King James Version
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Isaiah Institute Translation
IIT
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Masoretic Text
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And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach. | 1 | Seven women will take hold of one manin that day, and say,We will eat our own food,wear our own clothes,only let us be called by your name—take away our reproach! | וְהֶחֱזִיקוּ שֶׁבַע נָשִׁים בְּאִישׁ אֶחָד בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא לֵאמֹר לַחְמֵנוּ נֹאכֵל וְשִׂמְלָתֵנוּ נִלְבָּשׁ רַק יִקָּרֵא שִׁמְךָ עָלֵינוּ אֱסֹף חֶרְפָּתֵנוּ ׃ |
In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. | 2 | In that day the plant of Jehovah shall be beautiful and glorious, and the earth’s fruit the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel. | בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיֶה צֶמַח יְהוָה לִצְבִי וּלְכָבוֹד וּפְרִי הָאָרֶץ לְגָאוֹן וּלְתִפְאֶרֶת לִפְלֵיטַת יִשְׂרָאֵל ׃ |
And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: | 3 | Then shall they who are left in Zion and they who remain in Jerusalem be called holy—all who were inscribed to be among the living at Jerusalem. | וְהָיָה הַנִּשְׁאָר בְּצִיּוֹן וְהַנּוֹתָר בִּירוּשָׁלִַם קָדוֹשׁ יֵאָמֶר לוֹ כָּל־הַכָּתוּב לַחַיִּים בִּירוּשָׁלִָם ׃ |
When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. | 4 | This shall be when my Lord has washed away the excrement of the women of Zion and cleansed Jerusalem of its bloodshed, in the spirit of justice, by a burning wind. | אִם רָחַץ אֲדֹנָי אֵת צֹאַת בְּנוֹת־צִיּוֹן וְאֶת־דְּמֵי יְרוּשָׁלִַם יָדִיחַ מִקִּרְבָּהּ בְּרוּחַ מִשְׁפָּט וּבְרוּחַ בָּעֵר ׃ |
And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. | 5 | Over the whole site of Mount Zion, and over its solemn assembly, Jehovah will form a cloud by day and a mist glowing with fire by night: above all that is glorious shall be a canopy. | וּבָרָא יְהוָה עַל כָּל־מְכוֹן הַר־צִיּוֹן וְעַל־מִקְרָאֶהָ עָנָן יוֹמָם וְעָשָׁן וְנֹגַהּ אֵשׁ לֶהָבָה לָיְלָה כִּי עַל־כָּל־כָּבוֹד חֻפָּה ׃ |
And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain. | 6 | It shall be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, a secret refuge from the downpour and from rain. | וְסֻכָּה תִּהְיֶה לְצֵל־יוֹמָם מֵחֹרֶב וּלְמַחְסֶה וּלְמִסְתּוֹר מִזֶּרֶם וּמִמָּטָר ׃ |
וַיְהִי בִּימֵי אָחָז בֶּן־יוֹתָם בֶּן־עֻזִּיָּהוּ מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה עָלָה רְצִין מֶלֶךְ־אֲרָם וּפֶקַח בֶּן־רְמַלְיָהוּ מֶלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵל יְרוּשָׁלִַם לַמִּלְחָמָה עָלֶיהָ וְלֹא יָכֹל לְהִלָּחֵם עָלֶיהָ ׃ | |
King James Version
KJV
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Isaiah Institute Translation
IIT
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And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. |
When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not overpower it. |
Apocalyptic Commentary |
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Two generations of kings from the time Isaiah receives his prophetic commission, an expansionist Assyria threatens to invade the kingdom of Aram (Syria), the ten-tribed Northern Kingdom of Israel, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah and to annex them into its empire. When King Ahaz of Judah refuses to join Aram and Israel in an alliance to resist Assyria, they invade the Southern Kingdom to overthrow Ahaz and put a puppet ruler on his throne who will join their coalition. Ahaz, moreover, becomes an important type in the Book of Isaiah of an end-time ruler who proves disloyal to Israel’s God. |
Chapter Index
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Apocalyptic Commentary
Isaiah 4
Because so many men are killed in the great war (Isaiah 3:25-26), a disproportionate number of women survives “in that day”—Jehovah’s Day of Judgment. Another reason may be that in general women are more righteous than men, perhaps even by a ratio of seven to one. In contrast to the flirting women we saw previously (Isaiah 3:16-24), these women are under no covenant curse, having prepared a sufficiency of food and clothing in anticipation of the evil time (cf. Isaiah 3:10). They consider it a “reproach” not to raise their own families, and they appeal to the men who remain to marry them.
