30:11 Turn aside from the way,
stray off the path. 1
Remove from our presence the Holy One of Israel.” 2
41:14 Don’t be afraid, despised insignificant Jacob, 3
men of 4 Israel.
I am helping you,” says the Lord,
your protector, 5 the Holy One of Israel. 6
45:15 Yes, you are a God who keeps hidden,
O God of Israel, deliverer!
45:21 Tell me! Present the evidence! 7
Let them consult with one another!
Who predicted this in the past?
Who announced it beforehand?
Was it not I, the Lord?
I have no peer, there is no God but me,
a God who vindicates and delivers; 8
there is none but me.
49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;
they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. 9
Then all humankind 10 will recognize that
I am the Lord, your deliverer,
your protector, 11 the powerful ruler of Jacob.” 12
60:16 You will drink the milk of nations;
you will nurse at the breasts of kings. 13
Then you will recognize that I, the Lord, am your deliverer,
your protector, 14 the powerful ruler of Jacob. 15
13:4 But I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of Egypt.
Therefore, you must not acknowledge any God but me;
except me there is no Savior.
2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. 18 2:12 It trains us 19 to reject godless ways 20 and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 2:13 as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing 21 of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 22 2:14 He 23 gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, 24 who are eager to do good. 25
1 sn The imagery refers to the way or path of truth, as revealed by God to the prophet.
2 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
3 tn Heb “O worm Jacob” (NAB, NIV). The worm metaphor suggests that Jacob is insignificant and despised.
4 tn On the basis of the parallelism (note “worm”) and an alleged Akkadian cognate, some read “louse” or “weevil.” Cf. NAB “O maggot Israel”; NRSV “you insect Israel.”
5 tn Heb “your kinsman redeemer.” A גָּאַל (ga’al, “kinsman redeemer”) was a protector of the extended family’s interests.
6 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
7 tn Heb “Declare! Bring near!”; NASB “Declare and set forth your case.” See 41:21.
8 tn Or “a righteous God and deliverer”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “a righteous God and a Savior.”
9 sn Verse 26a depicts siege warfare and bloody defeat. The besieged enemy will be so starved they will their own flesh. The bloodstained bodies lying on the blood-soaked battle site will look as if they collapsed in drunkenness.
10 tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).
11 tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
12 tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.” See 1:24.
13 sn The nations and kings are depicted as a mother nursing her children. Restored Zion will be nourished by them as she receives their wealth as tribute.
14 tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
15 sn See 1:24 and 49:26.
16 tn Or “showing that genuine faith is productive.” At issue between these two translations is the force of ἀγαθήν (agaqhn): Is it attributive (as the text has it) or predicate (as in this note)? A number of considerations point in the direction of a predicate ἀγαθήν (e.g., separation from the noun πίστιν (pistin) by the verb, the possibility that the construction is an object-complement, etc.), though is not usually seen as an option in either translations or commentaries. Cf. ExSyn 188-89, 312-13, for a discussion. Contextually, it makes an intriguing statement, for it suggests a synthetic or synonymous parallel: “‘Slaves should be wholly subject to their masters…demonstrating that all [genuine] faith is productive, with the result [ecbatic ἵνα] that they will completely adorn the doctrine of God.’ The point of the text, then, if this understanding is correct, is an exhortation to slaves to demonstrate that their faith is sincere and results in holy behavior. If taken this way, the text seems to support the idea that saving faith does not fail, but even results in good works” (ExSyn 312-13). The translation of ἀγαθήν as an attributive adjective, however, also makes good sense.
17 tn Or “adorn,” “show the beauty of.”
18 tn Grk “all men”; but ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpois) is generic here, referring to both men and women.
19 tn Grk “training us” (as a continuation of the previous clause). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 12 by translating the participle παιδεύουσα (paideuousa) as a finite verb and supplying the pronoun “it” as subject.
20 tn Grk “ungodliness.”
21 tn Grk “the blessed hope and glorious appearing.”
22 tn The terms “God and Savior” both refer to the same person, Jesus Christ. This is one of the clearest statements in the NT concerning the deity of Christ. The construction in Greek is known as the Granville Sharp rule, named after the English philanthropist-linguist who first clearly articulated the rule in 1798. Sharp pointed out that in the construction article-noun-καί-noun (where καί [kai] = “and”), when two nouns are singular, personal, and common (i.e., not proper names), they always had the same referent. Illustrations such as “the friend and brother,” “the God and Father,” etc. abound in the NT to prove Sharp’s point. The only issue is whether terms such as “God” and “Savior” could be considered common nouns as opposed to proper names. Sharp and others who followed (such as T. F. Middleton in his masterful The Doctrine of the Greek Article) demonstrated that a proper name in Greek was one that could not be pluralized. Since both “God” (θεός, qeos) and “savior” (σωτήρ, swthr) were occasionally found in the plural, they did not constitute proper names, and hence, do fit Sharp’s rule. Although there have been 200 years of attempts to dislodge Sharp’s rule, all attempts have been futile. Sharp’s rule stands vindicated after all the dust has settled. For more information on Sharp’s rule see ExSyn 270-78, esp. 276. See also 2 Pet 1:1 and Jude 4.
23 tn Grk “who” (as a continuation of the previous clause).
24 tn Or “a people who are his very own.”
25 tn Grk “for good works.”
26 tn Verses 4-7 are set as poetry in NA26/NA27. These verses probably constitute the referent of the expression “this saying” in v. 8.
27 tn Or “on us richly.”