translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: ISA

label: NET translator note

text: The pronominal suffix is second masculine plural. The identity of the addressee is uncertain: (1) God’s people may be addressed, or (2) the unidentified heralds commanded to comfort Jerusalem.


text: Heb “speak to the heart of Jerusalem.” Jerusalem is personified as a woman.


text: For location see Map5-B1 ; Map6-F3 ; Map7-E2 ; Map8-F2 ; Map10-B3 ; JP1-F4 ; JP2-F4 ; JP3-F4 ; JP4-F4 .


text: Heb “that she is filled [with] her warfare.” Some understand צָבָא ( tsavah , “warfare”) as meaning “hard service” or “compulsory labor” in this context.


text: Heb “that her punishment is accepted [as satisfactory].”


text: Heb “for she has received from the hand of the Lord double.” The principle of the double portion in punishment is also seen in Jer 16:18; 17:18 and Rev 18:6 . For examples of the double portion in Israelite law, see Exod 22:4, 7, 9 (double restitution by a thief) and Deut 21:17 (double inheritance portion for the firstborn).


text: Or “glory.” The Lord’s “glory” is his theophanic radiance and royal splendor (see Isa 6:3; 24:23; 35:2; 60:1; 66:18-19 ).


text: Heb “flesh” (so KJV, ASV, NASB); NAB, NIV “mankind”; TEV “the whole human race.”


text: Or “indeed.”


text: Heb “the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).


text: Heb “and he says.” Apparently a second “voice” responds to the command of the first “voice.”


text: The words “the first voice responds” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The first voice tells the second one what to declare.


text: Heb “all flesh is grass.” The point of the metaphor is explained in v. 7 .


text: Heb “and all his loyalty.” The antecedent of the third masculine suffix is בָּשָׂר ( basar , “flesh”), which refers collectively to mankind. The LXX, apparently understanding the antecedent as “grass,” reads “glory,” but חֶסֶד ( khesed ) rarely, if ever, has this nuance. The normal meaning of חֶסֶד (“faithfulness, loyalty, devotion”) fits very well in the argument. Human beings and their faithfulness (verbal expressions of faithfulness are specifically in view; cf. NRSV “constancy”) are short-lived and unreliable, in stark contrast to the decrees and promises of the eternal God.


text: The Hebrew text has רוּחַ יְהוָה ( ruakh yehvah ), which in this context probably does not refer to the Lord’s personal Spirit. The phrase is better translated “the breath of the Lord,” or “the wind of [i.e., sent by] the Lord.” The Lord’s sovereign control over nature, including the hot desert winds that dry up vegetation, is in view here (cf. Ps 147:18 ; Isa 59:19 ).


text: Heb “the people” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).


text: Heb “but the word of our God stands forever.” In this context the divine “word” specifically refers to his decreed promise assuring Jerusalem that her suffering is over and his glorious return imminent (vv. 1-5 ).


text: The second feminine singular imperatives are addressed to personified Zion/Jerusalem, who is here told to ascend a high hill and proclaim the good news of the Lord’s return to the other towns of Judah. Isa 41:27 and 52:7 speak of a herald sent to Zion, but the masculine singular form מְבַשֵּׂר ( mÿvaser ) is used in these verses, in contrast to the feminine singular form מְבַשֶּׂרֶת ( mÿvaseret ) employed in 40:9 , where Zion is addressed as a herald.


text: Heb “comes as a strong one”; ASV “will come as a mighty one.” The preposition בְּ ( bet ) here carries the nuance “in the capacity of.” It indicates that the Lord possesses the quality expressed by the noun. See GKC 379 §119. i and HALOT 104 s.v. בְּ .


text: Heb “his arm rules for him” (so NIV, NRSV). The Lord’s “arm” symbolizes his military power (see Isa 51:9-10; 63:5 ).


text: As the Lord returns to Jerusalem as a victorious warrior, he brings with him the spoils of victory, called here his “reward” and “prize.” These terms might also be translated “wages” and “recompense.” Verse 11 indicates that his rescued people, likened to a flock of sheep, are his reward.


text: Heb “in his bosom” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV), an expression which reflects closeness and protective care.


text: has מי ים (“waters of the sea”), a reading followed by NAB.


text: Heb “with a span.” A “span” was the distance between the ends of the thumb and the little finger of the spread hand” (BDB 285 s.v. זֶרֶת ).


