First Upload: Wednesday March 13, 2019
Last Modified: Wednesday June 24, 2020
Author: Eduardo Freire Canosa
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1 Woe to you, O destroyer, you who have not been destroyed! Woe to you, O traitor, you who have not been betrayed! When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed; when you stop betraying, you will be betrayed.
2 O Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.
3 At the thunder of your voice, the peoples flee; when you rise up, the nations scatter.
4 Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts; like a swarm of locusts men pounce on it.
5 The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.
7 Look, their brave men cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
8 The highways are deserted, no travelers are on the roads. The treaty is broken, its witnesses are despised, no one is respected.
9 The land mourns and wastes away, Lebanon is ashamed and withers; Sharon is like the Arabah, and Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves.
10 "Now will I arise," says the Lord. "Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up.
11 You conceive chaff, you give birth to straw; your breath is a fire that consumes you.
12 The peoples will be burned as if to lime; like cut thornbushes they will be set ablaze."
13 You who are far away, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge my power!
14 The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: "Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?"
15 He who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil—
16 this is the man who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and water will not fail him.
17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar.
18 In your thoughts you will ponder the former terror: "Where is that chief officer? Where is the one who took the revenue? Where is the officer in charge of the towers?"
19 You will see those arrogant people no more, those people of an obscure speech, with their strange, incomprehensible tongue.
20 Look upon Zion, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken.
21 There the Lord will be our Mighty One. It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams. No galley with oars will ride them, no mighty ship will sail them.
22 For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us.
23 Your rigging hangs loose: The mast is not held secure, the sail is not spread. Then an abundance of spoils will be divided and even the lame will carry off plunder.
24 No one living in Zion will say, "I am ill"; and the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven.
This canonical chapter is the typical hodgepodge of three or more scripts that wrap around each other like a ball of spaghetti.
Revised Chapter 33 enlists the first verse of this canonical chapter, imports six more from two chapters and takes the title, "Ephraim Allies Itself With Aram."
2. O Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.
Analysis: This verse is part of a psalm (cf. Psalms 95:1, 119:81).
Destination: Revised Chapter 25, "Psalms of Praise To God,"
First Half of 26:9 My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. 2 O Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress. 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.
3. At the thunder of your voice, the peoples flee; when you rise up, the nations scatter.
Analysis: The plural nouns, "peoples" and "nations," occur six and eight times respectively in connection with the punishment of the "whole world" for its sins.
Destination: Revised Chapter 24, "The Day of The Lord."
4. Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts; like a swarm of locusts men pounce on it.
Analysis: Nations plunder other nations and store the loot away, but in turn—says this verse—their own citizens will pounce on it when they can.
Destination: Revised Chapter 26, "The Lord Is The Rock Eternal,"
26:4 Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal. 26:5 He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust. 26:6 Feet trample it down—the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor. 4 Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts; like a swarm of locusts men pounce on it.
5. The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.
Analysis: This verse tabs Zion in the reign of the Branch of the Lord.
Destination: Revised Chapter 60, "The City of The Lord, Zion of The Holy One of Israel."
6. He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.
Analysis: The pronoun "He" bars inserting this verse in Revised Chapter 25, "Psalm of Praise To God," which addresses the Lord with the pronoun "You" throughout.
Destination: Revised Chapter 26, "The Lord Is The Rock Eternal,"
32:19 Though hail flattens the forest and the city is leveled completely, 6 he will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.
7-9. Look, their brave men cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly. 8 The highways are deserted, no travelers are on the roads. The treaty is broken, its witnesses are despised, no one is respected. 9 The land mourns and wastes away, Lebanon is ashamed and withers; Sharon is like the Arabah, and Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves.
Analysis: The broken treaty is a treaty of peace ("the envoys of peace weep bitterly") between a weak nation whose "brave men cry aloud in the streets" (v 7, cf. Isaiah 15:4) and a powerful one (Assyria). The witnesses of the treaty must have been the two countries cited on v 9, Lebanon and Ephraim. "Lebanon is ashamed and withers" because Assyria attacked it (Isaiah 23:1-14) and "Sharon is like the Arabah, and Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves" because Assyria has also attacked Ephraim (2 Kings 15:29).
The best candidate for the people alluded to by verses 7-9 is the Philistines because they bordered on Lebanon and Ephraim and had friendly relations with both (Jeremiah 47:4, 2 Kings 1:1-3).
Destination: Revised Chapter 14, "The Philistines."
10. "Now will I arise," says the Lord. "Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up."
Analysis: The Lord arises, is exalted and is lifted up in the "day of the Lord."
Destination: Revised Chapter 24, "The Day of The Lord,"
10 "Now will I arise," says the Lord. "Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up. 42:14 For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant. 13:11 I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
11. You conceive chaff, you give birth to straw; your breath is a fire that consumes you.
Explanation: Punishable sin ignites a fire that consumes the sinner.
First Destination: Revised Chapter 41, "The Lord Versus The Idols,"
45:20 "Gather together and come; assemble, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods that cannot save. 11 You conceive chaff, you give birth to straw; your breath is a fire that consumes you.
This choice flounders on the scant probability that the Lord would deign to warn pagans, the "fugitives from the nations," about the consequences of idolatry (v 11).
Final Destination: Revised Chapter 5, "The Vineyard of The Lord,"
29:15 Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us? Who will know?"11 You conceive chaff, you give birth to straw; your breath is a fire that consumes you. 29:16 You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "He did not make me"? Can the pot say of the potter, "He knows nothing"?
