Translation:Isaiah

by Isaiah

For other English-language translations of this work, see Isaiah (Bible).

Chapter 1

¹The vision^[1] of Isaiah ben Amoz which he perceived concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

²Hear, heavens,
and listen up, earth,
for Yahweh speaks:
“I magnified and exalted sons,
but they transgressed against me.”
³The bull knows its owner.
And the donkey, the crib of his possessor.
But Israel knows not,
my people do not consider."
⁴Yikes!
Sinful nation!
People bound [with] iniquity!
Offspring of evildoers!
Corrupting children!
They abandoned Yahweh!
They spurned the Holy One of Israel!
They are turned backwards!
⁵Why are you still stricken?
[Why] continue rebellion?
The entire head has a wound,
and the entire heart [is] faint.
⁶From bottom to top,
nothing in it [is] okay.
Bruise and wound and fresh blow--
they have not been squeezed nor bound,
neither is one softened with oil.

⁷Your country is desolate,
your cities burned with fire.
Foreigners devour your land in front of you.
It is desolate, overthrown by foreigners.
⁸Daughter Zion remains like a lean-to in a vineyard,
a hut in a cucumber field, a besieged city.
⁹Unless Yahweh of Armies left us a few survivors,
we would have been like Sodom;
we would have resembled Gomorrah.
¹⁰Listen to Yahweh's message, rulers of Sodom.
Hear the law of our god, people of Gomorrah.

¹¹"Why so many sacrifices to me,"
says Yahweh. "I am fed up
with burnt offerings of rams,
and the fat of well-fed cattle.
The blood of bulls, and lambs, and goats
hold no delight for me.
¹²When you come to appear before me,
who has requested this of you,
to tread upon my courtyards?
¹³Bring no more empty offerings!
Incense disgusts me:
new moons, Sabbaths, calling assemblies.
I cannot bear wickedness with the festival.
¹⁴I loathe your new moons and feasts.
They are a burden to me;
I cannot bear them.
¹⁵When you spread your hands [in worship],
I will hide my eyes from you;
and when you pray many prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are filled with blood.
¹⁶Wash and purify yourselves;
remove your evil deeds from my sight;
cease your evildoing.
¹⁷Learn to do good. Seek justice.
Rebuke the oppressor.
Give the orphan justice;
plead the widow's case."

¹⁸"Come now, let us discuss this," says Yahweh.
"Although your sins are like scarlet,
they can become white as snow.
Though they be red as crimson,
they can become like wool."
¹⁹If you are willing^[2] and observant,
you will eat the good of the land.
²⁰But if you refuse and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword,
because Yahweh's mouth has spoken.
²¹How the faithful city has prostituted itself!
It was filled with justice;
decency lodged there,
but now murderers.
²²Your silver has become dross;
your wine is watered down.
²³Your nobles are stubborn, companions of thieves.
Everyone loves graft and chases bribes.
They give no justice to the orphan,
and do not listen to the complaint of the widow.

²⁴Therefore this is the utterance of Lord Yahweh of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel:
"Woe! I take vengeance on my enemies;
I will repay my opponents.
²⁵I will turn my hand against you:
I will purge your dross with lye;
I will remove all your alloy.
²⁶I will restore your judges as at first,
and your advisers at as the beginning.
Afterwards you will be called City of Righteousness, Town of Faithfulness.
²⁷Zion will be set free by justice,
and her returnees by decency.
²⁸Rebels and wrongdoers will be crushed together;
those who abandon Yahweh will be destroyed.
²⁹Indeed, they will be ashamed of the sacred oaks which you have cherished,
and embarassed at the gardens which you have chosen;
³⁰because you will be like an oak whose leaves wither;
and like a garden without water.
³¹The sturdy will become like a string of yarn,
and their work like a spark:
they will both burn together
and not be put out."

Chapters 2-28

[These are done not now. He that is hardy to translate, let him translate.]

