Introduction
The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BCE prophet Isaiah ben Amoz, but there is extensive evidence that much of it was composed during the Babylonian captivity and later.
Author
A consensus, held through most of the 20th century, is that the book comprises three separate collections of oracles: Proto-Isaiah (Chapters 1–39), containing the words of the 8th-century prophet Isaiah; Deutero-Isaiah (Chapters 40–55), the work of an anonymous 6th-century BCE author writing during the Exile; and Trito-Isaiah (Chapters 56–66), composed after the return from Exile.
Servant Songs
Also called the Servant Poems or the Songs of the Suffering Servant, are four songs in the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible, which include
The songs are four poems written about a certain "servant of YHWH." God calls the servant to lead the nations, but the servant is horribly abused by them. In the end, he is rewarded.
The rest of this comprehensive Wikipedia article on the book can be read here.
An extract from BHFA Volume 5
Isaiah 5:14a
לָכֵן הִרְחִיבָה שְּׁאוֹל נַפְשָׁהּ
herself Sheol she enlarged therefore
KJB Therefore hell hath enlarged herself,
NASB Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat
ESV Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite
NLT The grave is licking its lips in anticipation,
NIV Therefore Death expands its jaws,
שְּׁאוֹל
There is no English word that conveys the precise sense of this Hebrew word. At the time when this was written, the word referred simply to the abode of the dead and suggested no moral distinctions.
The word "hell" as it is understood today, is therefore not an accurate translation. It is therefore correct to simply transliterate the word into English as “Sheol."
Refer to 2 Sm 3:32 for notes on qever meaning, "grave." We should note the following about Sheol:
Sheol is never used in the plural but "grave" is used in the plural 29 times in the Hebrew Bible. For ex, Ex 14:11, Jer 26:23.
Sheol is never used to say corpses (or even bones) go there.
Sheol is never said to be near the surface of the ground, as is a grave.
Qever is always used to refer to a person's resting place.
Corpses are always placed in a qever (1 Kings 13:30).
Sheol is never described as being dug, as is a grave.
But qever is used in this way six times in the Hebrew Bible (Gen. 50:5).
An extract from BHFA Volume 5
Isaiah 9:5b
וַיִּקְרָא שְׁמוֹ it will be called his name
פֶּלֶא יוֹעֵץ marvel of a counselor Marvelous Counselor
אֵל גִּבּוֹר God mighty Messiah
אֲבִיעַד father for ever Everlasting Father
שַׂר־שָׁלוֹם general of peace Prince of Peace
Morphologically there should actually be a space between father and everlasting, but there is no footnote in BHS to indicate this, and lexicons list this as one word.
The construct masculine noun שַׂר is possibly a military term. We could think of God here as a captain or general in the present-day UN Peacekeeping Force.
The last six of the eight words in this verse obviously fall into three couplets, and some scholars are of the opinion the first two should probably also be taken together. These scholars then go on to point out that we then actually have four elements of one compound name.
divorcement - letter / deed / certificate of - it - where
An extract from BHFA Volume 5
Isaiah 50:1a
אֵי זֶה סֵפֶר כְּרִיתוּת
divorcement letter / deed / certificate of it where
KJB Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement,
NASB “Where is the certificate of divorce
ESV “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce,
NLT “Was your mother sent away because I divorced her?
NIV "Where is your mother's certificate of divorce
כְּרִיתוּת
Noun, f. sg. meaning, "divorcement." This noun ocuurs only four times in the Hebrew Bible. Here, in Dt 24:1,3, and in Jer 3:8.
More on "divorce" here.
