Isaiah 8:18

8:18 Look, I and the sons whom the Lord has given me ¹  are reminders and object lessons ²  in Israel, sent from the Lord who commands armies, who lives on Mount Zion.

Isaiah 53:10

53:10 Though the Lord desired to crush him and make him ill,

once restitution is made, ³ 

he will see descendants and enjoy long life, ⁴ 

and the Lord’s purpose will be accomplished through him.

Proverbs 8:23

8:23 From eternity I was appointed, ⁵ 

from the beginning, from before the world existed. ⁶ 

Hebrews 2:13-14

2:13 Again he says, ⁷  “I will be confident in him,” and again, “Here I am, ⁸  with ⁹  the children God has given me.” ¹⁰  2:14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in ¹¹  their humanity, ¹²  so that through death he could destroy ¹³  the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil),

[8:18]  ¹ sn This refers to Shear-jashub (7:3) and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (8:1, 3).

[8:18]  ² tn Or “signs and portents” (NAB, NRSV). The names of all three individuals has symbolic value. Isaiah’s name (which meant “the Lord delivers”) was a reminder that the Lord was the nation’s only source of protection; Shear-jashub’s name was meant, at least originally, to encourage Ahaz (see the note at 7:3), and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz’s name was a guarantee that God would defeat Israel and Syria (see the note at 8:4). The word מוֹפֶת (mofet, “portent”) can often refer to some miraculous event, but in 20:3 it is used, along with its synonym אוֹת (’ot, “sign”) of Isaiah’s walking around half-naked as an object lesson of what would soon happen to the Egyptians.

[53:10]  ³ tn The meaning of this line is uncertain. It reads literally, “if you/she makes, a reparation offering, his life.” The verb תָּשִׂים (tasim) could be second masculine singular,in which case it would have to be addressed to the servant or to God. However, the servant is only addressed once in this servant song (see 52:14a), and God either speaks or is spoken about in this servant song; he is never addressed. Furthermore, the idea of God himself making a reparation offering is odd. If the verb is taken as third feminine singular, then the feminine noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) at the end of the line is the likely subject. In this case one can take the suffixed form of the noun as equivalent to a pronoun and translate, “if he [literally, “his life”] makes a reparation offering.”

[53:10]  ⁴ sn The idiomatic and stereotypical language emphasizes the servant’s restoration to divine favor. Having numerous descendants and living a long life are standard signs of divine blessing. See Job 42:13-16.

[8:23]  ⁵ tn The first parallel verb is נִסַּכְתִּי (nissakhti), “I was appointed.” It is not a common word; it occurs here and in Ps 2:6 for the coronation of the king. It means “installed, set.”

[8:23]  ⁶ tn The verb “existed” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation in the light of the context.

[2:13]  ⁷ tn Grk “and again,” as a continuation of the preceding.

[2:13]  ⁸ tn Grk “behold, I,” but this construction often means “here is/there is” (cf. BDAG 468 s.v. ἰδού 2).

[2:13]  ⁹ tn Grk “and.”

[2:13]  ¹⁰ sn A quotation from Isa 8:17-18.

[2:14]  ¹¹ tn Or “partook of” (this is a different word than the one in v. 14a).

[2:14]  ¹² tn Grk “the same.”

[2:14]  ¹³ tn Or “break the power of,” “reduce to nothing.”