Those whom Jehovah exalts—who live into his millennial age of peace—compare to a “plant” (semah)—a messianic term denoting Jehovah’s servant—and to the earth’s “fruit” (peri), signifying the “firstfruits” of Jehovah’s people (cf. Exodus 23:19; Leviticus 23:10). It is in large part for the sake of Jehovah’s servant and his fellowservants—the earth’s “firstfruits”—that Jehovah spares the “survivors of Israel” (Isaiah 55:3-5; 63:17; 65:8-9). As saviors of his people under the terms of the Davidic Covenant in the pattern of Israel’s kings, they seek and obtain Jehovah’s protection in his Day of Judgment.
While those who are “left” and “remain” in Zion and Jerusalem consist of ascending categories of Jehovah’s people (Isaiah 30:19; 37:22; 40:9; 51:16-17; 52:1-2), the names Zion and Jerusalem additionally designate places of safety in his Day of Judgment (vv 5-6; Isaiah 1:8; 27:13; 31:5; 35:10; 37:32). Called “holy” or “sanctified” (qados), those who are left are “inscribed among the living”—that is, their names are written in the Book of Life as Jehovah’s elect. It is these holy men, not the unrighteous and idolaters, whom the surviving women seek to marry (v 1; cf. Isaiah 6:13; 13:3; 34:16; 35:8).
Jehovah’s washing away the excesses of Zion’s women as so much “excrement” (Isaiah 3:16-24), and his cleansing of the men’s crimes of “bloodshed” and injustices (Isaiah 1:15-17), manifests his divine “justice” (mispat). Unlike his people who repent—whom he judges under the law of mercy (Isaiah 30:18-20; 55:7; 60:10)—those who don’t repent he judges under the law of justice (Isaiah 3:11; 28:17-20; 59:15-19). The burning wind forms a part of Isaiah’s storm imagery that denotes Jehovah’s Day of Judgment and the king of Assyria/Babylon’s destructive role in it (v 6; Isaiah 27:8; 40:23-24; 57:13).
Those who sanctify themselves, who participate in Zion’s “solemn assembly,” enjoy Jehovah’s divine protection in the place Zion, also called “Mount Zion” (Isaiah 8:13-14, Isaiah 8:13-14, 18; 24:23; 24:23). Jehovah’s cloud of glory—signifying his presence (Exodus 24:15-18; 33:8-11)—makes glorious his holy people and the place where they abide. By its means, Jehovah protected ancient Israel when he appeared among his people during their wilderness travels (Exodus 13:20-22; 14:19-20). Jehovah’s “canopy”—as in a traditional marriage canopy—denotes his people’s renewal of their covenant with him at that time.
Jehovah’s cloud of glory (v 5) acts as a shelter, shade, and secret refuge from the heat and downpour—that is, from the elements and from the king of Assyria/Babylon in Jehovah’s Day of Judgment (Isaiah 25:4-5). As Pharaoh’s armies were unable to penetrate the cloud when they pursued after Jehovah’s people (Exodus 14:19-20), so in that day will no enemies molest those who participate in Zion’s solemn assemblies. According to the terms of his covenant, Jehovah is obligated to protect his people when they keep his law and word. His divine intervention attests to their utmost compliance.