Isaiah 40:1-2

The Lord Returns to Jerusalem

40:1 “Comfort, comfort my people,”

says your ¹  God.

40:2 “Speak kindly to ²  Jerusalem, ³  and tell her

that her time of warfare is over, ⁴ 

that her punishment is completed. ⁵ 

For the Lord has made her pay double ⁶  for all her sins.”

Isaiah 49:13

49:13 Shout for joy, O sky! ⁷ 

Rejoice, O earth!

Let the mountains give a joyful shout!

For the Lord consoles his people

and shows compassion to the ⁸  oppressed.

Isaiah 51:3

51:3 Certainly the Lord will console Zion;

he will console all her ruins.

He will make her wilderness like Eden,

her desert like the Garden of the Lord.

Happiness and joy will be restored to ⁹  her,

thanksgiving and the sound of music.

Isaiah 51:12

51:12 “I, I am the one who consoles you. ¹⁰ 

Why are you afraid of mortal men,

of mere human beings who are as short-lived as grass? ¹¹ 

Isaiah 52:9

52:9 In unison give a joyful shout,

O ruins of Jerusalem!

For the Lord consoles his people;

he protects ¹²  Jerusalem.

Isaiah 54:8

54:8 In a burst ¹³  of anger I rejected you ¹⁴  momentarily,

but with lasting devotion I will have compassion on you,”

says your protector, ¹⁵  the Lord.

Isaiah 66:13

66:13 As a mother consoles a child, ¹⁶ 

so I will console you,

and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”

Jeremiah 31:13

31:13 The Lord says, ¹⁷  “At that time young women will dance and be glad.

Young men and old men will rejoice. ¹⁸ 

I will turn their grief into gladness.

I will give them comfort and joy in place of their sorrow.

Zephaniah 3:15-17

3:15 The Lord has removed the judgment against you; ¹⁹ 

he has turned back your enemy.

Israel’s king, the Lord, is in your midst!

You no longer need to fear disaster.

3:16 On that day they will say ²⁰  to Jerusalem,

“Don’t be afraid, Zion!

Your hands must not be paralyzed from panic! ²¹ 

3:17 The Lord your God is in your midst;

he is a warrior who can deliver.

He takes great delight in you; ²² 

he renews you by his love; ²³ 

he shouts for joy over you.” ²⁴ 

[40:1]  ¹ tn The pronominal suffix is second masculine plural. The identity of the addressee is uncertain: (1) God’s people may be addressed, or (2) the unidentified heralds commanded to comfort Jerusalem.

[40:2]  ² tn Heb “speak to the heart of Jerusalem.” Jerusalem is personified as a woman.

[40:2]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[40:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “that she is filled [with] her warfare.” Some understand צָבָא (tsavah, “warfare”) as meaning “hard service” or “compulsory labor” in this context.

[40:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “that her punishment is accepted [as satisfactory].”

[40:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “for she has received from the hand of the Lord double.” The principle of the double portion in punishment is also seen in Jer 16:18; 17:18 and Rev 18:6. For examples of the double portion in Israelite law, see Exod 22:4, 7, 9 (double restitution by a thief) and Deut 21:17 (double inheritance portion for the firstborn).

[49:13]  ⁷ tn Or “O heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[49:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “his” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[51:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “found in” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[51:12]  ¹⁰ tc The plural suffix should probably be emended to the second masculine singular (which is used in v. 13). The final mem (ם) is probably dittographic; note the mem at the beginning of the next word.

[51:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, and of the son of man who [as] grass is given up?” The feminine singular forms should probably be emended to the masculine singular (see v. 13). They have probably been influenced by the construction אַתְּ־הִיא (’at-hi’) in vv. 9-10.

[52:9]  ¹² tn Or “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.

[54:8]  ¹³ tn According to BDB 1009 s.v. שֶׁטֶף the noun שֶׁצֶף here is an alternate form of שֶׁטֶף (shetef, “flood”). Some relate the word to an alleged Akkadian cognate meaning “strength.”

[54:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I hid my face from you.”

[54:8]  ¹⁵ tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[66:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “like a man whose mother comforts him.”

[31:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” This phrase has been brought up to the beginning of v. 13 from the end of v. 14 to introduce the transition from third person description by Jeremiah to first person address by the Lord.

[31:13]  ¹⁸ tc The translation follows the reading of the LXX (Greek version). The Hebrew reads “will dance and be glad, young men and old men together.” The Greek version presupposes a Qal imperfect of a rare verb (יַחְדּוּ [yakhdu] from the verb חָדָה [khadah]; see BDB 292 s.v. II חָדָה Qal) as opposed to the Hebrew text which reads a common adverb יַחְדָּו (yakhdav). The consonantal text is the same but the vocalization is different. There are no other examples of the syntax of the adverb used this way (i.e., of a compound subject added to a third subject) and the vocalization of the Hebrew text can be explained on the basis of a scribe misvocalizing the text based on his greater familiarity with the adverb.

[3:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “your judgments,” that is, “the judgments directed against you.” The translation reflects the implications of the parallelism.

[3:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “it will be said.” The passive construction has been translated as active for stylistic reasons.

[3:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “your hands must not go limp.”

[3:17]  ²² tn Heb “he rejoices over you with joy.”

[3:17]  ²³ tc The MT reads, “he is silent in his love,” but this makes no sense in light of the immediately preceding and following lines. Some take the Hiphil verb form as causative (see Job 11:3) rather than intransitive and translate, “he causes [you] to be silent by his love,” that is, “he soothes [you] by his love.” The present translation follows the LXX and assumes an original reading יְחַדֵּשׁ (yÿkhaddesh, “he renews”) with ellipsis of the object (“you”).

[3:17]  ²⁴ tn Heb “he rejoices over you with a shout of joy.”