HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  5.8–10 Against the amassing of property at others’ expense (Mic 2.1–6, 8–9). Bath, a liquid measure of approximately 5.5 gallons, a grotesquely small yield for 10 acres of vineyard. Homer, a dry measure of approximately 6.5 bushels. Ephah, a dry measure equal to only one-tenth of a homer (see Ezek 45.11).

  5.11–13 Against drink and debauchery (Am 6.4–7).

  5.11 Strong drink, an ambiguously misleading translation for a word that probably means barley beer. It has that meaning in modern Hebrew, and the Akkadian cognate means “beer” in Mesopotamian sources contemporary with Isaiah. Beer was well known in both Egypt and Mesopotamia, and it would be curious if beer were not brewed in the barley-raising areas between these two cultures. Strong drink suggests distilled liquors, which were probably still unknown, though some recent archaeological evidence suggests that an early form of pomace brandy similar to grappa or marc was known. To be inflamed by wine, a remarkable wordplay better rendered “until wine chases them.” Until the very last syllable readers or hearers expect simple parallelism—“to pursue beer,…to chase wine”—but the last syllable subverts expectations, so that those who pursue alcoholic drinks end up no longer in control, being chased by the very thing they pursued.

  5.12 The deeds, work, or plan of God is a central motif in Isaiah’s message (5.19; 10.12; 14.24–27; 19.12, 17; 23.9; 28.21; 30.1).

  5.13 Without knowledge, because of a lack of knowledge (1.3; Hos 4.1, 6).

  5.14–17 A fragmentary oracle against Jerusalem. The introduction to this oracle with the explicit denunciation of the city has apparently been lost, leaving only the announcement of judgment.

  5.14 Sheol, the underworld, where the dead go (14.9–18). A similar threat that the city would sink into the underworld is found in 29.4.

  5.15 Cf. 2.9, 17.

  5.16 Justice…righteousness. God’s judgment is just (cf. 28.23–29).

  5.18–19 Against scoffers who urged God to hurry up with the divine work so they could discern it (v. 12; cf. Jer 17.15–16).

  5.20 Against moral confusion (32.5; Prov 17.15).

  5.21 Against the conceit of the wise (Prov 3.7; 26.5, 12, 16; 28.11).

  5.22–23 Against indulgence and bribery (cf. Prov 31.4–5).

  5.24 Concluding judgment on these perpetrators of social injustice.

  5.25–30 These verses should probably follow 9.8–21.

  5.25 As in 9.8–21, this past judgment on Israel did not lead to its repentance, so God’s anger is still unabated (see 9.12, 17, 21; 10.4).

  5.26–30 God will summon the Assyrians as his agent to punish Israel (cf. 7.18–20; 8.7; 10.5–6). The negative use of the lion metaphor to characterize the punishing Assyrians is picked up in 31.4 to characterize God as the punisher of Jerusalem.

  ISAIAH 6

  A Vision of God in the Temple

  1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3And one called to another and said:

  “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

  the whole earth is full of his glory.”

  4The pivotsa on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

  6Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7The seraphb touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” 8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” 9And he said, “Go and say to this people:

  ‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend;

  keep looking, but do not understand.’

  10Make the mind of this people dull,

  and stop their ears,

  and shut their eyes,

  so that they may not look with their eyes,

  and listen with their ears,

  and comprehend with their minds,

  and turn and be healed.”

  11Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said:

  “Until cities lie waste

  without inhabitant,

  and houses without people,

  and the land is utterly desolate;

  12until the LORD sends everyone far away,

  and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.

  13Even if a tenth part remain in it,

  it will be burned again,

  like a terebinth or an oak

  whose stump remains standing

  when it is felled.”c

  The holy seed is its stump.

  next chapter

  * * *

  a Meaning of Heb uncertain

  b Heb He

  c Meaning of Heb uncertain

  6.1–13 Isaiah’s prophetic commission is described as a response to an awesome vision of God as divine suzerain (cf. the portrayals of the enthroned deity in 1 Kings 22.19–23; Ezek 1.4–2.1).

  6.1 Year, probably 738 BCE. The Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty, better “The Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne,” the 15-foot-high throne in the inner sanctum of the temple formed by the outspread wings of the two giant cherubim (1 Kings 6.22–29; 2 Kings 19.15; Ezek 10.1–2; 1 Chr 28.18). Hem, the border on the bottom of God’s robe or the part hanging down from the knees; the image is that of a God too gigantic to be contained in the temple (66.1; 1 Kings 8.27).

