Isaiah 1-33, Volume 24: Revised Edition

By John D. W. Watts

The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship.

Overview of Commentary Organization

• Introduction—covers issues pertaining to the whole book, including context, date, authorship, composition, interpretive issues, purpose, and theology.
• Each section of the commentary includes:
• Pericope Bibliography—a helpful resource containing the most important works that pertain to each particular pericope.
• Translation—the author’s own translation of the biblical text, reflecting the end result of exegesis and attending to Hebrew and Greek idiomatic usage of words, phrases, and tenses, yet in reasonably good English.
• Notes—the author’s notes to the translation that address any textual variants, grammatical forms, syntactical constructions, basic meanings of words, and problems of translation.
• Form/Structure/Setting—a discussion of redaction, genre, sources, and tradition as they concern the origin of the pericope, its canonical form, and its relation to the biblical and extra-biblical contexts in order to illuminate the structure and character of the pericope. Rhetorical or compositional features important to understanding the passage are also introduced here.
• Comment—verse-by-verse interpretation of the text and dialogue with other interpreters, engaging with current opinion and scholarly research.
• Explanation—brings together all the results of the discussion in previous sections to expose the meaning and intention of the text at several levels: (1) within the context of the book itself; (2) its meaning in the OT or NT; (3) its place in the entire canon; (4) theological relevance to broader OT or NT issues.
  • General Bibliography—occurring at the end of each volume, this extensive bibliographycontains all sources used anywhere in the commentary.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Jun 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9780310588573

John D. W. Watts

John D. W. Watts (1921 – 2013) was President of the Baptist Theological Seminary, Ruschlikon, Switzerland, and served as Professor of Old Testament at that institution, at Fuller Theological Seminary, and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. His numerous publications include commentaries on Isaiah (2 volumes), Amos, and Obadiah. He was Old Testament editor of the Word Biblical Commentary (1977 - 2011).  

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Editorial Board

Old Testament Editor: Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford (2011–)

New Testament Editor: Peter H. Davids (2013–)

Past Editors

General Editors

Ralph P. Martin (2012–2013)

Bruce M. Metzger (1997–2007)

David A. Hubbard (1977–1996)

Glenn W. Barker (1977–1984)

Old Testament Editors:

John D. W. Watts (1977–2011)

James W. Watts (1997–2011)

New Testament Editors:

Ralph P. Martin (1977–2012)

Lynn Allan Losie (1997–2013)

Volumes

*forthcoming as of 2014

**in revision as of 2014

Word Biblical Commentary

Volume 24

Isaiah 1-33

Revised Edition

John D. W. Watts

General Editors: Bruce M. Metzger, David A. Hubbard, Glenn W. Barker

Old Testament Editors: John D. W. Watts, James W. Watts

New Testament Editors: Ralph P. Martin, Lynn Allan Losie

ZONDERVAN

Isaiah 1–33, Volume 24

Copyright © 2004 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Previously published as Isaiah 1–33.

Formerly published by Thomas Nelson. Now published by Zondervan, a division of HarperCollinsChristian Publishing.

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

ePub Edition June 2018: ISBN 978-0-310-58857-3

The Library of Congress has cataloged the original edition as follows:

Library of Congress Control Number: 2005295211

The following have generously given permission to use material from copyrighted works. The Chronological Chart of Reigns 755-700 B.C. is reprinted from Synchronizing Hebrew Originals from Available Records by permission of Mervin Stiles, the author. Copyright 1972 by Stiles. Substantial portions of J. D. W. Watts’s Jerusalem: An Example of War in a Walled City (Isaiah 3-4), from ‘Every City Shall Be Forsaken’: Urbanism and Prophecy in Ancient Israel and the Near East, ed. L. L. Grabbe and R. D. Haak, have been reproduced as Excursus: Jerusalem—An Example of War in a Walled City. Permission granted by Sheffield Academic Press. Copyright 2001.

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America, and are used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide

The author’s own translation of the Scripture text appears in italic type under the heading Translation.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

To

my colleagues in Isaiah studies, whose names fill these volumes.

Your attention to this prophetic book

has made these decades some of the most productive in scholarly history.

Contents

List of Essays and Tables

Excursuses

Strands

Illustrations

Editorial Preface

Author’s Preface

Author’s Preface to the Second Edition

Abbreviations

Main Bibliography

Commentary Bibliography

General Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

Summary

Who Was Isaiah?

The Role of Isaiah Son of Amoz in the Vision

Isaiah the Prophet and His Successors

The Implied Author

What Is Isaiah?

Isaiah Is a Text

Isaiah’s Influence in Early Judaism and the New Testament

Isaiah’s Influence in Judaism, Church History, and Western Literature

Bibliographies

Annotated Chronological Bibliography of Commentaries on Isaiah

Selected Articles and Monographs on Isaiah

Deutero-Isaiah (Chaps. 40–66)

Trito-Isaiah (Chaps. 55–66)

Some Recent Work on Isaiah as a Unity

The Messianic Interpretation of Isaiah

Newer Commentaries

Isaiah Is a Literary Drama

The ἀγῶν Problem

Speakers/Characters

YHWH: Protagonist

The Prophet/Implied Author

Israel: Antagonist

Choral Speakers and Groups Addressed

Plot

Settings: Places and Times

Genre

Themes

Effect and Affect

Purpose

The Vision of Isaiah as Theology

YHWH’s Strategy

YHWH’s Problem

TEXT AND COMMENTARY

PROLOGUE (1:1–4:6)

