² 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?”

¹ tn The Hebrew text here has “all the lands,” but the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:17 has “the nations.”

¹ tn Heb “Have the gods of the nations rescued, each his land, from the hand of the king of Assyria?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course not!”

¹ tn The second person verb and pronominal forms in this verse are plural. The hostile nations are the addressed, as the next verse makes clear.

² sn The hostile nations’ plans to destroy God’s people will come to nothing; their hostility will end up being self-destructive.

² sn Perhaps this depicts the spiritual transformation of the once spiritually insensitive nation (see vv. 10-12, cf. also 6:9-10).

¹ sn The remnant of the nations (see v. 13) may be the unspecified subject. If so, then those who have survived the judgment begin to praise God.

¹ tn Heb “and the house of Israel will take possession of them [i.e., the nations], on the land of the Lord, as male servants and female servants.”

² tn Heb “it was striking down nations in fury [with] a blow without ceasing.” The participle (“striking down”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.

³ tn Heb “it was ruling in anger nations [with] oppression without restraint.” The participle (“ruling”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.

¹ sn Isa 13-23 contains a series of judgment oracles against various nations. It is likely that Israel, not the nations mentioned, actually heard these oracles. The oracles probably had a twofold purpose. For those leaders who insisted on getting embroiled in international politics, these oracles were a reminder that Judah need not fear foreign nations or seek international alliances for security reasons. For the righteous remnant within the nation, these oracles were a reminder that Israel’s God was indeed the sovereign ruler of the earth, worthy of his people’s trust.

³ tn Heb “on one who strikes him down.” This individual is the king (“foreign leader”) of the oppressing nation (which NLT specifies as “the Assyrians”).

² tn Heb “he.” Singular forms are used throughout vv. 26-30 to describe this nation, but for stylistic reasons the translation uses the plural for these collective singulars.

² tn Traditionally, “let us reason together,” but the context suggests a judicial nuance. The Lord is giving the nation its options for the future.

¹ sn I will listen. Having asked for the Lord’s favor, the psalmist (who here represents the nation) anticipates a divine word of assurance.

⁴ tn Heb “all the nations, may they regard him as happy.” The Piel is used here in a delocutive sense (“regard as”).

¹ tn Heb “let the nations, all of them, thank you.” The prefixed verbal forms in v. 5 are understood as jussives in this call to praise.

¹ tn Heb “let the nations, all of them, thank you.” The prefixed verbal forms in vv. 3-4a are understood as jussives in this call to praise.

² sn The nations will praise you. As God’s vice-regent on earth, the king is deserving of such honor and praise.

² tn Heb “dispossessed nations and planted them.” The third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1). See Ps 80:8, 15.