Text -- Isaiah 51:1-2 (NET)

There is Hope for the Future

51:1 “Listen to me, you who pursue godliness, who seek the Lord! Look at the rock from which you were chiseled, at the quarry from which you were dug! 51:2 Look at Abraham, your father, and Sarah, who gave you birth. When I summoned him, he was a lone individual, but I blessed him and gave him numerous descendants.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Isa 51:1

¹ tn Or “righteousness” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “justice”; NLT “hope for deliverance.”

² tn Heb “the excavation of the hole.”

³ sn The “rock” and “quarry” refer here to Abraham and Sarah, the progenitors of the nation.

NET Notes: Isa 51:2

¹ sn Although Abraham and Sarah are distant ancestors of the people the prophet is addressing, they are spoken of as the immediate parents.

² tn Heb “one”; NLT “was alone”; TEV “was childless.”

³ tn “Bless” may here carry the sense of “endue with potency, reproductive power.” See Gen 1:28.

⁴ tn Heb “and I made him numerous.”