Exodus 16:31

16:31 The house of Israel ¹  called its name “manna.” ²  It was like coriander seed and was white, and it tasted ³  like wafers with honey.

Exodus 29:2

29:2 and ⁴  bread made without yeast, and perforated cakes without yeast mixed with oil, and wafers without yeast spread ⁵  with oil – you are to make them using ⁶  fine wheat flour.

Isaiah 42:1

The Lord Commissions His Special Servant

42:1 ⁷ “Here is my servant whom I support,

my chosen one in whom I take pleasure.

I have placed my spirit on him;

he will make just decrees ⁸  for the nations. ⁹ 

Isaiah 44:3-5

44:3 For I will pour water on the parched ground ¹⁰ 

and cause streams to flow ¹¹  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, ¹² 

like poplars beside channels of water.

44:5 One will say, ‘I belong to the Lord,’

and another will use ¹³  the name ‘Jacob.’

One will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’

and use the name ‘Israel.’” ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 61:1

The Lord Will Rejuvenate His People

61:1 The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me,

because the Lord has chosen ¹⁵  me. ¹⁶ 

He has commissioned ¹⁷  me to encourage ¹⁸  the poor,

to help ¹⁹  the brokenhearted,

to decree the release of captives,

and the freeing of prisoners,

John 3:34

3:34 For the one whom God has sent ²⁰  speaks the words of God, for he does not give the Spirit sparingly. ²¹ 

[16:31]  ¹ sn The name “house of Israel” is unusual in this context.

[16:31]  ² tn Hebrew מָן (man).

[16:31]  ³ tn Heb “like seed of coriander, white, its taste was.”

[29:2]  ⁴ sn This will be for the minkhah (מִנְחָה) offering (Lev 2), which was to accompany the animal sacrifices.

[29:2]  ⁵ tn Or “anointed” (KJV, ASV).

[29:2]  ⁶ tn The “fine flour” is here an adverbial accusative, explaining the material from which these items were made. The flour is to be finely sifted, and from the wheat, not the barley, which was often the material used by the poor. Fine flour, no leaven, and perfect animals, without blemishes, were to be gathered for this service.

[42:1]  ⁷ sn Verses 1-7 contain the first of Isaiah’s “servant songs,” which describe the ministry of a special, ideal servant who accomplishes God’s purposes for Israel and the nations. This song depicts the servant as a just king who brings justice to the earth and relief for the oppressed. The other songs appear in 49:1-13; 50:4-11; and 52:13-53:12.

[42:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “he will bring out justice” (cf. ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[42:1]  ⁹ sn Like the ideal king portrayed in Isa 11:1-9, the servant is energized by the divine spirit and establishes justice on the earth.

[44:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the thirsty.” Parallelism suggests that dry ground is in view (see “dry land” in the next line.)

[44:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and streams”; KJV “floods.” The verb “cause…to flow” is supplied in the second line for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[44:4]  ¹² 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 1QIsa^a 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.

[44:5]  ¹³ 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.”

[44:5]  ¹⁴ 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.”

[61:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “anointed,” i.e., designated to carry out an assigned task.

[61:1]  ¹⁶ sn The speaker is not identified, but he is distinct from the Lord and from Zion’s suffering people. He possesses the divine spirit, is God’s spokesman, and is sent to release prisoners from bondage. The evidence suggests he is the Lord’s special servant, described earlier in the servant songs (see 42:1-4, 7; 49:2, 9; 50:4; see also 51:16).

[61:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “sent” (NAB); NCV “has appointed me.”

[61:1]  ¹⁸ tn Or “proclaim good news to.”

[61:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to bind up [the wounds of].”

[3:34]  ²⁰ tn That is, Christ.

[3:34]  ²¹ tn Grk “for not by measure does he give the Spirit” (an idiom). Leviticus Rabbah 15:2 states: “The Holy Spirit rested on the prophets by measure.” Jesus is contrasted to this. The Spirit rests upon him without measure.