Title (1:1)

In the Hall of the King of Heaven and Earth, Rebellious Children, Violent Worshipers, Polluted City (1:2–31)

Israel’s Disappointed Father and Outraged Patron of Jerusalem’s Temple (1:2–20)

How Has She Become a Harlot? Let Me Smelt Your Dross Like Lye (1:21–31)

Title (2:1)

The Mountain of YHWH’s House (2:2–4)

Israel Not Welcome/The Day of YHWH (2:5–22)

Jerusalem’s Ordeal (3:1–4:6)

Jerusalem Shall Totter (3:1–12)

YHWH Stands for Judgment (3:13–15)

In That Day: Haughty Daughters of Zion (3:16–4:1)

YHWH’s Branch (4:2–6)

PART I: THE DECREED DESTRUCTION OF THE WHOLE LAND (5:1–33:24)

Introduction to Part I (5:1–6:13)

Requiem for Israel (5:1–30)

My Friend’s Song for His Vineyard (5:1–7)

Therefore My People Are Exiled (5:8–25)

Signal to a Distant Nation (5:26–30)

In God’s Heavenly Courtroom (6:1–13)

ACT 1. JERUSALEM’S ROYAL HEIR (7:1–12:6)

Scene 1: Of Sons and Signs (7:1–9:6 [7])

Narrative: A Word for the King and a Sign (7:1–16)

The Setting (7:1–2)

Keep Calm and Steady (7:3–9)

The Sign: Within Three Years (7:10–16)

Announcement: YHWH Is Bringing Critical Times, the Assyrian Era (7:17–25)

Memoirs of the Prophet (8:1–9:6 [7])

Swift-Plunder, Hastening-Booty (8:1–4)

Waters of Shiloah Refused (8:5–10)

YHWH Is Your Fear (8:11–15)

Sealing the Prophet’s Testimony (8:16–18)

To Instruction and to Testimony (8:19–22)

To Us a Son Is Born (8:23–9:6 [9:1–7])

Scene 2: A Word against Jacob (9:7 [8]–10:23)

A Prophetic Interpretation of History (9:7 [8]–10:4)

The Assyrian King, Rod of My Anger (10:5–19)

In That Day: Only a Remnant of Israel (10:20–23)

Scene 3: A Word for Jerusalem (10:24–12:6)

Jerusalemites, Do Not Fear the Assyrian (10:24–27c)

In That Day: The March of Conquest (10:27d–32)

The Forester before Jerusalem (10:33–34)

A Shoot from the Stump of Jesse (11:1–10)

YHWH’s Second Deliverance (11:11–16)

Hymns for That Day (12:1–6)

ACT 2. THE BURDEN OF BABYLON (13:1–27:13)

Title (13:1)

Introduction (frame): YHWH’s Wars and Babylon’s Fate (13:2–14:23)

The Day of YHWH (13:2–16)

Babylon’s Fate—Israel’s Hope (13:17–14:23)

YHWH Overwhelms Babylon (13:17–22a)

(For) Jacob’s Hope (13:22b–14:2)

Taunt over a Fallen Tyrant (14:3–21)

Oracle against Babylon (14:22–23)

The Assyrian Period (14:24–23:18)

YHWH’s Plan for Assyria and the Whole Land (14:24–27)

In the Death Year of King Ahaz (14:28–32)

Burden: Moab (15:1–16:14)

Burdens: Damascus and Egypt, 716–714 b.c.e. (17:1–20:6)

Reflections on Israel’s Position (17:1–9)

Admonition and Two Woe Passages (17:10–14)

Address to All You People of the Land (18:1–7)

Burden: Egypt (19:1–20:6)

See! YHWH against Egypt (19:1–15)

Worship of YHWH in Egypt: Five In That Day Passages (19:16–25)

Isaiah Demonstrates against an Alliance with Egypt (20:1–6)

Four Ambiguous Burdens (21:1–22:25)

Burden: A Swampland (21:1–10)

Burden: Silence (21:11–12)

Burden: In the Wasteland (21:13–17)

Burden: The Valley of Vision (22:1–14)

Shebna and Eliakim Are Dismissed (22:15–25)

Burden: Tyre and the Desolate Land (23:1–27:13)

Burden: Tyre (23:1–18)

A Concluding Liturgy (24:1–27:13)

See: YHWH Devastates the Land (24:1–13)

Responses: They Raise Their Voices (24:14–20)

YHWH of Hosts Reigns on Mount Zion (24:21–25:8)

Response from a Yahwist (25:9–12)

Response: Song of the Judeans (26:1–19)

The Judgment and Its Results for Israel (26:20–27:13)

YHWH Emerges to Judge the People of the Land (26:20–21)

Leviathan’s Fate/Israel’s Hope (27:1–6)

That Day for Israel (27:7–13)

ACT 3. THE WOES OF ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM (28:1–33:24)

Disaster from Expansion (28:1–29)

Woe, Ephraim’s Drunkards (28:1–13)

Scoffers in Jerusalem (28:14–22)

YHWH’s Strategy: A Parable (28:23–29)

Disaster for Jerusalem’s Policies (29:1–24)

Woe, Ariel (29:1–8)

Like a Sealed Book (29:9–14)

Woe, You Schemers (29:15–24)

