[The time] has come to gather all the nations and tongues; they shall come and behold My glory. 19I will set a sign among them, and send from them survivors to the nations: to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud—that draw the bow—to Tubal, Javan, and the distant coasts, that have never heard My fame nor beheld My glory. They shall declare My glory among these nations. 20And out of all the nations, said the LORD, they shall bring all your brothers on horses, in chariots and drays, on mules and dromedaries, to Jerusalem My holy mountain as an offering to the LORD—just as the Israelites bring an offering in a pure vessel to the House of the LORD. 21And from them likewise I will take some to be h-levitical priests,-h said the LORD.
22For as the new heaven and the new earth
Which I will make
Shall endure by My will
—declares the LORD—
So shall your seed and your name endure.
23And new moon after new moon,
And sabbath after sabbath,
All flesh shall come to worship Me
—said the LORD.
24They shall go out and gaze
On the corpses of the men who rebelled against Me:
Their worms shall not die,
Nor their fire be quenched;
They shall be a horror
To all flesh.
And new moon after new moon,
And sabbath after sabbath,
All flesh shall come to worship Me
—said the LORD.
a-a Emendation yields “like Sodom overthrown.”
b Lit. “Daughter.”
c-c Others “To trample My courts? /13Bring no more vain oblations.”
d-d Septuagint “Fast and assembly”; cf. Joel 1.14.
e-e Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
f-f Or “you will be fed the sword.”
g I.e., Jerusalem’s.
h-h Emendation yields “in a crucible”; cf. 48.10.
i Others “Zion shall be saved by justice, /Her repentant ones by righteousness.”
j For this meaning cf. 5.16; 10.22.
k Heb. “they.”
l-l Connecting hason with hasan, “to store” (23.18), and hosen, “treasure” (33.6).
a I.e., oracles will be obtainable.
b More exactly, the iron points with which wooden plows were tipped.
c Cf. Judg. 3.2.
d-d Emendation yields “For they are full of divination/and have abundance of soothsaying,/Like Philistines/And like alien folk.”
e Cf. Targum; lit. “children.”
f-f Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Emendation yields “And their idols with them”; cf. vv. 17–21.
g-g Probably a type of large ship.
h-h Exact meaning of Heb. uncertain.
a Emendation yields “clothing”; cf. v. 7; 4.1.
b Emendation yields “craftsman.”
c Heb. “I.”
d-d Emendation yields “His father’s son, saying.…”
e Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Emendation yields “wound.”
f So Targum; cf. Deut. 1.17; 16.19.
g Emendation yields “Happy is.”
h Emendation yields “boys”; cf. v. 4 (and v. 5).
i Septuagint “His people”; cf. vv. 14, 15.
j-j Lit. “throats bent back.”
k So Saadia. To bare a woman’s head in public was an intolerable humiliation; cf. Mishnah Baba Kamma 8.6.
l Many of the articles named in vv. 18–24 cannot be identified with certainty.
m-m The complete Isaiah scroll from Qumran, hereafter IQIsa, reads “For shame shall take the place of beauty”; cf. note k.
n I.e., Zion’s; cf. vv. 16, 17; Heb. “your.”
o-o Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Emendation yields “her wall”; cf. Lam. 2.8.
a For the interpretation of this verse, cf. 28.5. For “radiance,” cf. Septuagint and the Syriac semha, and for “splendor,” cf. the meaning of peri in 10.12.
b-b Emendation yields “my Lord”; cf. the parallelism (in reverse order) in 3.17.
c-c Emendation yields “Daughter Zion,” i.e., Zion personified; cf. 1.8 and note.
d Emendation yields “spread”; cf. Ps. 105.39.
e-e Emendation yields “His whole shrine.”
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b This sentence contains two word-plays: “And He hoped for mishpat, And there is mispah [exact meaning uncertain];/For sedaqah, But there is se’aqah [lit. ‘outcry’].”
c I.e., of wine. The bath was the liquid equivalent of the ephah; and the homer was ten baths or ephahs (Ezek 45.11).
d-d Emendation yields “whose interests are” (mish’ehem, from sha’ah “to turn to,” 17.7, 8; 31.1).
e Meaning of verse uncertain. Emendation yields “The lambs shall graze/In the pasture of the fat [rams], /And the kids shall feed/On the ranges of the stout [bucks].” The lambs and the kids are the poor and the rams and bucks are the rich oppressors (cf. Ezek. 34.17–22).
f By way of retort to v. 12.
g-g Emendation yields “is burned by flame”; cf. 33.11–12; 47.14.
h An allusion to the destructive earthquake in the reign of King Uzziah: Amos 1.1; Zech. 14.5; cf. Isa. 9.18a
i Heb. “nations.”
j I.e., the LORD will intervene and come to his aid. Cf. 29.6–7; 30.27. This verse may constitute a transition between chaps. 8 and 9.
a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b-b I.e., speaking impiety; cf. 9.16, and contrast “pure of speech [lit. ‘lip’]” in Zeph. 3.9.
c Lit. “heal.”
a Meaning “[only] a remnant will turn back,” i.e., repent; cf. 6.13; 10.21.
b To refer to a person only as “the son of—” is slighting; cf. note at 1 Sam. 10.11.
c The thought is continued by 8.8b–10; cf. 2 Chron. 13.8–12.
d-d Brought down from v. 8 for clarity.
e-e Others “surely, you shall not be established.”
f By insisting on soliciting the aid of Assyria (see 2 Kings 16.7 ff.; cf. below, v. 20). “Treat as helpless” follows the translation of Saadia; cf. Gen. 19.11.
g Meaning “with us is God.”
h Cf. note on v. 13.
i Who was hired by Ahaz; cf. notes on vv. 13 and 17.
j-j I.e., the pubic hair.
k I.e., all the best farm land, corresponding to the hairiest parts of the body; v. 20.
l Because of dangerous beasts.
m Marginal farm land, too rocky for the plow, corresponding to areas of the body with scant hair.
n-n See note at Exod. 12.3.
