50:5 The sovereign Lord has spoken to me clearly; 1
I have not rebelled,
I have not turned back.
50:11 Look, all of you who start a fire
and who equip yourselves with 2 flaming arrows, 3
walk 4 in the light 5 of the fire you started
and among the flaming arrows you ignited! 6
This is what you will receive from me: 7
you will lie down in a place of pain. 8
1 tn Or perhaps, “makes me obedient.” The text reads literally, “has opened for me an ear.”
2 tc Several more recent commentators have proposed an emendation of מְאַזְּרֵי (mÿ’azzÿre, “who put on”) to מְאִירִי (mÿ’iri, “who light”). However, both Qumran scrolls of Isaiah and the Vulgate support the MT reading (cf. NIV, ESV).
3 tn On the meaning of זִיקוֹת (ziqot, “flaming arrows”), see HALOT 268 s.v. זִיקוֹת.
4 tn The imperative is probably rhetorical and has a predictive force.
5 tn Or perhaps, “flame” (so ASV).
6 sn Perhaps the servant here speaks to his enemies and warns them that they will self-destruct.
7 tn Heb “from my hand” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
8 sn The imagery may be that of a person who becomes ill and is forced to lie down in pain on a sickbed. Some see this as an allusion to a fiery place of damnation because of the imagery employed earlier in the verse.