Isaiah 36:20

36:20 Who among all the gods of these lands have rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’” ¹ 

Isaiah 36:19

36:19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? ²  Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria ³  from my power? ⁴ 

Isaiah 43:13

43:13 From this day forward I am he;

no one can deliver from my power; ⁵ 

I will act, and who can prevent it?”

Isaiah 50:11

50:11 Look, all of you who start a fire

and who equip yourselves with ⁶  flaming arrows, ⁷ 

walk ⁸  in the light ⁹  of the fire you started

and among the flaming arrows you ignited! ¹⁰ 

This is what you will receive from me: ¹¹ 

you will lie down in a place of pain. ¹² 

[36:20]  ¹ tn Heb “that the Lord might rescue Jerusalem from my hand?” The logic runs as follows: Since no god has ever been able to withstand the Assyrian onslaught, how can the people of Jerusalem possibly think the Lord will rescue them?

[36:19]  ² tn The rhetorical questions in v. 34a suggest the answer, “Nowhere, they seem to have disappeared in the face of Assyria’s might.”

[36:19]  ³ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[36:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “that they rescued Samaria from my hand?” But this gives the impression that the gods of Sepharvaim were responsible for protecting Samaria, which is obviously not the case. The implied subject of the plural verb “rescued” must be the generic “gods of the nations/lands” (vv. 18, 20).

[43:13]  ³ tn Heb “hand” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “No one can oppose what I do.”

[50:11]  ⁴ 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).

[50:11]  ⁵ tn On the meaning of זִיקוֹת (ziqot, “flaming arrows”), see HALOT 268 s.v. זִיקוֹת.

[50:11]  ⁶ tn The imperative is probably rhetorical and has a predictive force.

[50:11]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps, “flame” (so ASV).

[50:11]  ⁸ sn Perhaps the servant here speaks to his enemies and warns them that they will self-destruct.

[50:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “from my hand” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[50:11]  ¹⁰ 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.