144:15 How blessed are the people who experience these things! 6
How blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!
44:1 “Now, listen, Jacob my servant,
Israel whom I have chosen!”
44:2 This is what the Lord, the one who made you, says –
the one who formed you in the womb and helps you:
“Don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob,
Jeshurun, 7 whom I have chosen!
44:3 For I will pour water on the parched ground 8
and cause streams to flow 9 on the dry land.
I will pour my spirit on your offspring
and my blessing on your children.
44:4 They will sprout up like a tree in the grass, 10
like poplars beside channels of water.
44:5 One will say, ‘I belong to the Lord,’
and another will use 11 the name ‘Jacob.’
One will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’
and use the name ‘Israel.’” 12
44:6 This is what the Lord, Israel’s king, says,
their protector, 13 the Lord who commands armies:
“I am the first and I am the last,
there is no God but me.
30:22 Then you will again be my people
and I will be your God. 14
2:23 Then I will plant her as my own 25 in the land.
I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah).
I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’
And he 26 will say, ‘You are 27 my God!’”
8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put 34 my laws in their minds 35 and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people. 36
1 sn The affirmation They will be my people, and I will be their God speaks of covenant renewal, a restoration of the unbroken fellowship the
2 tn Heb “covenant of former ones.”
3 tn Heb “so that.” Verses 18-19 are one sentence in the Hebrew text, but the translation divides it into three sentences for stylistic reasons. The first clause in verse 19 gives a result of the preceding clause. When Israel keeps God’s law, God will bless them with fame and honor (cf. NAB “he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory”; NLT “And if you do, he will make you greater than any other nation”).
4 tn Heb “for praise and for a name and for glory.”
5 tn Heb “and to be.” A new sentence was started here for stylistic reasons.
6 tn Heb “[O] the happiness of the people who [it is] such to them.”
7 sn Jeshurun is a poetic name for Israel; it occurs here and in Deut 32:15; 33:5, 26.
8 tn Heb “the thirsty.” Parallelism suggests that dry ground is in view (see “dry land” in the next line.)
9 tn Heb “and streams”; KJV “floods.” The verb “cause…to flow” is supplied in the second line for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
10 tn The Hebrew term בֵין (ven) is usually taken as a preposition, in which case one might translate, “among the grass.” But בֵין is probably the name of a tree (cf. C. R. North, Second Isaiah, 133). If one alters the preposition bet (בְּ) to kaf (כְּ), one can then read, “like a binu-tree.” (The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa supports this reading.) This forms a nice parallel to “like poplars” in the next line. חָצִיר (khatsir) is functioning as an adverbial accusative of location.
11 tn The Hebrew text has a Qal verb form, “and another will call by the name of Jacob.” With support from Symmachus (an ancient Greek textual witness), some read the Niphal, “and another will be called by the name of Jacob.”
12 tn Heb “and by the name of Israel he will title.” Some, with support from several ancient versions, prefer to change the Piel (active) verb form to a Pual (passive), “and he will be titled by the name of Israel.”
13 tn Heb “his kinsman redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
14 sn This was their highest privilege (cf. Exod 6:7, Lev 26:12; Jer 24:7) but also their greatest responsibility (cf. Jer 7:3; 11:4). It is a formula referring to a covenant relationship in which God pledges to protect, provide, and be present with his people and they in turn promise to be loyal and obedient to him (see Deut 26:17-18; 29:10-13).
15 tn Heb “with the house of Israel.” All commentators agree that the term here refers to both the whole nation which was divided into the house of Israel and the house of Judah in v. 30.
16 tn Heb “after those days.” Commentators are generally agreed that this refers to the return from exile and the repopulation of the land referred to in vv. 27-28 and not to something subsequent to the time mentioned in v. 30. This is the sequencing that is also presupposed in other new covenant passages such as Deut 30:1-6; Ezek 11:17-20; 36:24-28.
17 tn Heb “Oracle of the
18 tn Heb “‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after these days:’ says the
19 tn Heb “in their inward parts.” The Hebrew word here refers to the seat of the thoughts, emotions, and decisions (Jer 9:8 [9:7 HT]). It is essentially synonymous with “heart” in Hebrew psychological terms.
20 tn The words “and minds” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation to bring the English psychology more into line with the Hebrew where the “heart” is the center both of knowing/thinking/reflecting and deciding/willing.
21 sn Compare Jer 24:7; 30:22; 31:1 and see the study note on 30:2.
22 sn The covenant formula setting forth the basic relationship is reinstituted along with a new covenant (v. 40). See also 24:7; 30:22; 31:1 and the study note on 30:22.
23 sn The expression They will be my people, and I will be their God occurs as a promise to Abraham (Gen 17:8), Moses (Exod 6:7), and the nation (Exod 29:45).
24 sn This promise reflects the ancient covenantal ideal (see Exod 6:7).
25 tn Heb “for myself.”
26 tn The Hebrew text, carrying out the reference to the son born in 1:8-9, uses the third person masculine singular pronoun here; some English translations use third person plural (“they,” so KJV, NASB, NIV, CEV) in keeping with the immediate context, which refers to reestablished Israel.
27 tn The words “You are” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are implied. It is necessary to supply the phrase in the translation to prevent the reader from understanding the predicate “my God” as an exclamation (cf. NAB).
28 tn Grk “And answering, Jesus said to them.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation.
29 tn Or “mistaken” (cf. BDAG 822 s.v. πλανάω 2.c.γ).
30 tc Most witnesses have “of God” after “angels,” although some
31 tn Grk “spoken to you by God, saying.” The participle λέγοντος (legontos) is redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.
32 sn A quotation from Exod 3:6.
33 sn He is not God of the dead but of the living. Jesus’ point was that if God could identify himself as God of the three old patriarchs, then they must still be alive when God spoke to Moses; and so they must be raised.
34 tn Grk “putting…I will inscribe.”
35 tn Grk “mind.”
36 tn Grk “I will be to them for a God and they will be to me for a people,” following the Hebrew constructions of Jer 31.
37 tn Or “dwelling place”; traditionally, “tabernacle”; literally “tent.”
38 tn Or “people”; Grk “men” (ἀνθρώπων, anqrwpwn), a generic use of the term. In the translation “human beings” was used here because “people” occurs later in the verse and translates a different Greek word (λαοί, laoi).
39 tn Grk “men, and he.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
40 tc ‡ Most
41 tn Grk “God, and he.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
42 tn For the translation of ἀπέρχομαι (apercomai; here ἀπῆλθαν [aphlqan]) L&N 13.93 has “to go out of existence – ‘to cease to exist, to pass away, to cease.’”
43 tn Or “who is victorious”; traditionally, “who overcomes.”