54:15 If anyone dares to 1 challenge you, it will not be my doing!
Whoever tries to challenge you will be defeated. 2
54:16 Look, I create the craftsman,
who fans the coals into a fire
and forges a weapon. 3
I create the destroyer so he might devastate.
54:17 No weapon forged to be used against you will succeed;
you will refute everyone who tries to accuse you. 4
This is what the Lord will do for his servants –
I will vindicate them,” 5
says the Lord.
1 tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb here for emphasis.
2 tn Heb “will fall over you.” The expression נָפַל עַל (nafal ’al) can mean “attack,” but here it means “fall over to,” i.e., “surrender to.”
3 tn Heb “who brings out an implement for his work.”
4 tn Heb “and every tongue that rises up for judgment with you will prove to be guilty.”
5 tn Heb “this is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication from me.”