This choice gains the advantage that verses 11 and the next one, Isaiah 29:16. employ the same pronoun "You" to rebuke "those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord."
12. The peoples will be burned as if to lime; like cut thornbushes they will be set ablaze.
Destination: Obviously Revised Chapter 24, "The Day of The Lord,"
24:5 The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left. 12 The peoples will be burned as if to lime; like cut thornbushes they will be set ablaze.
13. You who are far away, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge my power!
Explanation: The Lord proclaims to the world what he has done, he has scattered Sennacherib's army (2 Kings 19:35).
Destination: Revised Chapter 10, "Assyria."
14. The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: "Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?"
Analysis: A dwelling with a consuming fire, with everlasting burning, can only have the Lord's Topheth in mind,
Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.(Isaiah 30:33)
Destination: Revised Chapter 30, "The Oracle About King Ahaz."
15-16. He who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil— 16 this is the man who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and water will not fail him.
Reason: These two verses are of course unrelated to hell (v 14). No righteous man dwells with the consuming fire. Again! this mischievous glueing of antagonistic verses must have been the work of pranksters.
Destination: Revised Chapter 55, "The Lord Addresses The People,"
56:1 This is what the Lord says: "Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed. 56:2 Blessed is the man who does this, the man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. 15 He who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil— 16 this is the man who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and water will not fail him."
17. Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar.
Explanation: It turns out that the "eyes" are those of the City of the Lord in the reign of the Branch of the Lord. The city will see the king in his beauty because the Branch of the Lord dwells there, and the city views "a land that stretches afar" because it is set on a hill, Mount Zion.
Destination: Revised Chapter 60, "The City of The Lord, Zion of The Holy One of Israel,"
60:5 Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. 17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar.
18-19. In your thoughts you will ponder the former terror: "Where is that chief officer? Where is the one who took the revenue? Where is the officer in charge of the towers?" 19 You will see those arrogant people no more, those people of an obscure speech, with their strange, incomprehensible tongue.
Analysis: The term, "strange, incomprehensible tongue," tags the Assyrians (cf. Isaiah 18:2, 18:7).
Destination: Revised Chapter 10, "Assyria."
20-22. Look upon Zion, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken. 21 There the Lord will be our Mighty One. It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams. No galley with oars will ride them, no mighty ship will sail them. 22 For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us.
Analysis: The sentence, "it is he who will save us," indicates that Zion was in need of salvation when these three verses were written. Verses 20-22 integrate well in the second half of Isaiah's vision of the Lord in the year that King Uzziah died.
Destination: Revised Chapter 6, "The Vision of The Lord."
24. No one living in Zion will say, "I am ill"; and the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven.
Analysis: In principle this verse can lodge in any chapter dealing with the reign of the Branch of the Lord.
Destination: Revised Chapter 26, "The Branch of The Lord,"
4:2 In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel. 4:3 Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem. 24 No one living in Zion will say, "I am ill"; and the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven.
1. Woe to you, O destroyer, you who have not been destroyed! Woe to you, O traitor, you who have not been betrayed! When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed; when you stop betraying, you will be betrayed.
Disordered Sentences: Two snarled sentences jar the narration unnecessarily. The untangled verse reads,
Woe to you, O destroyer, you who have not been destroyed! When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed. Woe to you, O traitor, you who have not been betrayed! When you stop betraying, you will be betrayed.
23. Your rigging hangs loose: The mast is not held secure, the sail is not spread. Then an abundance of spoils will be divided and even the lame will carry off plunder.
Reason: The first half, "Your rigging hangs loose: The mast is not held secure, the sail is not spread," is either a vague metaphor for a port city in peril or for a ship in rough seas.
Destination of the first half: Revised Chapter 23, "Tyre And Sidon,"
23:1 An oracle concerning Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish! For Tyre is destroyed and left without house or harbor. From the land of Cyprus word has come to them. 23:14 Wail, you ships of Tarshish; your fortress is destroyed! First Half of 23 Your rigging hangs loose: The mast is not held secure, the sail is not spread.The second half, "Then an abundance of spoils will be divided and even the lame will carry off plunder," indicates an ample opportunity to despoil, as was the case on the morning after the miraculous rout of the Assyrian army (2 Kings 19:35).
Destination of the second half: Revised Chapter 8, "Assyria Will Invade Judah,"
25:9 In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation." 28:21 The Lord will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon—to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task. Second Half of 23 Then an abundance of spoils will be divided and even the lame will carry off plunder.
7:17. The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.
7:20. In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River—the king of Assyria—to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to take off your beards also.
17:3-6. "The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and royal power from Damascus; the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the Israelites," declares the Lord Almighty. 4 "In that day the glory of Jacob will fade; the fat of his body will waste away. 5 It will be as when a reaper gathers the standing grain and harvests the grain with his arm—as when a man gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim. 6 Yet some gleanings will remain, as when an olive tree is beaten, leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches, four or five on the fruitful boughs," declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
Modified 1 Woe to you, O destroyer, you who have not been destroyed! When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed.
Woe to you, O traitor, you who have not been betrayed! When you stop betraying, you will be betrayed. 7:17 The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria. 7:20 In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River—the king of Assyria—to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to take off your beards also.
17:3 "The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and royal power from Damascus; the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the Israelites," declares the Lord Almighty. 17:4 "In that day the glory of Jacob will fade; the fat of his body will waste away. 17:5 It will be as when a reaper gathers the standing grain and harvests the grain with his arm—as when a man gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim. 17:6 Yet some gleanings will remain, as when an olive tree is beaten, leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches, four or five on the fruitful boughs," declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
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