Isaiah 8:20
Context8:20 Then you must recall the Lord’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. 1 Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened. 2
Isaiah 34:1
Context34:1 Come near, you nations, and listen!
Pay attention, you people!
The earth and everything it contains must listen,
the world and everything that lives in it. 3
Isaiah 38:10
Context‘In the middle of my life 5 I must walk through the gates of Sheol,
I am deprived 6 of the rest of my years.’
Isaiah 40:4
Context40:4 Every valley must be elevated,
and every mountain and hill leveled.
The rough terrain will become a level plain,
the rugged landscape a wide valley.
Isaiah 58:10
Context58:10 You must 7 actively help the hungry
and feed the oppressed. 8
Then your light will dispel the darkness, 9
and your darkness will be transformed into noonday. 10
1 tn Heb “to [the] instruction and to [the] testimony.” The words “then you must recall” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 19-20a are one long sentence, reading literally, “When they say to you…, to the instruction and to the testimony.” On the identity of the “instruction” and “testimony” see the notes at v. 16.
2 tn Heb “If they do not speak according to this word, [it is] because it has no light of dawn.” The literal translation suggests that “this word” refers to the instruction/testimony. However, it is likely that אִם־לֹא (’im-lo’) is asseverative here, as in 5:9. In this case “this word” refers to the quotation recorded in v. 19. For a discussion of the problem see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 230, n. 9. The singular pronoun in the second half of the verse is collective, referring back to the nation (see v. 19b).
3 tn Heb “the world and its offspring”; NASB “the world and all that springs from it.”
4 tn Or “I said” (KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
5 tn The precise meaning of the phrase בִּדְמִי יָמַי (bidmi yamay, “in the [?] of my days”) is uncertain. According to HALOT 226 s.v. דְּמִי this word is a hapax legomenon meaning “half.” Others derive the form from דַּמִי (dami, “quiet, rest, peacefulness”).
6 tn The precise meaning of the verb is uncertain. The Pual of of פָּקַד (paqad) occurs only here and in Exod 38:21, where it appears to mean “passed in review” or “mustered.” Perhaps the idea is, “I have been called away for the remainder of my years.” To bring out the sense more clearly, one can translate, “I am deprived of the rest of my years.”
7 tn Heb “if you.” See the note on “you must” in v. 9b.
8 tn Heb “If you furnish for the hungry [with] your being, and the appetite of the oppressed you satisfy.”
9 tn Heb “will rise in the darkness.”
10 tn Heb “and your darkness [will be] like noonday.”