Disaster from Rebellious Self-Help (30:1–33)

Woe, Rebellious Children (30:1–18)

Hope from the Teachers (30:19–26)

A Cultic Theophany (30:27–33)

Disaster from False Faith in Egypt (31:1–32:20)

Woe to Those Who Go Down to Egypt for Help! (31:1–9)

Suppose a King . . . (32:1–8)

Until Spirit Is Poured Out (32:9–20)

God’s Promise to Judge the Tyrant (33:1–24)

Woe, You Destroyer (33:1–6)

See! Their Valiant One! (33:7–12)

Who Can Survive the Fire? (33:13–24)

Indexes

Essays and Tables

EXCURSUSES

"The ʿAlmah" ( ) (7:14)

The Ancient Craft of Washing Clothes

Babylon and the King of Babylon in the Vision of Isaiah

The Babylonian Period ca. 612–540 B.C.E.

Burden ( ) in the Prophets

Chronology of Eighth-Century Reigns

The City ( )

A Comparison with Micah 4:1–3

Daughter Zion ( ): Cities in Isaiah

Day of YHWH/Divine Warrior

Decide One’s Fate

Desolation ( ) in Isaiah

The Destruction of the Land

The Divine Banquet

Drama in Israel and Early Judaism?

Elam

The Era ca. 640–587 B.C.E.

First-Person-Plural Speeches

Form-Critical Categories in Chaps. 40–66

Genre in First-Person Passages

The Hand of God ( )

Hezekiah’s Pools and Waterworks

Highway ( )

Immanuel ( ) (7:14)

Isaiah 1–12

Isaiah 7:14 and the Virgin Birth of Jesus

Isaiah 7:14 as Messianic Prophecy

Isaiah 7:14 in Context

Isaiah’s Worldview

Jerusalem

Jerusalem—An Example of War in a Walled City

Jewish Colonies and Temples in Egypt

Judah

King Hezekiah (ca. 715–701 B.C.E.)

Kings in Isaiah

The Land ( )

Leviathan = Tyre

Literary Drama in the Old Testament?

The Medes

Messiah, Son of David

Moab

The Mountain of YHWH

Oracles against the Nations (OAN)

Parallels between Isaiah and the Psalms

The Remnant ( / ) in Isaiah

Rhetorical Questions in Isaiah

Scribal Wisdom and Scribal Prophecy

The Sealed Testimony

Silence about Hezekiah

Symbolic Names for Isaiah and His Sons

Torah in Isaiah

Types of Political Organizations

The Vassal Years of Hezekiah and Manasseh (ca. 700–640 B.C.E.)

Wisdom in Isaiah

YHWH and Death

STRANDS

Abandon ( )

The Day of YHWH ( )

Divine-Warrior Passages in Isaiah

Glory, Honor of YHWH ( )

God’s First-Person Speeches

Holy ( )

The Holy One of Israel ( )

Humankind ( ), All Flesh ( ), A Human ( )

In That Day ( )

I Passages

Isaiah, Son of Amoz

Jerusalem/Zion

Justice ( )

King ( )

Knowledge ( ) and Understanding ( )

Light ( ) and Darkness ( )

People ( )

Rebellious Children (Individuals)

Servant/Servants

We, Us, Our

YHWH ( ) and God ( )

YHWH of Hosts ( )

You

ILLUSTRATIONS

Chronological Chart of Reigns

Desolation Language

Pools and Waterworks

Historical Data Parallel to Isaiah 28:1–33:24

Editorial Preface

The launching of the Word Biblical Commentary brings to fulfillment an enterprise of several years’ planning. The publishers and the members of the editorial board met in 1977 to explore the possibility of a new commentary on the books of the Bible that would incorporate several distinctive features. Prospective readers of these volumes are entitled to know what such features were intended to be; whether the aims of the commentary have been fully achieved time alone will tell.

First, we have tried to cast a wide net to include as contributors a number of scholars from around the world who not only share our aims, but are in the main engaged in the ministry of teaching in university, college, and seminary. They represent a rich diversity of denominational allegiance. The broad stance of our contributors can rightly be called evangelical, and this term is to be understood in its positive, historic sense of a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation and to the truth and power of the Christian gospel.

Then, the commentaries in our series are all commissioned and written for the purpose of inclusion in the Word Biblical Commentary. Unlike several of our distinguished counterparts in the field of commentary writing, there are no translated works, originally written in a non-English language. Also, our commentators were asked to prepare their own rendering of the original biblical text and to use the biblical languages as the basis of their own comments and exegesis. What may be claimed as distinctive with this series is that it is based on the biblical languages, yet it seeks to make the technical and scholarly approach to a theological understanding of Scripture understandable by—and useful to—the fledgling student, the working minister, and colleagues in the guild of professional scholars and teachers as well.

Finally, a word must be said about the format of the series. The layout, in clearly defined sections, has been consciously devised to assist readers at different levels. Those wishing to learn about the textual witnesses on which the translation is offered are invited to consult the section headed Notes. If the readers’ concern is with the state of modern scholarship on any given portion of Scripture, they should turn to the sections on Bibliography and Form/Structure/Setting. For a clear exposition of the passage’s meaning and its relevance to the ongoing biblical revelation, the Comment and concluding Explanation are designed expressly to meet that need. There is therefore something for everyone who may pick up and use these volumes.