Chapter 29

¹Alas, Ariel, Ariel^[3] city, that David encamped [against]! Year is added to year: solemnities go round. ²And I will surround Ariel, and there will be weeping and wailing, and it will be to me like Ariel. ³I will encircle a circle around you like a ball, and build a rampart against you, and I will set strongholds to besiege you. ⁴I will humiliate you, and you will speak from the ground, and the dirt will hear your speech; and your voice will be like a demon's familiar from the ground, and your words will incant from the dirt. ⁵And the multitude of them that winnowed you will be as fine dust, and the multitude of tyrants will blow away as ashes;^[4]

⁶and it will be in an instant suddenly. From the Lord of armies will come thunder, and tremors, and a great sound of a whirlwind, and a tempest, and a flame of fire devouring. ⁷And it will be like a dream, a night vision, the multitude of all nations that fought against Ariel, and all that moved against it, and besieged it, and prevailed against it. ⁸And as the hungry man dreams, and he eats, but he wakes, and his stomach is empty, and as the thirsty man dreams, and drinks, and after he wakes, he is weak and thirsty, and his stomach yearns, so will be all the multitude of gentiles that fought against mount Zion. ⁹Wait and wonder; unseeing and sightless; become drunk [inwardly], and not from wine; be tipsy, and not from beer. ¹⁰For the Lord has poured on you a spirit of worst unconsciousness; closed the eyes of your prophets and rulers, he has covered them that see visions.

¹¹And there will be a vision to all as the words of a sealed book, and when you give it to the learned^[5] saying: "Read this:" they will answer: "I can not, for it is sealed" ¹²And the book will also be given to the unlearned,^[6] saying: "Read;" and they will respond: "I do not know letters." ¹³And the Lord says, "This people approaches me with its mouth, and with its lips glorifies me, but its heart is far from me, and it respects me by men's mandates and doctrines, ¹⁴therefore, see this, adding to the wonders for this people, wonder upon wonder: destroyed will be the wisdom of its wise; the perception of its perceptive will be hidden." ¹⁵Woe, you deep in heart, that hide counsel from the Lord; who work in darkness, and say: "Who sees? And who knows us?"

¹⁶This, your thinking, is perverse; as if the clay thought against the potter, and the work said to its maker: "You didn't make me;" and the made said to its maker:^[7] "You don't understand." ¹⁷Isn't it still in a very short time, Liban will be turned into Carmel, and Carmel into forest? ¹⁸And deaf men shall hear the words of the book on that day, and the eyes of blind men will see from dark and mist. ¹⁹And meek will increase happiness in the Lord, and poor men in Holy Israel will joy; ²⁰for he who had mastery has failed, the deceiver is consumed, and all who watch over evil are cut off,

²¹that caused men to sin in words, and rebuked in the gate, and turned in vain from justice. ²²For this, the Lord said to the house of Jacob, that redeemed Abraham: Jacob will not be ashamed anymore, nor will his face be ashamed; ²³but when he sees his sons, the work of my hands in the midst of my holy name, and they preach the holy one of Jacob, and the God of Israel; ²⁴and the learned err in spiritual understanding, and the murmurers will learn the law.

Chapters 30-38

[These are done not now. If you are hardy to translate, translate.]

Chapter 39

¹ At that time Berodach Baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, because he heard that Hezekiah had been ill and recovered.^{[8] 2} And Hezekiah was happy about them, and showed them all the house of his valuables: the silver, the gold, the spices, and the good oil, and his armory, and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

³ And Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, What did these men say? And where have they come to you from?

And Hezekiah said, From a far country. They have come from Babylon.

⁴ And he said, What have they seen in your house?

And Hezekiah said, They have seen everything in my house. There is nothing among all my treasuries that they have not seen.

⁵ And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear Yahweh's message. ⁶ Surely the days are coming, when all that is stored in your house, and all that your fathers stored up until the present day, will be carted off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says Yahweh. ⁷ And some of the sons born to you, whom you will father, they will be taken, and they will be eunuchs in the palace of the Babylonian king.

⁸ And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, It is good, what Yahweh said to you. And he said, But surely there will be peace and security in my days.

Chapter 40

¹ "Comfort, comfort my people," says your God. ² "Speak comfortably to Jerusalem^[9]; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh's hand double for all her sins."

³A voice calls out:

Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness!^[10]

Make a level highway in the desert for our God.

⁴ Every valley shall be raised,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level,
and the rough places a plain.

⁵ The glory of Yahweh shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together;

for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.

⁶ A voice says, "Cry!"
And [an other voice] says:

What shall I cry?

All flesh is like grass,
and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
⁷ The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh's breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.
⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades;

but the word of our God stands forever.