  6.2 Seraphs, winged cobras (14.29; 30.6) often represented in Egyptian art, in association with Syro-Phoenician thrones, and on late eighth-century Judean seals, with wings outstretched to protect the deity. Covered their faces. Here, rather than protect the deity, they must protect themselves from the glory of God.

  6.5 I am lost, a double entendre that could also be rendered “I am silenced.” Unclean lips. See 29.13. It was life-threatening for sinful mortals to see God (Ex 33.20; Judg 13.22).

  6.6–8 Cleansed by the burning coal from the altar, Isaiah may now speak for God.

  6.9–12 The message God gives Isaiah will not lead to repentance, but to the hardening of the people’s heart, thus making them ripe for God’s judgment. Cf. 29.9–14; see also the NT citations of vv. 9–10 in Mt 13.10–17; Mk 4.10–12; Lk 8.9–10; Jn 12.40; Acts 28.25–29.

  6.13 The last part of the verse is textually uncertain and unclear.

  ISAIAH 7

  Isaiah Reassures King Ahaz

  1In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel went up to attack Jerusalem, but could not mount an attack against it. 2When the house of David heard that Aram had allied itself with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaza and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

  3Then the LORD said to Isaiah, Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub,b at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field, 4and say to him, Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah. 5Because Aram—with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah—has plotted evil against you, saying, 6Let us go up against Judah and cut off Jerusalemc and conquer it for ourselves and make the son of Tabeel king in it; 7therefore thus says the Lord GOD:

  It shall not stand,

  and it shall not come to pass.

  8For the head of Aram is Damascus,

  and the head of Damascus is Rezin.

  (Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered, no longer a people.)

  9The head of Ephraim is Samaria,

  and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.

  If
you do not stand firm in faith,

  you shall not stand at all.

  Isaiah Gives Ahaz the Sign of Immanuel

  10Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. 12But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test. 13Then Isaiahd said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? 14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young womane is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.f 15He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted. 17The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on your ancestral house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria.”

  18On that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is at the sources of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.

  20On that day the Lord will shave with a razor hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will take off the beard as well.

  21On that day one will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, 22and will eat curds because of the abundance of milk that they give; for everyone that is left in the land shall eat curds and honey.

  23On that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns. 24With bow and arrows one will go there, for all the land will be briers and thorns; 25and as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not go there for fear of briers and thorns; but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.

  next chapter

  * * *

  a Heb his heart

  b That is A remnant shall return

  c Heb cut it off

  d Heb he

  e Gk the virgin

  f That is God is with us

  7.1–8.18 Isaiah and the Syro-Ephraimite war (735–732 BCE). The prophet’s message is organized around the symbolic names given to his three children (see 8.18; cf. Hos 1.4–9). For the historical background, see 2 Kings 15.29–16.20; 2 Chr 28.1–27.

  7.1–9 The symbolic name of Isaiah’s first child assures Ahaz that Israel and Aram’s plan against Judah will not succeed.

  7.1 Aram, Syria, with its capital at Damascus.

  7.2 Ephraim, the Northern Kingdom; this coalition of Aram and Israel planned to remove Ahaz and end the Davidic dynasty’s rule over Judah (see v. 6).

  7.3 Shear-jashub, in Hebrew “A remnant shall return” only a remnant of the hostile Northern Kingdom will survive (v. 8; 10.20–22).

  7.6 Tabeel, perhaps a garbled transcription of (It)tobaal, king of Tyre in 738 BCE; Tyre was allied with the coalition.

  7.8–9 God chose both Jerusalem and the Davidic dynasty (Pss 2.6; 132.11–14), so the humanly chosen kings and capital cities of Judah’s enemies cannot prevail against them. The repetitive nature of these verses appears to have led to a serious haplography and subsequent corruption. A promise sixty-five years in the future would be irrelevant to Ahaz’s immediate danger, and no known historical event occurred at that time, so it makes little sense as a later gloss. The original text probably read something like: “For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin, and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah; within five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people, and within six Damascus will be removed from being a city” (cf. 17.1).

  7.10–17 The symbolic name of the second child gives further reassurance to Ahaz.

  7.13 The prophet treats Ahaz’s pious-sounding remark as merely masking a refusal to trust the divine promise.

  7.14 Immanuel, in Hebrew “God is with us,” embodies the divine promise of protection to Jerusalem (Ps 46.4–7, 11; cf. Isa 8.9–10).