If these aims come anywhere near realization, the intention of the editors will have been met, and the labor of our team of contributors rewarded.

General Editors: Bruce M. Metzger

David A. Hubbard†

Glenn W. Barker†

Old Testament Editor: John D. W. Watts

Associate Editor: James W. Watts

New Testament Editor: Ralph P. Martin

Associate Editor: Lynn Allan Losie

Author’s Preface [to the First Edition]

First, dear reader, a word to you. My often crudely literal translations of this magnificent literature are a poor way to introduce you to the polished literary art, the insightful vision, and penetrating truth of Isaiah’s Vision. But it seems the best thing to do. I hope it opens to you the doors of understanding that it has opened to me.

Appreciation is in order for the basic books which make work of this kind possible. BDB and GKC are still indispensable foundations in lexicography and grammar. No one has yet found the way to bring newer insights of Northwest Semitic grammar into handbook form to replace them. The excellent recent texts from which we work, BHS, Rahlfs, and Ziegler’s LXX, now with the new Jerusalem Bible’s text, deserve our acclaim and thanks. To these must be added the dictionaries, atlases, histories, commentaries, and monographs that are cited.

The monumental commentary by Hans Wildberger, to whom this volume is dedicated, has summarized the critical analysis and comment of more than a century of historical critical study. I have made extensive use of its textual notes, and to a lesser degree its form-critical analyses. Because his work takes a very different literary approach to the book, much of the other excellent material in his and other commentaries has not received the notice that it should. The reader is referred to it (hopefully in an English translation soon), to Clements, and to Kaiser for help in tracking the origins and roots of the Isaianic literature which the work of the last century has traced so thoroughly. To my father, J. Wash Watts, to whom the second volume will be dedicated, must go my thanks for an introduction to the study of the Hebrew Scriptures and for the insights that all such study must look for teaching about God. And to my son, James W. Watts, my father’s namesake, who has progressed to a point in his studies at which he can share in this enterprise, my thanks for his careful work in preparing the manuscript for the printer. To Professor Leslie C. Allen and President David A. Hubbard, my gratitude is recorded for their careful reading of the full manuscript and the many suggestions which improve the work in many ways.

And to students and colleagues who have shared various stages of the way toward this book, my appreciation and gratitude. Students at Fuller and Southern have endured lectures that tried out fledgling ideas for this work and then produced discussion and papers that have added to and corrected much of it. Those who have produced dissertations are recognized in the bibliographies and notes. I have reluctantly passed over such recognition for most others in the interest of limiting references to those that the reader can find and use. I am grateful to my colleague, J. J. Owens, for permission to use the manuscript of his Maphteah on Isaiah, which has saved much time in finding words and forms in the lexica, and to all others who spoke encouragingly after hearing papers in SBL and IBR concerning the first steps in this project.

It has been both a surprise and an encouragement to find how many are walking parallel paths to mine in seeking a better understanding of this great book. The work of the late William Brownlee, of Avraham Gileadi, of Roy Melugin, and of W. H. Irwin is only a part of a common movement toward the attempt to establish the wholeness and meaningfulness of the book. It is a privilege to walk with them and hopefully to add a little something to what they have done.

The list of those whose support has made possible this work, the typists, family members, seminary administrations, and librarians, grows far too long to be listed individually. But they are no less important and appreciated.

Most of all, gratitude must be given to God, who has granted life and health, a relatively peaceful time to work, and life-long opportunities to learn among his people. His is the center of this Vision, and he imparts through it a knowledge of himself, of his work, of his counsel, and of the immeasurable patience with which he continues through the generations, even to our own, to work out his will with peoples who are more rebellious than willing, more blind than seeing, more deaf than hearing, more self-willed than understanding. But in his determined strategy he pursues the goal of founding the new city to which the peoples of the earth may come, all who are meek and lowly of mind, to worship the Living God who teaches truth, who gives life, and who upholds justice and righteousness.

If through this work a door is opened to someone to see God in Isaiah’s Vision, it will have achieved its goal.

JOHN D. W. WATTS

Louisville, Kentucky

Spring 1984

Author’s Preface to the Second Edition

The opportunity to issue a revised edition of this commentary allowed me to make necessary changes and to bring the work up to date by adding recognition of new literature.

The essential recognition of the poetic and dramatic nature of Isaiah remains. But much about the way the commentary structures the material is different. The first edition’s use of generations of kings to chronologically arrange all sixty-six chapters went beyond the book’s historical references and did not achieve the unity for the book that I had hoped.

Instead, this edition uses insights that have emerged from more recent published studies to present a new literary view of the book. The literary integrity of the different acts (Isa 5:1—12:6; 13:1—27:13; 28:1—33:24; 34:1—49:4; 49:5—54:17b; 54:17c–61:11) is central to my understanding of the whole book. Chaps. 1–4 and 62–66 are seen as an envelope for the book.

My special thanks go to James W. Watts, who has edited the work, brought order out of chaos, and made my argument much more readable and understandable. Melanie McQuere has done her usual thorough work in copyediting.

JOHN D. W. WATTS

Spring 2004

Penney Farms, Florida

Abbreviations

PERIODICALS, SERIALS, REFERENCE WORKS, AND FESTSCHRIFTEN

TEXTS, VERSIONS, AND ANCIENT WORKS

BIBLICAL AND APOCRYPHAL BOOKS

Old Testament

Apocrypha

Old Testament Pseudepigrapha

New Testament

HEBREW GRAMMAR

MISCELLANEOUS

Commentary Bibliography

Cited in text by author’s name only.

