Isaiah 50:2

50:2 Why does no one challenge me when I come?

Why does no one respond when I call? ¹ 

Is my hand too weak ²  to deliver ³  you?

Do I lack the power to rescue you?

Look, with a mere shout ⁴  I can dry up the sea;

I can turn streams into a desert,

so the fish rot away and die

from lack of water. ⁵ 

Genesis 18:14

18:14 Is anything impossible ⁶  for the Lord? I will return to you when the season comes round again and Sarah will have a son.” ⁷ 

Numbers 11:23

11:23 And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s hand shortened? ⁸  Now you will see whether my word to you will come true ⁹  or not!”

Jeremiah 32:17

32:17 ‘Oh, Lord God, ¹⁰  you did indeed ¹¹  make heaven and earth by your mighty power and great strength. ¹²  Nothing is too hard for you!

¹ 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.

² tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV).

³ tn Or “ransom” (NAB, NASB, NIV).

⁴ tn Heb “with my rebuke.”

⁵ tn Heb “the fish stink from lack of water and die from thirst.”

⁶ tn The Hebrew verb פָּלָא (pala’) means “to be wonderful, to be extraordinary, to be surpassing, to be amazing.”

⁷ sn Sarah will have a son. The passage brings God’s promise into clear focus. As long as it was a promise for the future, it really could be believed without much involvement. But now, when it seemed so impossible from the human standpoint, when the Lord fixed an exact date for the birth of the child, the promise became rather overwhelming to Abraham and Sarah. But then this was the Lord of creation, the one they had come to trust. The point of these narratives is that the creation of Abraham’s offspring, which eventually became Israel, is no less a miraculous work of creation than the creation of the world itself.

⁸ sn This anthropomorphic expression concerns the power of God. The “hand of the Lord” is idiomatic for his power, what he is able to do. The question is rhetorical; it is affirming that his hand is not shortened, i.e., that his power is not limited. Moses should have known this, and so this is a rebuke for him at this point. God had provided the manna, among all the other powerful acts they had witnessed. Meat would be no problem. But the lack of faith by the people was infectious.

⁹ tn Or “will happen” (TEV); KJV “shall come to pass unto thee.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” For an explanation of the rendering here see the study note on 1:6.

¹¹ tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle normally translated “behold.” See the translator’s note on 1:6 for the usage of this particle.

¹² tn Heb “by your great power and your outstretched arm.” See 21:5; 27:5 and the marginal note on 27:5 for this idiom.