  7.15 Curds and honey, choice foods for a newly weaned child, but hard to obtain in a city under siege.

  7.16 Before the child knows…good, by the time the child is weaned—within two or three years—the besieging enemies will have long since been destroyed (cf. 8.4).

  7.17 Whether the verse is a promise or a threat to Judah is ambiguous.

  7.18–25 Four sayings that expand on v. 17.

  7.18 Fly, a metaphor for Egyptian troops. Bee, a metaphor for Assyrian troops.

  7.20 Razor hired beyond the River, a reference to Assyria as the agent God employed to punish Israel (see 10.5–15). The River, the Euphrates. Feet, a euphemism for the genitals (Ex 4.25).

  7.21–25 The small remnant left in the devastated land will have sufficient to eat; with the cultivated land reverted to pasture there will be abundant grazing for the few livestock remaining.

  ISAIAH 8

  Isaiah’s Son a Sign of the Assyrian Invasion

  1Then the LORD said to me, Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, “Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz,”a 2and have it attestedb for me by reliable witnesses, the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah. 3And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4for before the child knows how to call “My father” or “My mother,” the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.

  5The LORD spoke to me again: 6Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and melt in fear beforec Rezin and the son of Remaliah; 7therefore, the Lord is bringing up against it the mighty flood waters of the River, the king of Assyria and all his glory; it will rise above all its channels and overflow all its banks; 8it will sweep on into Judah as a flood, and, pouring over, it will reach up to the neck; and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.

  9Band together, you peoples, and be dismayed; listen, all you far countries; gird yourselves and be dismayed; gird yourselves and be dismayed!

  10Take counsel together, but it shall be brought to naught; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.d

  11For the LORD spoke thus to me while his hand was strong upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what it fears, or be in dread. 13But the LORD of hosts, him you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14He will become a sanctuary, a stone one strikes against; for both houses of Israel he will become a rock one stumbles over—a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15And many among them shall stumble; they shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.

  Disciples of Isaiah

  16Bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples. 17I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18See, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19Now if people say to you, “Consult the ghosts and the familiar spirits that chirp and mutter; should not a people consult their gods, the dead on behalf of the living, 20for teaching and for instruction?” surely, those who speak like this will have no dawn! 21They will pass through the land,e greatly distressed and hungry; when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will cursef their king and their gods. They will turn their faces upward, 22or they will look to the earth, but will see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be thrust into thick darkness.g

  next chapter

  * * *

  a That is The spoil speeds, the prey hastens

  b Q Ms Gk Syr: MT and I caused to be attested

  c Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain

  d Heb immanu el

  e Heb it

  f Or c
urse by

  g Meaning of Heb uncertain

  8.1–4 The symbolic name of yet a third child reaffirms God’s promise to Ahaz.

  8.2 Uriah. See 2 Kings 16.10–16. Zechariah, possibly Ahaz’s father-in-law (2 Kings 18.2).

  8.3 Prophetess, Isaiah’s wife.

  8.4 Before the child knows…“My mother,” before the child says his first words—within about a year. Note that with each succeeding child the time limit for the destruction of Ahaz’s enemies is reduced—from five to six years (see note on 7.8–9), to two to three (see note on 7.16), to around one here.

  8.5–10 Oracle threatening the devastation of Israel but the ultimate deliverance of Judah.

  8.6 Shiloah, a gentle stream fed by Jerusalem’s Gihon spring (cf. Neh 3.15), symbolizing the Davidic dynasty. Melt in fear before. The Hebrew may mean “delight in.” Rezin, Aramean king of Damascus. Son of Remaliah, Pekah, king of Israel.

  8.7 The River, the Euphrates, symbolizing Assyria.

  8.8 And its outspread wings, better “But his (God’s) outspread wings.” The antecedent of the pronoun is probably the LORD in v. 7; although a standard metaphor for God’s protection (Deut 32.11; Pss 17.8; 36.7; 57.1; 61.4; 63.7; 91.1–4), wings is never used of rivers, and Immanuel suggests a positive word (see v. 10).

  8.9–10 A promise of deliverance for Judah ending with a repetition of the symbolic name God is with us, “Immanuel” (cf. 7.7–9; 17.12–14).

  8.11–15 The people are to sanctify and fear God, not what the crowd fears.

  8.11 His hand was strong upon me, a technical expression for the onset of prophetic inspiration (Ezek 1.3; 3.14, 22; 33.22).