Auvray, P. Isaïe 1–39. SB. Paris: Gabalda, 1972.

Baltzer, K. Deutero-Isaiah: A Commentary on Isaiah 40–55. Trans. M. Kohl. Ed. P. Machinist. Hermeneia. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001.

Beuken, W. A. M. Jesaja 1–12. HKAT. Freiburg: Herder, 2003.

———. Jesaja, Deel II–III (Isa 40–66). 2 vols. POut. Nijkerk: Callenbach, 1979–89.

———. Isaiah: Part 2 (Isa 28–39). Trans. B. Doyle. HCOT. Leuven: Peeters, 2000.

Bewer, J. A. The Book of Isaiah. Vols. 3–4 of Harper’s Annotated Bible. New York: Harper & Bros., 1950.

Blenkinsopp, J. Isaiah 1–39. AB. New York: Doubleday, 2000.

———. Isaiah 40–55. AB. New York: Doubleday, 2002.

———. Isaiah 56–66. AB. New York: Doubleday, 2003.

Bruno, A. Jesaja, eine rhythmische und textkritische Untersuchung. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1953.

Buhl, F. Jesaja. 2d ed. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1912.

Cheyne, T. K. The Book of the Prophet Isaiah. 5th ed. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1904.

Childs, B. S. Isaiah. OTL. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2001.

Clements, R. E. Isaiah 1–39. NCB. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1980.

Delitzsch, F. J. Biblischer Commentar über den Propheten Jesaia. Leipzig: Dörffling und Frank, 1869.

———. Biblical Commentaries on the Prophecies of Isaiah. Trans. J. Martin. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1910.

Dillmann, A. Der prophet Jesaja. Rev. R. Kittel. Leipzig: Hirzel, 1898.

Döderlein, J. C. Esaias, ex recensione textus Hebraei. Altorfi, 1789.

Duhm, B. Das Buch Jesaja. HKAT 3.1. 5th ed. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1968.

Eichrodt, W. Der Heilige in Israel: Jesaja 1–12. BAT 17.1. Stuttgart: Calwer, 1960.

———. Der Herr der Geschichte: Jesaja 13–23, 28–39. BAT 17.2. Stuttgart: Calwer, 1967.

Eusebius Pamphili of Caesaria. Der Jesajakommentar (Gr.). Vol. 9 of Eusebius Werke. Ed. J. Ziegler. Berlin: Akademie, 1975.

Feldmann, F. Das Buch Isaias. EHAT. Münster, 1926.

Fohrer, G. Das Buch Jesaja. 3 vols. ZBK. Zurich: Zwingli, 1960–64.

Gesenius, W. Der Prophet Jesaia. Leipzig: Vogel, 1829.

Gray, G. B. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Isaiah I–XXVI. ICC. New York: T & T Clark, 1912.

Guthe, H. Jesaja. Tübingen: Mohr, 1907.

Hertzberg, H. W. Der Erste Jesaja. 3d ed. Leipzig: Schloessmann, 1955.

Hitzig, F. Der prophet Jesaja. Heidelberg: Winter, 1833.

Ibn Ezra (Abraham ben Meir) (1090–1164). Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah. (Heb.) Trans. M. Friedlander. 2d ed. New York: Feldheim, 1966.

Jensen, J. Isaiah 1–39. OT Message 8. Wilmington: Glazier, 1984.

Kaiser, O. Isaiah 1–12. 2d ed. Trans. R. A. Wilson. OTL. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1983.

———. Isaiah 13–39. 2d ed. Trans. R. A. Wilson. OTL. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1983.

Kelley, P. H. Isaiah. In Broadman Bible Commentary. Vol. 5. Nashville: Broadman, 1971. 149–374.

Kilian, R. Jesaja 1–39. EdF 200. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1983.

———. Jesaja 1–12. NEchtB 17. Würzburg: Echter, 1986.

———. Jesaja II: 13–39. NEchtB 32. Würzburg: Echter, 1994.

Kimchi, D. (1160–1235). The Commentary of David Kimchi on Isaiah. (Heb. with introduction in Eng.) Ed. L. Finkelstein. Columbia University Oriental Studies 19. New York: Columbia UP, 1926. Reprint, New York: AMS Press, 1966.

Kissane, E. J. The Book of Isaiah. Rev. ed. 2 vols. Dublin: Browne and Nolan, 1960.

Koole, J. L. Isaiah, Part 3. Trans. A. P. Runia. 3 vols. HCOT. Kampen: Kok Pharos, 1997–98.

König, E. Das Buch Jesaja. Gütersloh, 1926.

Leslie, E. A. Isaiah. New York: Abingdon, 1963.

Luther, M. Der Prophet Jesaia. Vols. 25, 31.2 of D. Martin Luthers Werke. Kritische Gesamtausgabe 25. Weimar, 1883. 87–401.

———. Lectures on Isaiah Chs. 1–39. Vol. 16 of Luther’s Works. Ed. and trans. J. Pelikan and H. C. Oswald. St. Louis: Concordia, 1969.

Luzzatto, S. D. Commentary on the Book of Isaiah. (Heb.) 1855. Reprint, Tel Aviv: Davir, 1970.

