Isaiah 26:19-21

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Isaiah 26:19 sn At this point the Lord (or prophet) gives the people an encouraging oracle.
2. Isaiah 26:19 tn Heb “dust” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
3. Isaiah 26:19 tn Heb “for the dew of lights [is] your dew.” The pronominal suffix on “dew” is masculine singular, like the suffixes on “your dead” and “your corpses” in the first half of the verse. The statement, then, is addressed to collective Israel, the speaker in verse 18. The plural form אוֹרֹת (ʾorot) is probably a plural of respect or magnitude, meaning “bright light” (i.e., morning’s light). Dew is a symbol of fertility and life. Here Israel’s “dew,” as it were, will soak the dust of the ground and cause the corpses of the dead to spring up to new life, like plants sprouting up from well-watered soil.
4. Isaiah 26:19 sn It is not certain whether the resurrection envisioned here is intended to be literal or figurative. A comparison with 25:8 and Dan 12:2 suggests a literal interpretation, but Ezek 37:1-14 uses resurrection as a metaphor for deliverance from exile and the restoration of the nation (see Isa 27:12-13).
5. Isaiah 26:20 tn Heb “until anger passes by.”
6. Isaiah 26:21 tn Heb “out of his place” (so KJV, ASV).
7. Isaiah 26:21 sn This implies that rampant bloodshed is one of the reasons for divine judgment. See the note at 24:5.