⁹ You who tells good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain.
You who tells good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength.
Lift it up. Don't be afraid.
Say to the cities of Judah, "Behold, your God!"
¹⁰ Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come mightily,
and his arm will rule for him.
Behold, his reward is with him,
and his action before him.
¹¹ He will herd his flock like a shepherd.
He will gather the lambs in his arm,
and carry them in his bosom.
He will gently lead those who have their young.^[11]
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
and marked off the sky with his span,
and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure,
and weighed the mountains in scales,
and the hills in a balance?
¹³ Who has directed the spirit of Yahweh,
or has taught him as his counselor?
¹⁴ Who did he take counsel with, who can understand him,
and taught him in the path of justice,
and showed him the way of understanding?
¹⁵ Behold, the nations are [to him] like a drop in a bucket,
and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance.
He lifts up the islands like a very little thing.
¹⁶ Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,
nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.
¹⁷ All the nations are like nothing before him.
They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
¹⁸ To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to him?
¹⁹ A workman has cast an image,
and the goldsmith overlays it with gold,
and it gets tied down with silver chains.
²⁰ He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot.
He seeks a skillful workman to set up an engraved image for him that will not collapse.
²¹ Haven't you known?
Haven't you heard, yet?
Haven't you been told from the beginning?
Haven't you understood from the foundations of the earth?
²² It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in;
²³ who brings princes to nothing;
who makes the judges of the earth like meaningless.
²⁴ Before they are planted,
before they are sown scarcely,
before their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground, he merely blows on them, and they wither,
and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.
²⁵ "To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?"
says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high,
and see who has created these,
who brings out their army by number.
He calls them all by name.
By the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power,
Not one is lacking.

²⁷ Why do you say, Jacob,
and speak, Israel,
"My way is hidden from Yahweh,
and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?"
²⁸ Haven't you known?
Haven't you heard?
The God of the world, Yahweh,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
he doesn't faint and he isn't weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the weak.
He increases the strength of him who has no might.
³⁰ Even the youths faint and get weary,
and the young men utterly fall;
³¹ But those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength.
They will mount up with wings like eagles.
They will run, and not be weary.
They will walk, and not faint.

Chapter 41

¹Listen to me Islands, and renew strength nations, and then speak; come together to judgement at the same time. ²Who reared up justice from the East, and called him to follow him? He hands over gentiles in his sight, and conquering kings; gives them as dust to his sword, as straw blown to his bow. ³He will pursue them, pass in peace, a path will not appear at his feet. ⁴Who made and did these things, called generations for beginning? I [the] Lord, first and last, I am.^{[12] 5}Islands saw and feared; the extremeties of the earth were stupefied,^[13] they drew near and came.

⁶Each of them will help his neighbor, and say to his brother: "Be comforted." ⁷The carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that struck with the hammer [encouraged] he that struck the anvil in that time, saying: "The soldering is good;" and strengthened it with nails, that it wouldn't be moved. ⁸And you, Israel, my servant, Jacob who I chose, son of Abraham my friend: ⁹in who I took you from the extremities of the earth, and from faraway called you, and I said: "You are my servant, I choose you, and I won't reject you. ¹⁰Don't fear, I am with you; don't turn aside, for I am your God; I comforted you, and I am your help, and I received you into my right hand of Justice.

¹¹Look! all that fight against you will be confounded and shamed; they will be like nothing, and the men will perish, that resist you. ¹²You will seek them, and not find, your rebel men; they will be like nothing, and they that are at war with you will be like the wasting away of a man. ¹³For I, Yahweh your God, am grasping your right hand, the One saying to you, "Do not be afraid. I myself will help you." ¹⁴Do not be afraid, worm of Jacob, you who are dead within Israel; I have helped you, says the Lord, and I am your redeemer you Holy of Israel. ¹⁵I have set you as a new threshing wain, with serrated blades; you will thresh mountains, and pulverise, and put hills as chaff.

¹⁶You will winnow them, and the wind will take away, and the whirlwind will scatter them; and you will exult in the Lord, in the holy of Israel will rejoice. ¹⁷The needy and paupers will seek waters, and there won't be any; their tongue will be dry with thirst. I the Lord will answer them, God of Israel, will not forsake them. ¹⁸I will open rivers in the high hills, and fountains in the middle of fields; I will make the desert into pools of water, and the dry land into streams of water. ¹⁹I will give in wilderness cedar, and thorn, and myrtle, and olive trees; I will set in the desert fir tree, and elm tree, and box tree together; ²⁰So they will see and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord did this, and the holy of Israel created it.

²¹"Bring near your judgement," says the Lord; "bring to, if you may have anything," says the king of Jacob. ²²Let them come close, and tell us what will happen; report former things; and we'll think, and know their last, and show us what will happen. ²³Declare what will happen in the future, and we will know that you are gods; do good also or evil, if you can, do; and we speak, and we see simultaneously. ²⁴Look you are out of nothing, and your work of that thing that is not; he that chooses you is an abomination. ²⁵I raised up one from the north, and he will come: from the rising up of the sun; he will call my name; he will bring to the officials as clay, and like a potter, he will tread the clay.