Marti, K. Das Buch Jesaja. KHC. Tübingen: Mohr, 1900.

Mauchline, J. Isaiah 1–39. TBC. London: SCM Press, 1962.

Motyer, J. A. The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993.

Nägelsbach, C. W. E. Der Prophet Jesaja. Leipzig: Klasing, 1877.

Oswalt, J. N. The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1–39. NICOT. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1986.

———. The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40–66. NICOT. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998.

Procksch, O. Jesaia I. (Isa 1–39.) KAT 9.1. Leipzig: Scholl, 1930.

Scott, R. B. Y. The Book of Isaiah. IB. New York; Nashville: Abingdon, 1956. 5:149–381.

Seitz, C. R. Isaiah 1–39. IBC. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1993.

Steinmann, J. Le Livre de la Consolation d’Israel. LD 28. Paris, 1960.

Sweeney, M. A. Isaiah 1–39 with an Introduction to Prophetic Literature. FOTL 16. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996.

Watts, J. D. W. Isaiah 1–33. WBC 24. Waco, TX: Word, 1985. ———. Isaiah 34–66. Waco, TX: Word, 1987.

Whybray, R. N. Isaiah 40–66. NCB. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1975.

———. The Second Isaiah. OT Guides. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1983.

Wildberger, H. (1965–82). Jesaja 1–12. BKAT 10. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1972. Translated by T. H. Trapp as Isaiah 1–12. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1991.

———. Jesaja 13–27. BKAT 10. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1978. Translated by T. H. Trapp as Isaiah 13–27. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1999.

———. Jesaja 28–39. BKAT 10. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1982. Translated by T. H. Trapp as Isaiah 28–39. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 2002.

Young, E. J. The Book of Isaiah. 3 vols. NICOT. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1965–72.

Ziegler, J., ed. Isaias. Septuaginta 14. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1939.

———, ed. Isaias. 3d ed. Septuaginta: Vetus Testamentum Graecum Auctoritate Academiae Scientiarium Gottingensis 14. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1983.

General Bibliography

Cited in text by author’s or editor’s name and shortened title.

Ackroyd, P. Isaiah I–XII: Presentation of a Prophet. In Congress Volume Göttingen 1977. VTSup 29. Leiden: Brill, 1978. 16–48.

Alt, A. Kleine Schriften zur Geschichte des Volkes Israel. 3 vols. Munich: Beck, 1953–59.

Anderson, B. W., and W. Harrelson, eds. Israel’s Prophetic Heritage. FS J. Muilenburg. New York: Harper; London: SCM Press, 1962.

Balentine, S. E., and J. Barton, eds. Language, Theology, and the Bible. FS J. Barr. Oxford: Clarendon, 1994.

Barrick, W. B., and J. R. Spencer, eds. In the Shelter of Elyon. FS G. W. Ahlström. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1984.

Bartelt, A. H. The Book around Immanuel: Style and Structure in Isaiah 2–12. Biblical and Judaic Studies from the University of California, San Diego 4. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1995.

Barth, H. Die Jesaja-Worte in der Josiazeit: Israel und Asshur als Thema einer Produktiven Neuinterpretation des Jesajaüberlieferung. WMANT 48. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1977.

Beck, A. B., et al., eds. Fortunate the Eyes That See. FS D. N. Freedman. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995.

Becker, J. Isaias—Der Prophet und sein Buch. SBS 30. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1968.

Becker, U. Jesaja—Von der Botschaft zum Buch. FRLANT 178. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1997.

Begrich, J. Studien zu Deuterojesaja. BWANT 4.25. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1938.

Berges, U. Das Buch Jesaja: Komposition und Endgestalt. Herders Biblische Studien 16. Freiburg: Herder, 1998.

Blum, E., et al., eds. Die Hebräische Bibel und ihre zweifache Nachgeschichte. FS R. Rendtorff. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1990.

Böhnke, M., and H. Heinz, eds. Im Gespräch mit dem dreineinen Gott: Elemente einer trinitarischen Theologie. FS W. Breuning. Düsseldorff: Patmos, 1985.

Bosman, H. J., H. van Grol, et al., eds. Studies in Isaiah 24–27. OtSt 43. Leiden: Brill, 2000.

Brownlee, W. H. The Meaning of the Qumran Scrolls for the Bible. New York: Oxford UP, 1964. 247–49.

Broyles, C. C., and C. A. Evans, eds. Writing and Reading the Scroll of Isaiah: Studies of an Interpretive Tradition. 2 vols. VTSup 70.1–2; FIOTL 1–2. Leiden: Brill, 1997.

Brunet, G. Essai sur l’Isaïe de l’Histoire. Paris: Picard, 1975.

Budde, K. Jesaja’s Erleben: Eine gemeinverständliche Auslegung der Denkschrift des Propheten (Kap. 6:1–9:6). Gotha: Klotz, 1928.

Carrez, M., et al., eds. De la Torah au Messie. FS H. Cazelles. Paris: Desclée, 1981.

Childs, B. S. Isaiah and the Assyrian Crisis. SBT 2.3. Naperville, IL: Allenson, 1967.

Chilton, B. The Glory of Israel: The Theology and Provenience of the Isaiah Targum. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1982.

———. The Isaiah Targum: Introduction, Apparatus and Notes. Wilmington, DE: Glazier, 1987.

Coggins, R., et al., eds. Israel’s Prophetic Tradition. FS P. Ackroyd. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1982.

