34:1 Come near, you nations, and listen!
Pay attention, you people!
The earth and everything it contains must listen,
the world and everything that lives in it. 1
46:3 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob, 2
all you who are left from the family of Israel, 3
you who have been carried from birth, 4
you who have been supported from the time you left the womb. 5
49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! 6
Pay attention, you people who live far away!
The Lord summoned me from birth; 7
he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. 8
51:1 “Listen to me, you who pursue godliness, 9
who seek the Lord!
Look at the rock from which you were chiseled,
at the quarry 10 from which you were dug! 11
51:4 Pay attention to me, my people!
Listen to me, my people!
For 12 I will issue a decree, 13
I will make my justice a light to the nations. 14
51:7 Listen to me, you who know what is right,
you people who are aware of my law! 15
Don’t be afraid of the insults of men;
don’t be discouraged because of their abuse!
55:3 Pay attention and come to me!
Listen, so you can live! 16
Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to 17 you,
just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. 18
7:24 So now, sons, 19 listen to me,
and pay attention to the words I speak. 20
8:32 “So now, children, 21 listen to me;
blessed are those who keep my ways.
1 tn Heb “the world and its offspring”; NASB “the world and all that springs from it.”
2 tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV “descendants of Jacob.”
3 tn Heb “and all the remnant of the house of Israel.”
4 tn Heb “from the womb” (so NRSV); KJV “from the belly”; NAB “from your infancy.”
5 tn Heb “who have been lifted up from the womb.”
6 tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”
7 tn Heb “called me from the womb.”
8 tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”
9 tn Or “righteousness” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “justice”; NLT “hope for deliverance.”
10 tn Heb “the excavation of the hole.”
11 sn The “rock” and “quarry” refer here to Abraham and Sarah, the progenitors of the nation.
12 tn Or “certainly.”
13 tn Heb “instruction [or “a law”] will go out from me.”
14 tn Heb “and my justice for a light to the nations I will cause to rest.”
15 tn Heb “people (who have) my law in their heart.”
16 tn The jussive with vav (ו) conjunctive following the imperative indicates purpose/result.
17 tn Or “an eternal covenant with.”
18 tn Heb “the reliable expressions of loyalty of David.” The syntactical relationship of חַסְדֵי (khasde, “expressions of loyalty”) to the preceding line is unclear. If the term is appositional to בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”), then the Lord here transfers the promises of the Davidic covenant to the entire nation. Another option is to take חַסְדֵי (khasde) as an adverbial accusative and to translate “according to the reliable covenantal promises.” In this case the new covenantal arrangement proposed here is viewed as an extension or perhaps fulfillment of the Davidic promises. A third option, the one reflected in the above translation, is to take the last line as comparative. In this case the new covenant being proposed is analogous to the Davidic covenant. Verses 4-5, which compare David’s international prominence to what Israel will experience, favors this view. In all three of these interpretations, “David” is an objective genitive; he is the recipient of covenantal promises. A fourth option would be to take David as a subjective genitive and understand the line as giving the basis for the preceding promise: “Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, because of David’s faithful acts of covenantal loyalty.”
19 tn The literal translation “sons” works well here in view of the warning. Cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV “children.”
20 tn Heb “the words of my mouth.”
21 tn Heb “sons.”