Isaiah 40

Isaiah 40:1

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Isaiah 40:2

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Isaiah 40:3

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Isaiah 40:4

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Isaiah 40:5

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Isaiah 40:6

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Isaiah 40:7

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Isaiah 40:8

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Isaiah 40:9

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Isaiah 40:10

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Isaiah 40:11

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Isaiah 40:12

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Isaiah 40:14

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Isaiah 40:17

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Isaiah 40:18

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Isaiah 40:19

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Isaiah 40:20

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Isaiah 40:22

1 tn Or “in that day” (ASV).

sn The seven to one ratio emphasizes the great disparity that will exist in the population due to the death of so many men in battle.

2 tn Heb “eat” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “buy.”

3 tn Heb “wear” (so NASB, NRSV); NCV “make.”

4 tn Heb “only let your name be called over us.” The Hebrew idiom “call the name over” indicates ownership. See 2 Samuel 12:28, and BDB 896 s.v. I ָקרָא Niph. 2.d.(4). The language reflects the cultural reality of ancient Israel, where women were legally the property of their husbands.

5 sn This refers to the humiliation of being unmarried and childless. The women’s words reflect the cultural standards of ancient Israel, where a woman’s primary duties were to be a wife and mother.

Isaiah 40:23

6 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

7 tn Heb “and the vegetation of the Lord will become beauty and honor.” Many English versions understand the phrase צֶמַח יְהוָה (tsemakh yÿhvah) as a messianic reference and render it, “the Branch of the Lord” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT, and others). Though צֶמַח (tsemakh) is used by later prophets of a royal descendant (Jeremiah 23;5; 33:15; Zechariah 3:8; 6:12), those passages contain clear contextual indicators that a human ruler is in view and that the word is being used in a metaphorical way of offspring. However, in Isaiah 4:2 there are no such contextual indicators. To the contrary, in the parallel structure of the verse צֶמַח יְהוָה corresponds to “produce of the land,” a phrase that refers elsewhere exclusively to literal agricultural produce (see Numbers 13:20, 26; Deuteronomy 1:25). In the majority of its uses צֶמַח refers to literal crops or vegetation (in Psalms 65:10 the Lord is the source of this vegetation). A reference to the Lord restoring crops would make excellent sense in Isaiah 4 and the prophets frequently included this theme in their visions of the future age (see Isaiah 30:23-24; 32:20; Jeremiah 31:12; Ezekiel 34:26-29; and Amos 9:13-14).

8 tn Heb “and the fruit of the land will become pride and beauty for the remnant of Israel.”

Isaiah 40:24

9 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

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

11 tn Or “set apart,” cf. CEV “special.”

12 tn Heb “all who are written down for life in Jerusalem.” A city register is envisioned; everyone whose name appears on the roll will be spared. This group comprises the remnant of the city referred to earlier in the verse.

Isaiah 40:25

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Isaiah 40:26

18 The Bible.org ministry has provided the NET Bible® at no cost for inclusion in this Bible study software. You can learn about bible.org’s Ministry First model where we share the NET Bible and thousands of other copyrighted biblical materials at www.bible.org/ministryfirst . Ministry First means what it implies, that we’ve chosen to put ministry ahead of money. We believe that the Bible teaches the ministry first concept very clearly – and we think everyone in the world should have free access to trustworthy Bibles and study materials. Tell your friends to get their free NET Bible and free access to thousands of trustworthy Bible study materials online at www.bible.org . This free NET Bible® module includes all the translators’ notes for the first chapter of each book plus all the notes on verses 1-3 for the remaining 1,123 chapters in the Bible.

We encourage you to upgrade this free version to the premier full NET Bible® version containing all 60,932 notes. This is the most complete set of translators’ notes in any Bible translation and illuminates many important issues of translation and interpretation. You can upgrade by going to www.bible.org/upgrade where you can purchase the full NET Bible or even download basic versions with all 60,932 translators’ notes for free! Your purchases and donations help ensure the ongoing supply of new resources and tools from Bible.org, which is the world’s largest source of trustworthy – and free – Bible study materials.

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Isaiah 40:27

21 The Bible.org ministry has provided the NET Bible® at no cost for inclusion in this Bible study software. You can learn about bible.org’s Ministry First model where we share the NET Bible and thousands of other copyrighted biblical materials at www.bible.org/ministryfirst . Ministry First means what it implies, that we’ve chosen to put ministry ahead of money. We believe that the Bible teaches the ministry first concept very clearly – and we think everyone in the world should have free access to trustworthy Bibles and study materials. Tell your friends to get their free NET Bible and free access to thousands of trustworthy Bible study materials online at www.bible.org . This free NET Bible® module includes all the translators’ notes for the first chapter of each book plus all the notes on verses 1-3 for the remaining 1,123 chapters in the Bible.

We encourage you to upgrade this free version to the premier full NET Bible® version containing all 60,932 notes. This is the most complete set of translators’ notes in any Bible translation and illuminates many important issues of translation and interpretation. You can upgrade by going to www.bible.org/upgrade where you can purchase the full NET Bible or even download basic versions with all 60,932 translators’ notes for free! Your purchases and donations help ensure the ongoing supply of new resources and tools from Bible.org, which is the world’s largest source of trustworthy – and free – Bible study materials.

Isaiah 40:29

1 tn It is uncertain who is speaking here. Possibly the prophet, taking the role of best man, composes a love song for his friend on the occasion of his wedding. If so, יָדִיד (yadid) should be translated “my friend.” The present translation assumes that Israel is singing to the Lord. The word דוֹד (dod, “lover”) used in the second line is frequently used by the woman in the Song of Solomon to describe her lover.

2 sn Israel, viewing herself as the Lord’s lover, refers to herself as his vineyard. The metaphor has sexual connotations, for it pictures her capacity to satisfy his appetite and to produce children. See Song of Solomon 8:12.

3 tn Heb “on a horn, a son of oil.” Apparently קֶרֶן (qeren, “horn”) here refers to the horn-shaped peak of a hill (BDB 902 s.v.) or to a mountain spur, i.e., a ridge that extends laterally from a mountain (HALOT 1145 s.v. קֶרֶן; H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:180). The expression “son of oil” pictures this hill as one capable of producing olive trees. Isaiah’s choice of קֶרֶן, a rare word for hill, may have been driven by paronomastic concerns, i.e., because קֶרֶן sounds like כֶּרֶם (kerem, “vineyard”).

Isaiah 40:30

4 tn Or, “dug it up” (so NIV); KJV “fenced it.’ See HALOT 810 s.v. עזק.

5 tn Heb “wild grapes,” i.e., sour ones (also in v. 4).

sn At this point the love song turns sour as the Lord himself breaks in and completes the story (see vv. 3-6). In the final line of v. 2 the love song presented to the Lord becomes a judgment speech by the Lord.

Isaiah 40:31

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

7 tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.