Conrad, E. W. Prophet, Redactor and Audience: Reforming the Notion of Isaiah’s Formation. In New Visions, ed. R. F. Melugin and M. A. Sweeney. 305–26.

———. Reading Isaiah. OBT. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991.

Conrad E. W., and E. G. Newing, eds. Perspective on Language and Text. FS F. I. Andersen. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1987.

Darr, K. P. Isaiah’s Vision and the Family of God. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1994.

Diedrich, F., and B. Willmes, eds. Ich bewirke das Heil und erschaffe das Unheil (Jesaja 45, 7): Studien zur Botschaft der Propheten. FS L. Ruppert. FB 88. Würzburg: Echter, 1998.

Dillman, A. Der Prophet Jesaja. Leipzig: Hirzel, 1890.

Donner, H. Israel unter den Völkern: Die Stellung der klassischen Propheten des 8. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. zur Aussenpolitik der Könige von Israel and Juda. VTSup 11. Leiden: Brill, 1964.

Driver, G. R. Difficult Words in the Hebrew Prophets. In Studies in Old Testament Prophecy. FS T. H. Robinson, ed. H. H. Rowley. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1950. 52–72.

———. Hebrew Notes on Prophets and Proverbs. JTS 41 (1940) 162–75.

———. Hebrew Scrolls. JTS 2 (1951) 21–25.

———. Isaiah I–XXXIX: Textual and Linguistic Problems. JSS 13 (1968) 36–57.

———. Isaianic Problems. In Festschrift für Wilhelm Eilers. Ed. G. Wiessner. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1967. 43–57.

———. Linguistic and Textual Problems: Isaiah I–XXXIX. JTS 38 (1937) 36–50.

———. Studies in the Vocabulary of the Old Testament. JTS 34 (1933) 337–381.

———. Vocabulary of the OT, VI. JTS 34 (1933) 375–83.

Driver, S. R. Isaiah: His Life and Times and the Writings Which Bear His Name. New York: Randolph, 1883.

Eaton, J. H. The Origin of the Book of Isaiah. VT 9 (1959) 138–57.

Ehrlich, A. B. Randglossen zur hebräischen Bibel textkritisches, sprachliches und geschichtliches. Vol. 4, Jesaia, Jeremia. Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1912.

Exum, J. C., and H. G. M. Williamson, eds. Reading from Right to Left. FS D. J. A. Clines. JSOTSup 373. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2003.

Fey, R. Amos und Jesaja: Abhängigkeit und Eigenständigkeit des Jesaja. WMANT 12. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1963.

Fohrer, G. Neue Literatur zur alttestamentlichen Prophetie. TRu 45 (1980) 1–39, 108–15.

———. Studien zur Alttestamentlichen Prophetie (1949–1965). BZAW 99. Berlin: Töpelmann, 1967.

Goedicke, H., ed. Near Eastern Studies. FS W. F. Albright. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1971.

Gordon, R., ed. The Place Is Too Small for Us: The Israelite Prophets in Recent Scholarship. SBTS 5. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1995.

Gottwald, N. K. All the Kingdoms of the Earth. New York: Harper & Row, 1964. 222–28.

Hardmeier, C. Verkündigung und Schrift bei Jesaja: Zu Entstehung der Schriftprophetie als Oppositionsliteratur im alten Israel. TGl 73 (1983) 119–34.

Hausmann, J., ed. Alttestamentlicher Glaube und biblische Theologie. FS H. D. Preuss. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1992.

Hoffmann, H. W. Die Intention der Verkündigung Jesajas. BZAW 136. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1974.

Høgenhaven, J. Gott und Volk bei Jesaja: Eine Untersuchung zur biblischen Theologie. ATDan 24. Leiden: Brill, 1988.

Holladay, W. L. Isaiah: Scroll of a Prophetic Heritage. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1978.

Irwin, W. H. Isaiah 28–33: Translation with Philological Notes. Diss., Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome, 1973.

Jones, D. R. The Tradition of the Oracles of Isaiah of Jerusalem. ZAW 67 (1955) 226–46.

Kitchen, K. A. The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100 to 650 B.C.E.). Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1973.

Köhler, L. Kleine Lichter. Zurich: Zwingli, 1945.

———. Old Testament Theology. Trans. A. S. Todd. London: Lutterworth, 1957.

Kutscher, E. Y. The Language and Linguistic Background of the Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaa). Leiden: Brill, 1974.

Laato, A. A Star Is Rising: The Historical Development of the Old Testament Royal Ideology and the Rise of the Jewish Messianic Expectations. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997.

Lack, R. La symbolique de livre d’Isaïe: Essai sur l’image littéraire comme élément de structuration. AnBib 59. Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1973.

Melugin, R. F., and M. A. Sweeney, eds. New Visions of Isaiah. JSOTSup 214. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996.

Mowinckel, S. Die komposition des Jesajabuches Kap. 1–39. AcOr 11 (1933) 267–92.

Noth, M. Die israelitschen Personennamen. BWANT 46. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1928.

O’Connell, R. H. Concentricity and Continuity: Literary Structure in Isaiah. JSOTSup 188. Sheffield: Sheffield UP, 1994.

Olyan, S. M., and R. C. Culley, eds. A Wise and Discerning Mind. FS B. O. Long. BJC 325. Providence, RI: Brown Judaic Studies, 2000.

