Isaiah 36:11

36:11 Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

Isaiah 37:24

37:24 Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master,

‘With my many chariots I climbed up

the high mountains,

the slopes of Lebanon.

I cut down its tall cedars

and its best evergreens.

I invaded its most remote regions,

its thickest woods.

Isaiah 43:10

43:10 You are my witnesses,” says the Lord,

“my servant whom I have chosen,

so that you may consider and believe in me,

and understand that I am he.

No god was formed before me,

and none will outlive me.

Isaiah 49:5-7

49:5 So now the Lord says,

the one who formed me from birth to be his servant –

he did this to restore Jacob to himself,

so that Israel might be gathered to him;

and I will be honored in the Lord’s sight,

for my God is my source of strength 10 

49:6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,

to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,

and restore the remnant 11  of Israel? 12 

I will make you a light to the nations, 13 

so you can bring 14  my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”

49:7 This is what the Lord,

the protector 15  of Israel, their Holy One, 16  says

to the one who is despised 17  and rejected 18  by nations, 19 

a servant of rulers:

“Kings will see and rise in respect, 20 

princes will bow down,

because of the faithful Lord,

the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”

Isaiah 54:17

54:17 No weapon forged to be used against you will succeed;

you will refute everyone who tries to accuse you. 21 

This is what the Lord will do for his servants –

I will vindicate them,” 22 

says the Lord.

Isaiah 56:6

56:6 As for foreigners who become followers of 23  the Lord and serve him,

who love the name of the Lord and want to be his servants –

all who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it,

and who are faithful to 24  my covenant –

Isaiah 65:8

65:8 This is what the Lord says:

“When 25  juice is discovered in a cluster of grapes,

someone says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for it contains juice.’ 26 

So I will do for the sake of my servants –

I will not destroy everyone. 27 


sn Aramaic was the diplomatic language of the Assyrian empire.

tn Or “in Hebrew” (NIV, NCV, NLT); NAB, NASB “in Judean.”

tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

tn Heb “the height of its extremity”; ASV “its farthest height.”

tn Or “know” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

tn Heb “and after me, there will not be”; NASB “there will be none after Me.”

tn Heb “from the womb” (so KJV, NASB).

tn The words “he did this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct of purpose is subordinated to the previous statement.

tn The vav (ו) + imperfect is translated here as a result clause; one might interpret it as indicating purpose, “and so I might be honored.”

10 tn Heb “and my God is [perhaps, “having been”] my strength.” The disjunctive structure (vav [ו] + subject + verb) is interpreted here as indicating a causal circumstantial clause.

tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”

10 sn The question is purely rhetorical; it does not imply that the servant was dissatisfied with his commission or that he minimized the restoration of Israel.

11 tn See the note at 42:6.

12 tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”

11 tn Heb “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

12 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

13 tc The Hebrew text reads literally “to [one who] despises life.” It is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa לבזוי, which should be vocalized as a passive participle, לִבְזוּי (livzuy, “to the one despised with respect to life” [נֶפֶשׁ is a genitive of specification]). The consonantal sequence וי was probably misread as ה in the MT tradition. The contextual argument favors the 1QIsaa reading. As J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:294) points out, the three terse phrases “convey a picture of lowliness, worthlessness, and helplessness.”

14 tn MT’s Piel participle (“to the one who rejects”) does not fit contextually. The form should be revocalized as a Pual, “to the one rejected.”

15 tn Parallelism (see “rulers,” “kings,” “princes”) suggests that the singular גּוֹי (goy) be emended to a plural or understood in a collective sense (see 55:5).

16 tn For this sense of קוּם (qum), see Gen 19:1; 23:7; 33:10; Lev 19:32; 1 Sam 20:41; 25:41; 1 Kgs 2:19; Job 29:8.

13 tn Heb “and every tongue that rises up for judgment with you will prove to be guilty.”

14 tn Heb “this is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication from me.”

15 tn Heb “who attach themselves to.”

16 tn Heb “and take hold of”; NAB “hold to”; NIV, NRSV “hold fast.”

17 tn Heb “just as.” In the Hebrew text the statement is one long sentence, “Just as…, so I will do….”

18 tn Heb “for a blessing is in it.”

19 tn Heb “by not destroying everyone.”