Isaiah 40:30

40:30 Even youths get tired and weary;

even strong young men clumsily stumble. ¹ 

Isaiah 43:22

The Lord Rebukes His People

43:22 “But you did not call for me, O Jacob;

you did not long ²  for me, O Israel.

Isaiah 47:15

47:15 They will disappoint you, ³ 

those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. ⁴ 

Each strays off in his own direction, ⁵ 

leaving no one to rescue you.”

Isaiah 40:28

40:28 Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is an eternal God,

the creator of the whole earth. ⁶ 

He does not get tired or weary;

there is no limit to his wisdom. ⁷ 

Isaiah 40:31

40:31 But those who wait for the Lord’s help ⁸  find renewed strength;

they rise up as if they had eagles’ wings, ⁹ 

they run without growing weary,

they walk without getting tired.

Isaiah 43:23-24

43:23 You did not bring me lambs for your burnt offerings;

you did not honor me with your sacrifices.

I did not burden you with offerings;

I did not make you weary by demanding ¹⁰  incense.

43:24 You did not buy me aromatic reeds; ¹¹ 

you did not present to me ¹²  the fat of your sacrifices.

Yet you burdened me with your sins;

you made me weary with your evil deeds. ¹³ 

Isaiah 47:12

47:12 Persist ¹⁴  in trusting ¹⁵  your amulets

and your many incantations,

which you have faithfully recited ¹⁶  since your youth!

Maybe you will be successful ¹⁷  –

maybe you will scare away disaster. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 49:4

49:4 But I thought, ¹⁹  “I have worked in vain;

I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing.” ²⁰ 

But the Lord will vindicate me;

my God will reward me. ²¹ 

Isaiah 57:10

57:10 Because of the long distance you must travel, you get tired, ²² 

but you do not say, ‘I give up.’ ²³ 

You get renewed energy, ²⁴ 

so you don’t collapse. ²⁵ 

Isaiah 65:23

65:23 They will not work in vain,

or give birth to children that will experience disaster. ²⁶ 

For the Lord will bless their children

and their descendants. ²⁷ 

Isaiah 62:8

62:8 The Lord swears an oath by his right hand,

by his strong arm: ²⁸ 

“I will never again give your grain

to your enemies as food,

and foreigners will not drink your wine,

which you worked hard to produce.

[40:30]  ¹ tn Heb “stumbling they stumble.” The verbal idea is emphasized by the infinitive absolute.

[43:22]  ² tn Or “strive”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “been weary of me.”

[47:15]  ³ tn Heb “So they will be to you”; NIV “That is all they can do for you.”

[47:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “that for which you toiled, your traders from your youth.” The omen readers and star gazers are likened to merchants with whom Babylon has had an ongoing economic relationship.

[47:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “each to his own side, they err.”

[40:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “the ends of the earth,” but this is a merism, where the earth’s extremities stand for its entirety, i.e., the extremities and everything in between them.

[40:28]  ⁵ sn Exiled Israel’s complaint (v. 27) implies that God might be limited in some way. Perhaps he, like so many of the pagan gods, has died. Or perhaps his jurisdiction is limited to Judah and does not include Babylon. Maybe he is unable to devise an adequate plan to rescue his people, or is unable to execute it. But v. 28 affirms that he is not limited temporally or spatially nor is his power and wisdom restricted in any way. He can and will deliver his people, if they respond in hopeful faith (v. 31a).

[40:31]  ⁵ tn The words “for the Lord’s help” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[40:31]  ⁶ tn Heb “they rise up [on] wings like eagles” (TEV similar).

[43:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “with.” The words “by demanding” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[43:24]  ⁷ tn That is, “calamus” (so NIV); NCV, TEV, NLT “incense”; CEV “spices.”

[43:24]  ⁸ tn Heb “you did not saturate me”; NASB “Neither have you filled Me.”

[43:24]  ⁹ sn In vv. 22-24 the Lord appears to be condemning his people for failure to bring the proper sacrifices. However, this is problematic. If this refers to the nation’s behavior while in exile, such cultic service was impossible and could hardly be expected by the Lord. If this refers to the nation’s conduct before the exile, it contradicts other passages that depict Israel as bringing excessive sacrifices (see, e.g., Isa 1:11-14; Jer 6:20; Amos 4:4-5, 5:21-23). Rather than being a condemnation of Israel’s failure to bring sacrifices, these verses are better taken as a highly rhetorical comment on the worthlessness of Israel’s religious ritual. They may have brought sacrifices, but not to the Lord, for he did not accept them or even want them. See C. R. North, Second Isaiah, 127, and R. Whybray, Isaiah 40-66 (NCBC), 91.

[47:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”

[47:12]  ⁹ tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.

[47:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”

[47:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”

[47:12]  ¹² tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.

[49:4]  ⁹ tn Or “said” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “I replied.”

[49:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for nothing and emptiness.” Synonyms are combined to emphasize the common idea.

[49:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “But my justice is with the Lord, and my reward [or “wage”] with my God.”

[57:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “by the greatness [i.e., “length,” see BDB 914 s.v. רֹב 2] of your way you get tired.”

[57:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “it is hopeless” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NRSV “It is useless.”

[57:10]  ¹² tn Heb “the life of your hand you find.” The term חַיָּה (khayyah, “life”) is here used in the sense of “renewal” (see BDB 312 s.v.) while יָד (yad) is used of “strength.”

[57:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “you do not grow weak.”

[65:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and they will not give birth to horror.”

[65:23]  ¹² tn Heb “for offspring blessed by the Lord they [will be], and their descendants along with them.”

[62:8]  ¹² tn The Lord’s right hand and strong arm here symbolize his power and remind the audience that his might guarantees the fulfillment of the following promise.