Isaiah 38:15

38:15 What can I say?

He has decreed and acted. ¹ 

I will walk slowly all my years because I am overcome with grief. ² 

Luke 12:49-50

Not Peace, but Division

12:49 “I have come ³  to bring ⁴  fire on the earth – and how I wish it were already kindled! 12:50 I have a baptism ⁵  to undergo, ⁶  and how distressed I am until it is finished!

[38:15]  ¹ tn Heb “and he has spoken and he has acted.”

[38:15]  ² tn Heb “because of the bitterness of my soul.”

[12:49]  ³ sn This mission statement, “I have come to bring fire on the earth,” looks to the purging and division Jesus causes: See Luke 3:9, 17; 9:54; 17:29 for fire, 5:32; 7:34; 9:58; 12:51 for the topic of mission.

[12:49]  ⁴ tn Grk “cast.” For βάλλω (ballw) in the sense of causing a state or condition, see L&N 13.14.

[12:50]  ⁵ sn The figure of the baptism is variously interpreted, as some see a reference (1) to martyrdom or (2) to inundation with God’s judgment. The OT background, however, suggests the latter sense: Jesus is about to be uniquely inundated with God’s judgment as he is rejected, persecuted, and killed (Ps 18:4, 16; 42:7; 69:1-2; Isa 8:7-8; 30:27-28; Jonah 2:3-6).

[12:50]  ⁶ tn Grk “to be baptized with.”