Discovery BoxIsaiah 8:21 
Context8:21 They will pass through the land 1 destitute and starving. Their hunger will make them angry, 2 and they will curse their king and their God 3 as they look upward.
Isaiah 34:10
Context34:10 Night and day it will burn; 4
its smoke will ascend continually.
Generation after generation it will be a wasteland
and no one will ever pass through it again.
Isaiah 42:9
Context42:9 Look, my earlier predictive oracles have come to pass; 5
now I announce new events.
Before they begin to occur,
I reveal them to you.” 6
1 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.
2 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
3 tn Or “gods” (NAB, NRSV, CEV).
4 tn Heb “it will not be extinguished.”
5 tn Heb “the former things, look, they have come.”
6 tn Heb “before they sprout up, I cause you to hear.” The pronoun “you” is plural, referring to the people of Israel. In this verse “the former things” are the Lord’s earlier predictive oracles which have come to pass, while “the new things” are predicted events that have not yet begun to take place. “The former things” are earlier events in Israel’s history which God announced beforehand, such as the Exodus (see 43:16-18). “The new things” are the predictions about the servant (42:1-7). and may also include Cyrus’ conquests (41:25-27).
