32:29 I wish that they were wise and could understand this,
and that they could comprehend what will happen to them.”
81:10 I am the Lord, your God,
the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it!’
81:13 If only my people would obey me! 2
If only Israel would keep my commands! 3
48:17 This is what the Lord, your protector, 4 says,
the Holy One of Israel: 5
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you how to succeed,
who leads you in the way you should go.
48:18 If only you had obeyed my 6 commandments,
prosperity would have flowed to you like a river, 7
deliverance would have come to you like the waves of the sea. 8
48:19 Your descendants would have been as numerous as sand, 9
and your children 10 like its granules.
Their name would not have been cut off
and eliminated from my presence. 11
50:2 Why does no one challenge me when I come?
Why does no one respond when I call? 12
Is my hand too weak 13 to deliver 14 you?
Do I lack the power to rescue you?
Look, with a mere shout 15 I can dry up the sea;
I can turn streams into a desert,
so the fish rot away and die
from lack of water. 16
1 tn Heb “keep” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).
2 tn Heb “if only my people were listening to me.” The Hebrew particle לוּ (lu, “if not”) introduces a purely hypothetical or contrary to fact condition (see 2 Sam 18:12).
3 tn Heb “[and if only] Israel would walk in my ways.”
4 tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
5 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
6 tn Heb “paid attention to” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “had listened to.”
7 tn Heb “like a river your peace would have been.” שָׁלוֹם (shalom) probably refers here to the peace and prosperity which God promised in return for obedience to the covenant.
8 tn Heb “and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah) probably refers here to divine deliverance from enemies. See v. 19.
9 tn Heb “like sand”; NCV “as many as the grains of sand.”
10 tn Heb “and the issue from your inner parts.”
11 tn Heb “and his name would not be cut off and would not be destroyed from before me.”
12 sn The present tense translation of the verbs assumes that the Lord is questioning why Israel does not attempt to counter his arguments. Another possibility is to take the verbs as referring to past events: “Why did no one meet me when I came? Why did no one answer when I called?” In this case the Lord might be asking why Israel rejected his calls to repent and his offer to deliver them.
13 tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV).
14 tn Or “ransom” (NAB, NASB, NIV).
15 tn Heb “with my rebuke.”
16 tn Heb “the fish stink from lack of water and die from thirst.”