11:4 He will treat the poor fairly, 1
and make right decisions 2 for the downtrodden of the earth. 3
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, 4
and order the wicked to be executed. 5
14:32 How will they respond to the messengers of this nation? 6
Indeed, the Lord has made Zion secure;
the oppressed among his people will find safety in her.
29:19 The downtrodden will again rejoice in the Lord;
the poor among humankind will take delight 7 in the Holy One of Israel. 8
33:2 Lord, be merciful to us! We wait for you.
Give us strength each morning! 9
Deliver us when distress comes. 10
66:2 My hand made them; 11
that is how they came to be,” 12 says the Lord.
I show special favor 13 to the humble and contrite,
who respect what I have to say. 14
5:15 So he saves 15 from the sword that comes from their mouth, 16
even 17 the poor from the hand of the powerful.
5:16 Thus the poor have hope,
and iniquity 18 shuts its mouth. 19
12:5 “Because of the violence done to the oppressed, 20
because of the painful cries 21 of the needy,
I will spring into action,” 22 says the Lord.
“I will provide the safety they so desperately desire.” 23
35:10 With all my strength I will say, 24
“O Lord, who can compare to you?
You rescue 25 the oppressed from those who try to overpower them; 26
the oppressed and needy from those who try to rob them.” 27
72:4 He will defend 28 the oppressed among the people;
he will deliver 29 the children 30 of the poor
and crush the oppressor.
72:13 He will take pity 31 on the poor and needy;
the lives of the needy he will save.
107:41 Yet he protected 32 the needy from oppression,
and cared for his families like a flock of sheep.
119:31 I hold fast 33 to your rules.
O Lord, do not let me be ashamed!
3:12 I will leave in your midst a humble and meek group of people, 34
and they will find safety in the Lord’s presence. 35
1 tn Heb “with justice” (so NAB) or “with righteousness” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
2 tn Heb “make decisions with rectitude”; cf. ASV, NRSV “and decide with equity.”
3 tn Or “land” (NAB, NCV, CEV). It is uncertain if the passage is picturing universal dominion or focusing on the king’s rule over his covenant people. The reference to God’s “holy mountain” in v. 9 and the description of renewed Israelite conquests in v. 14 suggest the latter, though v. 10 seems to refer to a universal kingdom (see 2:2-4).
4 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and he will strike the earth with the scepter of his mouth.” Some have suggested that in this context אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) as an object of judgment seems too broad in scope. The parallelism is tighter if one emends the word to ץ(י)עָרִ (’arits, “potentate, tyrant”). The phrase “scepter of his mouth” refers to the royal (note “scepter”) decrees that he proclaims with his mouth. Because these decrees will have authority and power (see v. 2) behind them, they can be described as “striking” the tyrants down. Nevertheless, the MT reading may not need emending. Isaiah refers to the entire “earth” as the object of God’s judgment in several places without specifying the wicked as the object of the judgment (Isa 24:17-21; 26:9, 21; 28:22; cf. 13:11).
5 tn Heb “and by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.” The “breath of his lips” refers to his speech, specifically in this context his official decrees that the wicked oppressors be eliminated from his realm. See the preceding note.
6 sn The question forces the Philistines to consider the dilemma they will face – surrender and oppression, or battle and death.
7 tn Or “will rejoice” (NIV, NCV, NLT).
8 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
9 tn Heb “Be their arm each morning.” “Arm” is a symbol for strength. The mem suffixed to the noun has been traditionally understood as a third person suffix, but this is contrary to the context, where the people speak of themselves in the first person. The mem (מ) is probably enclitic with ellipsis of the pronoun, which can be supplied from the context. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:589, n. 1.
10 tn Heb “[Be] also our deliverance in the time of distress.”
11 tn Heb “all these.” The phrase refers to the heavens and earth, mentioned in the previous verse.
12 tn Heb “and all these were.” Some prefer to emend וַיִּהְיוּ (vayyihyu, “and they were”) to וְלִי הָיוּ (vÿli hayu, “and to me they were”), i.e., “and they belong to me.”
13 tn Heb “and to this one I look” (KJV and NASB both similar).
14 tn Heb “to the humble and the lowly in spirit and the one who trembles at my words.”
15 tn The verb, the Hiphil preterite of יָשַׁע (yasha’, “and he saves”) indicates that by frustrating the plans of the wicked God saves the poor. So the vav (ו) consecutive shows the result in the sequence of the verses.
16 tn The juxtaposition of “from the sword from their mouth” poses translation difficulties. Some
17 tn If the word “poor” is to do double duty, i.e., serving as the object of the verb “saves” in the first colon as well as the second, then the conjunction should be explanatory.
18 tn Other translations render this “injustice” (NIV, NRSV, CEV) or “unrighteousness” (NASB).
19 tn The verse summarizes the result of God’s intervention in human affairs, according to Eliphaz’ idea that even-handed justice prevails. Ps 107:42 parallels v. 16b.
20 tn The term translated “oppressed” is an objective genitive; the oppressed are the recipients/victims of violence.
21 tn Elsewhere in the psalms this noun is used of the painful groans of prisoners awaiting death (79:11; 102:20). The related verb is used of the painful groaning of those wounded in combat (Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15) and of the mournful sighing of those in grief (Ezek 9:4; 24:17).
22 tn Heb “I will rise up.”
23 tn Heb “I will place in deliverance, he pants for it.” The final two words in Hebrew (יָפִיחַ לוֹ, yafiakh lo) comprise an asyndetic relative clause, “the one who pants for it.” “The one who pants” is the object of the verb “place” and the antecedent of the pronominal suffix (in the phrase “for it”) is “deliverance.” Another option is to translate, “I will place in deliverance the witness for him,” repointing יָפִיחַ (a Hiphil imperfect from פּוּחַ, puakh, “pant”) as יָפֵחַ (yafeakh), a noun meaning “witness.” In this case the
24 tn Heb “all my bones will say.”
25 tn Heb “[the one who] rescues.” The substantival participle in the Hebrew text characterizes God as one who typically rescues the oppressed.
26 tn Heb “from [the one who is] too strong for him.” The singular forms are used in a representative sense. The typical oppressed individual and typical oppressor are in view.
27 tn Heb “the oppressed [one] and needy [one] from [the one who] robs him.” As in the previous line, the singular forms are used in a representative sense.
28 tn Heb “judge [for].”
29 tn The prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, not a jussive.
30 tn Heb “sons.”
31 tn The prefixed verb form is best understood as a defectively written imperfect (see Deut 7:16).
32 tn Heb “set on high.”
33 tn Or “cling to.”
34 tn Heb “needy and poor people.” The terms often refer to a socioeconomic group, but here they may refer to those who are humble in a spiritual sense.
35 tn Heb “and they will take refuge in the name of the
36 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.