Discovery BoxIsaiah 9:4 
Context9:4 For their oppressive yoke
and the club that strikes their shoulders,
the cudgel the oppressor uses on them, 1
you have shattered, as in the day of Midian’s defeat. 2
Isaiah 33:15
Context33:15 The one who lives 3 uprightly 4
and speaks honestly;
the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures
and rejects a bribe; 5
the one who does not plot violent crimes 6
and does not seek to harm others 7 –
Isaiah 49:10
Context49:10 They will not be hungry or thirsty;
the sun’s oppressive heat will not beat down on them, 8
for one who has compassion on them will guide them;
he will lead them to springs of water.
1 tn Heb “for the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the scepter of the oppressor against him.” The singular pronouns are collective, referring to the people. The oppressed nation is compared to an ox weighed down by a heavy yoke and an animal that is prodded and beaten.
2 sn This alludes to Gideon’s victory over Midian (Judg 7-8), when the Lord delivered Israel from an oppressive foreign invader.
3 tn Heb “walks” (so NASB, NIV).
4 tn Or, possibly, “justly”; NAB “who practices virtue.”
5 tn Heb “[who] shakes off his hands from grabbing hold of a bribe.”
6 tn Heb “[who] shuts his ear from listening to bloodshed.”
7 tn Heb “[who] closes his eyes from seeing evil.”
8 tn Heb “and the heat and the sun will not strike them.” In Isa 35:7, its only other occurrence in the OT, שָׁרָב (sharav) stands parallel to “parched ground” and in contrast to “pool.” In later Hebrew and Aramaic it refers to “dry heat, heat of the sun” (Jastrow 1627 s.v.). Here it likely has this nuance and forms a hendiadys with “sun.”
