Discovery BoxIsaiah 10:14
Context10:14 My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest,
as one gathers up abandoned eggs,
I gathered up the whole earth.
There was no wing flapping,
or open mouth chirping.” 1
Isaiah 26:19
Context26:19 2 Your dead will come back to life;
your corpses will rise up.
Wake up and shout joyfully, you who live in the ground! 3
For you will grow like plants drenched with the morning dew, 4
and the earth will bring forth its dead spirits. 5
Isaiah 41:7
Context41:7 The craftsman encourages the metalsmith,
the one who wields the hammer encourages 6 the one who pounds on the anvil.
He approves the quality of the welding, 7
and nails it down so it won’t fall over.”
Isaiah 45:9
Context45:9 One who argues with his creator is in grave danger, 8
one who is like a mere 9 shard among the other shards on the ground!
The clay should not say to the potter, 10
“What in the world 11 are you doing?
Your work lacks skill!” 12
Isaiah 48:1
Context48:1 Listen to this, O family of Jacob, 13
you who are called by the name ‘Israel,’
and are descended from Judah, 14
who take oaths in the name of the Lord,
and invoke 15 the God of Israel –
but not in an honest and just manner. 16
Isaiah 49:8
Context49:8 This is what the Lord says:
“At the time I decide to show my favor, I will respond to you;
in the day of deliverance I will help you;
I will protect you 17 and make you a covenant mediator for people, 18
and to reassign the desolate property.
Isaiah 49:26
Context49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;
they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. 21
Then all humankind 22 will recognize that
I am the Lord, your deliverer,
your protector, 23 the powerful ruler of Jacob.” 24
Isaiah 53:12
Context53:12 So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, 25
he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, 26
because he willingly submitted 27 to death
and was numbered with the rebels,
when he lifted up the sin of many
and intervened 28 on behalf of the rebels.”
Isaiah 61:1
Context61:1 The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me,
because the Lord has chosen 29 me. 30
He has commissioned 31 me to encourage 32 the poor,
to help 33 the brokenhearted,
to decree the release of captives,
and the freeing of prisoners,
[10:14] 1 sn The Assyrians’ conquests were relatively unopposed, like robbing a bird’s nest of its eggs when the mother bird is absent.
[26:19] 2 sn At this point the Lord (or prophet) gives the people an encouraging oracle.
[26:19] 3 tn Heb “dust” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
[26:19] 4 tn Heb “for the dew of lights [is] your dew.” The pronominal suffix on “dew” is masculine singular, like the suffixes on “your dead” and “your corpses” in the first half of the verse. The statement, then, is addressed to collective Israel, the speaker in verse 18. The plural form אוֹרֹת (’orot) is probably a plural of respect or magnitude, meaning “bright light” (i.e., morning’s light). Dew is a symbol of fertility and life. Here Israel’s “dew,” as it were, will soak the dust of the ground and cause the corpses of the dead to spring up to new life, like plants sprouting up from well-watered soil.
[26:19] 5 sn It is not certain whether the resurrection envisioned here is intended to be literal or figurative. A comparison with 25:8 and Dan 12:2 suggests a literal interpretation, but Ezek 37:1-14 uses resurrection as a metaphor for deliverance from exile and the restoration of the nation (see Isa 27:12-13).
[41:7] 3 tn The verb “encourages” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
[41:7] 4 tn Heb “saying of the welding, ‘It is good.’”
[45:9] 4 tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who argues with the one who formed him.”
[45:9] 5 tn The words “one who is like a mere” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and clarification.
[45:9] 6 tn Heb “Should the clay say to the one who forms it?” The rhetorical question anticipates a reply, “Of course not!”
[45:9] 7 tn The words “in the world” are supplied in the translation to approximate in English idiom the force of the sarcastic question.
[45:9] 8 tn Heb “your work, there are no hands for it,” i.e., “your work looks like something made by a person who has no hands.”
[48:1] 5 tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV, CEV “people of Israel.”
[48:1] 6 tc The Hebrew text reads literally “and from the waters of Judah came out.” מִמֵּי (mimme) could be a corruption of מִמְּעֵי (mimmÿ’e, “from the inner parts of”; cf. NASB, NIV, NLT, NRSV) as suggested in the above translation. Some translations (ESV, NKJV) retain the MT reading because the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa, which corrects a similar form to “from inner parts of” in 39:7, does not do it here.
[48:1] 7 tn Heb “cause to remember”; KJV, ASV “make mention of.”
[48:1] 8 tn Heb “not in truth and not in righteousness.”
[49:8] 6 tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצָר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצָר (yatsar, “form”).
[49:8] 7 tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (bÿrit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. Here עָם (’am, “people”) appears to refer to Israel. See the note at 42:6.
[49:8] 8 tn The Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “arise”) is probably used here in the sense of “rebuild.”
[49:8] 9 tn The “land” probably stands by metonymy for the ruins within it.
[49:26] 7 sn Verse 26a depicts siege warfare and bloody defeat. The besieged enemy will be so starved they will their own flesh. The bloodstained bodies lying on the blood-soaked battle site will look as if they collapsed in drunkenness.
[49:26] 8 tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).
[49:26] 9 tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
[49:26] 10 tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.” See 1:24.
[53:12] 8 tn Scholars have debated the precise meaning of the term רַבִּים (rabbim) that occurs five times in this passage (Isa 52:14, 15; 53:11, 12 [2x]). Its two broad categories of translation are “much”/“many” and “great” (HALOT 1171-72 s.v. I רַב). Unlike other Hebrew terms for might or strength, this term is linked with numbers or abundance. In all sixteen uses outside of Isaiah 52:13-53:12 (articular and plural) it signifies an inclusive meaning: “the majority” or “the multitude” (J. Jeremias, TDNT 6:536-37). This term occurs in parallelism with עֲצוּמִים (’atsumim), which normally signifies “numerous” or “large” or “powerful” (through large numbers). Like רַבִּים (rabbim), it refers to greatness in numbers (cf. Deut 4:38; 7:1; 9:1; 11:34). It emphasizes the multitudes with whom the Servant will share the spoil of his victory. As J. Olley wrote: “Yahweh has won the victory and vindicates his Servant, giving to him many subservient people, together with their spoils. These numerous peoples in turn receive blessing, sharing in the “peace” resulting from Yahweh’s victory and the Servant’s suffering” (John W. Olley, “‘The Many’: How Is Isa 53,12a to Be Understood,” Bib 68 [1987]: 330-56).
[53:12] 9 sn The servant is compared here to a warrior who will be richly rewarded for his effort and success in battle.
[53:12] 10 tn Heb “because he laid bare his life”; traditionally, ASV “because he (+ hath KJV) poured out his soul (life NIV) unto death.”
[53:12] 11 tn The Hiphil of פָּגַע (paga’) can mean “cause to attack” (v. 6), “urge, plead verbally” (Jer 15:11; 36:25), or “intervene militarily” (Isa 59:16). Perhaps the third nuance fits best here, for military imagery is employed in the first two lines of the verse.
[61:1] 9 tn Heb “anointed,” i.e., designated to carry out an assigned task.
[61:1] 10 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] 11 tn Or “sent” (NAB); NCV “has appointed me.”
