this situation come about and how would it constitute a sign? Before this situation developed, the Israelites and Syrians would be defeated. But then the Lord would usher in a period of time unlike any since the division of the kingdom almost 200 years before. The Assyrians would overrun the land, destroy the crops, and force the people to subsist on goats’ milk and honey. At that time, as the people saw Immanuel eating his sour milk and honey, the Davidic family would be forced to acknowledge that God was indeed with them. He was present with them in the Syrian-Israelite crisis, fully capable of rescuing them; but he was also present with them in judgment, disciplining them for their lack of trust. The moral of the story is quite clear: Failure to appropriate God’s promises by faith can turn potential blessing into disciplinary judgment.
3 tn The translation assumes that vv. 9-10 describe the people’s response to a past judgment (v. 8). The perfect is understood as indicating simple past and the vav (ו) is taken as conjunctive. Another option is to take the vav on the perfect as consecutive and translate, “all the people will know.”
4 tn Heb “and the people, all of them, knew; Ephraim and the residents of Samaria.”
5 tn Heb “with pride and arrogance of heart, saying.”
6 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).
7 tn Or “most beautiful” (NCV, TEV).
8 tn Heb “the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans.”
sn The Chaldeans were a group of tribes who lived in southern Mesopotamia. The established the so-called neo-Babylonian empire in the late seventh century
9 tn Heb “and Babylon…will be like the overthrow by God of Sodom and Gomorrah.” On מַהְפֵּכַת (mahpekhat, “overthrow”) see the note on the word “destruction” in 1:7.
10 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
11 tn Heb “fathers” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); NIV “forefathers”; NCV “ancestors.”
12 tn Heb “Did the gods of the nations whom my fathers destroyed rescue them – Gozan and Haran, and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who are in Telassar?”
13 tn Or “weighs” (NIV); NLT “picks up.”
14 tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV, NLT).
15 tn Heb “the men of your strife”; NASB “those who contend with you.”
16 tn Heb “like nothing”; NAB “come to nought.”
17 tn Some witnesses read “him,” which is more consistent with the context, where the servant is spoken about, not addressed. However, it is possible that the Lord briefly addresses the servant here. The present translation assumes the latter view and places the phrase in parentheses.
18 tn Heb “such was the disfigurement.” The noun מִשְׁחַת (mishkhat) occurs only here. It may be derived from the verbal root שָׁחַת (shakhat, “be ruined”; see BDB 1007-8 s.v. שָׁחַת). The construct form appears here before a prepositional phrase (cf. GKC 421 §130.a).
19 tn Heb “from a man his appearance.” The preposition מִן (min) here carries the sense “away from,” i.e., “so as not to be.” See BDB 583 s.v.
20 tn Heb “Instead of your being abandoned and despised, with no one passing through, I will make you.”
21 tn Heb “and the formerly desolate places they will raise up.”