text: Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם ( shamayim ) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.


text: Heb “or weighed by a third part [of a measure].”


text: Perhaps the verb is used metonymically here in the sense of “advises” (note the following line).


text: In this context רוּחַ ( ruakh ) likely refers to the Lord’s “mind,” or mental faculties, rather than his personal Spirit (see BDB 925 s.v.).


text: Heb “or [as] the man of his counsel causes him to know?”


text: Heb “With whom did he consult, so that he gave discernment to him?”


text: Heb “and taught him.” The vav ( ו ) consecutive with prefixed verbal form continues the previous line. The translation employs an interrogative pronoun for stylistic reasons.


text: The phrase אֹרַח מִשְׁפָּט (’ orakh mishpat ) could be translated “path of justice” (so NASB, NRSV), but in this context, where creative ability and skill is in view, the phrase is better understood in the sense of “the way that is proper or fitting” (see BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 6); cf. NIV, NCV “the right way.”


text: Heb “or the way of understanding causes him to know?” sn The implied answer to the rhetorical questions in vv. 13-14 is, “No one.” In contrast to Marduk, the creator-god of Mesopotamian myths who receives help from the god of wisdom, the Lord neither needs nor receives any such advice or help. See R. Whybray, Heavenly Counsellor (SOTSMS), 64-77.


text: Or “weighs” (NIV); NLT “picks up.”


text: Or “islands” (NASB, NIV, NLT).


text: The words “for a sacrifice” are supplied in the translation for clarification.


text: Heb “[as derived] from nothing and unformed.”


text: Heb “pours out”; KJV “melteth.”


text: The first two words of the verse ( הַמְסֻכָּן תְּרוּמָה , hamsukan tÿrumah ) are problematic. Some take מְסֻכָּן as an otherwise unattested Pual participle from סָכַן ( sakhan , “be poor”) and translate “the one who is impoverished.” תְּרוּמָה ( tÿrumah , “contribution”) can then be taken as an adverbial accusative, “with respect to a contribution,” and the entire line translated, “the one who is too impoverished for such a contribution [i.e., the metal idol of v. 19 ?] selects wood that will not rot.” However, מְסֻכָּן is probably the name of a tree used in idol manufacturing (cognate with Akkadian musukkanu , cf. H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 133). מְסֻכָּן may be a scribal interpretive addition attempting to specify עֵץ (’ ets ) or עֵץ may be a scribal attempt to categorize מְסֻכָּן . How an idol constitutes a תְּרוּמָה (“contribution”) is not entirely clear.


text: Or “set up” (ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); KJV, NASB “to prepare.”


text: Heb “the circle of the earth” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).


text: The words “before him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.


text: The otherwise unattested noun דֹּק ( doq ), translated here “thin curtain,” is apparently derived from the verbal root דקק (“crush”) from which is derived the adjective דַּק ( daq , “thin”; see HALOT 229 s.v. דקק ). The nuance “curtain” is implied from the parallelism (see “tent” in the next line).


text: The meaning of the otherwise unattested verb מָתַח ( matakh , “spread out”) is determined from the parallelism (note the corresponding verb “stretch out” in the previous line) and supported by later Hebrew and Aramaic cognates. See HALOT 654 s.v. * מתה .


text: Heb “like a tent [in which] to live”; NAB, NASB “like a tent to dwell (live NIV, NRSV) in.”


text: Heb “Lift on high your eyes and see.”


text: The words “heavenly lights” are supplied in the translation for clarification. See the following lines.


text: Heb “the one who brings out by number their host.” The stars are here likened to a huge army that the Lord leads out. Perhaps the next line pictures God calling roll. If so, the final line may be indicating that none of them dares “go AWOL.” (“AWOL” is a military acronym for “absent without leave.”)


text: Heb “my way is hidden from the Lord” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).


text: Heb “and from my God my justice passes away”; NRSV “my right is disregarded by my God.”


text: Heb “the ends of the earth,” but this is a merism, where the earth’s extremities stand for its entirety, i.e., the extremities and everything in between them.


text: Heb “stumbling they stumble.” The verbal idea is emphasized by the infinitive absolute.


text: The words “for the Lord’s help” are supplied in the translation for clarification.


text: Heb “they rise up [on] wings like eagles” (TEV similar).