²⁶Who has declared from the beginning, that we know, and we might say, you are Just? there are none that tell, nor predict, nor hear your words. ²⁷First to Zion say: "Look here, and I will give a bringer of good news^[14] to Jerusalem. ²⁸And I saw, and there was not of these any counsellor who, when asked answered a word. ²⁹Look all unjust and their works are nothing; their idols are wind and emptiness.

Chapters 42-54

[These aren't done now. If yee are hardy to translate, translate yee.]

Chapter 55

¹“What is wrong! Everyone who is thirsty come to the water, even without money!
“Come, buy food and eat! Come, buy food without money!
“Without cost, buy wine and cream!
²“Why are you spending money without eating, your savings without satisfaction?
“Listen! Listen to me and eat well! Feast yourself on your overflowing soul!
³“Open your mind and come to me! Listen and let your soul live!
“Let me make a permanent deal for you – the commitments guaranteed to David.
⁴“See, I gave him as a witness to the peoples, leader and commander for them all.
⁵“So see that you yourself will host a nation that you do not know;
and a nation that does not know you, they will run to you,
because of Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel who makes her beautiful.”
⁶Turn to Yahweh while he can be found! Call on him while he is near!
⁷Let the criminal change his ways, and the trouble-maker his thoughts;
returning to Yahweh who will pity him, to our God because he proliferates mercy.
⁸“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways, my ways,” declares Yahweh.
⁹“For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways,
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts;
¹⁰“and just as the rain goes down, and the snow, from the heavens,
and doesn’t return back there without quenching the thirst of the earth –
and making her fertile and fruitful, giving seed to sow and food to eat –
¹¹so it is with my word which goes out from my mouth, not returning to me empty,
but having done what I planned for it, and succeeded in what I sent it to do –
¹²that you keep going out with joy and are sustained with satisfaction.”
The mountains and hills will break into a cheer in front of you;
and all the trees of the countryside clap their hands.
¹³Instead of thorns, tall green trees will grow; instead of cactus, trees with flowers.
But this is for Yahweh’s reputation, an everlasting signature that will not be erased.

Chapters 56-66

[These are done not now. If yee are hardy to translate, translate yee.]

Footnotes

1. ‎In the construction חזון ישׁעיהו, the nomen regens/נסמך (i.e., חזון) is definite, since the nomen rectum/סומך (i.e., ישׁעיהו) is definite, as 'Isaiah' is a proper noun. See the relevant sections in Joüon & Muraoka 1993, pp. 505, 516, William & Beckman 2007, p. 35, and Waltke & O'Connor 1990, pp. 156–57.
2. (1:19) If you are willing - the verb used for "willing" (תֹּאבוּ) comes from a root which is otherwise used only in the negative.
3. Ariel, that is, Jerusalem
4. These multitudes are poetically said to be both numerous/powerful and totally helpless against God(who is metaphorically said to be the wind, which can be both powerful and gentle and is everywhere).
5. "the learned"; literally "they who know letters"; or "the knowing letters"
6. "the unlearned"; literally "they who don't know letters"; or "the unknowledgable letters"
7. "made said to its maker"; or "invention said to its inventor"; or "figment said to its figmenter"
8. (39:1) recovered - literally "got strong".
9. (40:2)Speak comfortably to Jerusalem - literally "Speak to the heart of Jerusalem".
10. (40:3) in the wilderness - this phrase is actually at the beginning of the quote, making it possible to read this verse as "A voice calls out in the wilderness: Prepare the way gor Yahweh"; however, biblical poetry uses parallel words as a literary feature, and the "in the desert" in the second part of the verse parallels "in the wilderness" in the first part.
11. those who have their young - translation comes from the World English Bible; not sure about it.
12. "I am", possibly a reference to God's name
13. "were stupefied"; the Wyclif translation has "became stoned", which probably reflects "were petrified"
14. "bringer of good news"; or "evangelist"

References

• Joüon, Paul & Muraoka, T. (1993), A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew. 2 vols. Subsidia biblica 14/1-2, (Revised ed.), Rome: Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico, ISBN 978-8876535956. 
• William, Ronald J. & Beckman, John C. (2007), William's Hebrew Syntax: Revised and expanded by John C. Beckman, (3rd ed.), Toronto: University of Toronto Press, ISBN 978-0931464317. 
• Waltke, Bruce K. & O'Connnor, M. (1990), An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax, Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, ISBN 978-0-8020-9429-2.