The Theology of the Book of Isaiah Quotes

“The challenge to Jacob-Israel is to turn to Yahweh and be willing to submit to his intention regarding the fulfillment of his purpose, rather than continuing to insist on working with its own ideas about how that should work out (Is 55:6-13).”
― John E. Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Isaiah

“Ms. Babylon has thus come to see herself as God: “I shall always be here, mistress forever. . . . I and I alone am still here” (Is 47:7, 8). No superpower can ever imagine it will cease to be in power, but this means its pretension is quasi-divine and must be corrected.”
― John E. Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Isaiah

“The idea is not that Israel returns to Yahweh and therefore Yahweh forgives it and restores it; it is rather that Yahweh forgives it and restores it, and this action must draw Israel to return to Yahweh (Is 44:21-22).”
― John E. Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Isaiah

“the covenant relationship between Yahweh and Israel and the way Yahweh shone his light of blessing in Israel’s life was designed to become a revelation to other peoples, a means of opening their eyes and releasing them from darkness.”
― John E. Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Isaiah

“Without realizing it, they’re like clay telling the potter that they know more about pottery than he does and that they can form themselves into pots on their own (Is 29:16).”
― John E. Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Isaiah

“By virtue of being created by God, the world knows how to live and is under obligation to live that way, but it has declined. It has thus “profaned” the earth, made it something God no longer wishes to have anything to do with, something God could not continue to have anything to do with without compromising who he is.”
― John E. Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Isaiah

“The passages also offer an assurance that God has such resistance under control and will ultimately overwhelm it.”
― John E. Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Isaiah

“The catastrophe will affect not only the heavens and the earth but the cosmic powers. “On that day Yahweh will attend to the army on high” as well as the kings of earth (Is 24:21; see further Is 24:22-23). There are two stages to Yahweh’s action. First these powers are put into captivity, presumably so as no longer to exercise their power. Then in due course they are actually “attended to.” This verb (pāqad) is usually rendered “punish” in modern translations, but its meaning is more neutral than this rendering implies; the traditional translation “visit” is usefully redolent of a visit from the mafia. When the prophecy adds that “the moon will feel shamed, the sun will feel disgrace,” the background is the way the heavenly bodies can be associated with the army on high. It was through the heavenly bodies that the gods ruled the earth.”
― John E. Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Isaiah

“There is no room for Judah’s thinking that its position as the people of God means it will escape if its stance toward Yahweh is no different from theirs.”
― John E. Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Isaiah

“Most of the prophecies explicitly or implicitly incorporate some hope for the nations—for instance, by escaping judgment or finding mercy after judgment.”
― John E. Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Isaiah

“Third, Yahweh also speaks of exposing the powerlessness of the nations’ so-called gods and the uselessness of their so-called insight and capacity to decide what will happen in the world (e.g., Is 19:1-17).”
― John E. Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Isaiah

“A second reason is that, conversely, it is morally necessary for the lowly to be lifted up and the underlings exalted.”
― John E. Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Isaiah

“The first reason is their majesty and their associated arrogance (Is 13:11, 19), which fits with the earlier critique of Assyria and of Judah itself (cf. also Is 16:6).”
― John E. Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Isaiah

“The Babylon whose fall is described is then not merely the historical Babylon, Israel’s conqueror, but also the symbolic Babylon. Its fall signifies the dethroning of every power opposed to God.”
― John E. Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Isaiah

“At the center of the prophecies about the nations, Isaiah 17:12-14 explicitly promises the fall of any superpower that arises, picturing the disappearance of “the nations” that rage and roar and plunder”
― John E. Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Isaiah