Postma, F., et al., eds. The New Things: Eschatology in Old Testament Prophecy. FS H. Leene. Maastricht: Shaker, 2002.

Reid, S. B., ed. Prophets and Paradigms. FS G. M. Tucker. JSOTSup 229. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996.

Schunck, K.-D., and M. Augustin, eds. Goldene Äpfel in silbernen Schalen. Frankfort am Main: Lang, 1992.

Skilton, J. H., ed. The Law and the Prophets. FS O. T. Allis. Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed P. C., 1974.

Stenning, J. F., ed. and trans. The Targum of Isaiah. Oxford: Clarendon, 1949.

Sweeney, M. A. Isaiah 1–4 and the Post-Exilic Understanding of the Isaianic Tradition. BZAW 171. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1988.

Talmon, S. Observations on Variant Readings in the Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaa). In The World of Qumrân from Within: Collected Studies. Jerusalem: Magnes; Leiden: Brill, 1989. 117–30.

Tur-Sinai, N. H. A Contribution to the Understanding of Isaiah I–XII. In Studies in the Bible. Ed. C. Rabin. ScrHier 8. Jerusalem: Magnes; Hebrew Univ., 1961. 154–88.

Van Ruiten, J., and M. Vervenne, eds. Studies in the Book of Isaiah. FS W. A. M. Beuken. BETL 132. Leuven: Peeters, 1997.

Vaux, R. de. Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions. Trans. J. McHugh. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961.

Vermeylen, J. Du prophète Isaïe à l’apocalyptique. 2 vols. Paris: Gabalda, 1977.

Vermeylen, J., ed. The Book of Isaiah = Le livre d’Isaïe: Les oracles et leurs relectures unité et complexité de l’ouvrage. BETL 81. Leuven: Leuven UP; Peeters, 1989.

Vincent, J. M. Studien zur literarischen Eigenart und zur geistigen Heimat von Jesaja, Kap. 40–55. BBET 5. Frankfurt am M.: Lang, 1977.

Vollmer, J. Geschichtliche Rückblicke und Motive in der Prophetie des Amos, Hosea, und Jesaja. BZAW 119. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1971.

Waard, J. de. A Handbook on Isaiah. Textual Criticism and the Translator 1. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1997.

Watts, J. W., and P. R. House, eds. Forming Prophetic Literature: Essays on Isaiah and the Twelve. FS J. D. W. Watts. JSOTSup 235. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996.

Watts, J. Wash. A Survey of Syntax in the Hebrew Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964.

Westermann, C. Basic Forms of Prophetic Speech. Trans. H. C. White. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1967.

Whedbee, J. W. Isaiah and Wisdom. Nashville: Abingdon, 1971.

Wiklander, B. Prophecy as Literature: A Text-linguistic and Rhetorical Approach to Isaiah 2–4. Rev. ed. ConBOT 22. Malmö: Gleerup, 1984.

Williamson, H. G. M. The Book Called Isaiah: Deutero-Isaiah’s Role in Composition and Redaction. Oxford: Clarendon, 1994.

Introduction

Summary

The primary goal of this commentary is to interpret the book of Isaiah. Hans Wildberger (vii) notes that it was clear to him from the beginning of his work on Isaiah that what was finally paramount was the interpretation of the book as it now exists. In spite of the invaluable worth of his commentary in summarizing and evaluating all the results of historical-critical research to date, it does not succeed in presenting an understandable interpretation of the whole book. He has used historical exegesis, and his work presents the tremendous results of that method. But it does not make the book come alive for the reader or student.

I think his example demonstrates that it is not possible to mix the two methods. This commentary recognizes the vast literature of research on the prehistory of the traditions and the text in the Bibliographies, in the Introduction, and, as far as the study of the text itself is concerned, in the Notes. Where form criticism’s definitions of genre can be used in a literature that no longer follows the dictates of oral genres, these, too, have been noted and used. But from that point on the commentary has made no effort to enter discussions of source-, form-, or redaction-criticism. For these the reader is referred to current introductions or commentaries, preeminently Wildberger’s great work.

Bibliographies have been assembled to provide the reader access to literature on the passage or subject at hand. They are listed whether or not they have been used by the author or cited in this commentary. The reader will find a more complete review and evaluation of the literature in Wildberger’s commentary (the first two volumes now available in English), in Sweeney’s commentary on chaps. 1–39, and in the volumes of the Historical Commentary on the Old Testament by Beuken (on chaps. 28–39) and Koole (on chaps. 40–48 and 49–55).

Translations are deliberately literal to give the reader a starting point for understanding the Hebrew idiom. The metrical notation is not, and cannot be, definitive. It is intended to convey the general poetic pattern of parallelism.

Notes deal with textual variations and explain the reasons for translations. In Isaiah there are many hapax legomena, words that occur only once in the Bible, so that the need to explain word meanings is immense. Grammatical explanations that will help the student translator are also included.

Form/Structure/Setting sections draw on form-critical and redactional studies where applicable. The analysis in these sections identifies the literary genre and shows other evidence for the shape of the compositions that may aid understanding and exposition. Throughout the discussion, the reader will find more structural analyses showing the use of an arch form than analysis in the form of traditional outlines.

Comment sections deal with the meanings of words or of a verse or two at a time, providing information that may add to the reader’s understanding. Sometimes this leads into word studies that relate the use of a word in a verse to its use in the larger work