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b I.e., “Pillage hastens, looting speeds,” indicating that two cities are to be pillaged at an early date; see v. 4.
c I.e., Isaiah’s wife.
d-d Brought up from v. 6 for clarity.
e The conduit—and later the tunnel—of Siloam conveyed into Jerusalem the waters of Gihon, which symbolize “the LORD of Hosts who dwells on Movnt Zion” (v. 18). For the nature of the rejection see note at 7.13.
f I.e., Judah shall be imperiled, but, in contrast to Aram and Ephraim (v. 4), not destroyed.
g See note c at 7.9.
h I.e., singled me out; cf. 41.9, 13; 42.6; 45.1; Jer. 31.32 [31].
i The Heb. forms here and in vv. 13 and 19 are plural to include the disciples (v. 16) and the children (v. 18).
j Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Emendation yields “holy”; cf. v. 13.
k-k Emendation yields “… for His holy domain [cf. Ps. 114.2]/A stone.…”
l I.e., the shades of the dead; cf. 1 Sam. 28.13.
m-m This sentence would read well after v. 22.
n-n Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
o-o So IQIsa; the others have “there is not.”
p Meaning of verse uncertain. The rendering here assumes that “the former [king]” refers to Pekah (cf. 2 Kings 15.29) and “the later” to Hoshea (ibid. 30). For the construction lu … ka’eth, see Judg. 13—23.
a See note j at 5.30.
b See Judg. 7—8.
c-c Meaning of Heb. uncertain; emendation yields “in wickedness”; cf. Targum.
d As in 25.1.
e-e Septuagint reads “Let loose pestilence”; cf. Amos 4.10. In vv. 7–20 Isaiah alludes to and builds upon Amos 4.10–12.
f IQIsa reads “shouted.”
g-g Emendation yields “its enemies.”
h-h Emendation yields “who practice partiality.”
i Emendation yields “palm branches”; the elders and the prophets are the leaders, the people are the led; cf. 3.1–2, 12.
j Cf. Arabic samuha. IQIsa reads yhmw.
k-k Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
l-l Moved down from v. 16 for clarity.
m Cf. note at 5.25.
n-n Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Emendation yields “fellow”; cf. Targum.
o Alludes to the civil wars of 2 Kings 15.10, 14–16, 25.
p Cf. 7.1–9.
a Meaning of Heb. uncertain; for “carcasses,” compare the rendering of kabod in v. 16; 22.18.
b-b Emendation yields “Who is a staff in the hand of my fury.”
c-c Emendation yields “all the kingdoms fared alike!”
d-d Emendation yields “Since I was able to seize/those kingdoms and their images,/Why is Jerusalem better than Samaria?”
e Heb. “I.”
f According to vv. 6–7, Assyria was to plunder, but not to exile.
g Lit. “not-wood.”
h Presumably Israel’s. These verses would read well after 9.16.
i Cf. note at v. 3.
j-j Brought up from v. 18 for clarity.
k I.e., upon Assyria (see v. 24). Ahaz’s reliance on Assyria was interpreted by Isaiah as lack of faith in the Lord; see 7.13 with note.
l-l Presumably Assyria; meaning of Heb. uncertain. Emendation yields “My anger against the world shall cease.”
m See Judg. 7.25.
n-n Emendation yields “And his yoke shall leave your neck./He came up from Jeshimon/ 28By the ascent of Aiath,/He proceeded to Migron;/At Michmas be commanded his forces:/29‘Make the crossing;/Geba is to be our night quarters!’ ” Jeshimon is the southeast corner of the Jordan Valley, Num. 21.20; 23.28; Aiath is elsewhere called Ai.
o I.e., the Assyrian king, arriving at Nob (close to Jerusalem), shall beckon his army onward; cf. 13.2.
p-p Or “by the bronze,” connecting Heb. ’addir with Akkadian urudu, “bronze.”
a-a Lit. “His sensing [shall be]”; meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b Emendation yields “the ruthless.”
c-c 1QIsa reads: “The calf and the beast of prey shall feed”; so too the Septuagint.
d Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
e-e I.e., the Holy Land; cf. Exod. 15.17; Ps. 78.54.
f I.e., the part outside the Holy Land; lit. “the rest that will remain.”
a Others “song.”
a The impending slaughter is spoken of as a sacrificial meal, for which the guests were notified to purify themselves ritually; cf. Zeph. 1.7.
b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
c Traditionally rendered “the Almighty.”
d-d Taking the root lhb as a variant of bhl: others “shall be faces of flame.”
e-e Lit. “I will shake heaven.”
f-f Meaning of Heb. uncertain; emendation yields “flee.”
a I.e., the House of Jacob.
b I.e., the peoples.
c Reading marhebah with 1QIsa (cf. Septuagint). The traditional reading madhebah is of unknown meaning.
d A character in some lost myth.
e I.e., the assembly of the gods in council.
f The abode of the gods; cf. Ps. 48.3.
g-g A region of the netherworld reserved for those who have not received decent burial; cf. Ezek. 32.21 ff.
h-h
