Isaiah 41:14

41:14 Don’t be afraid, despised insignificant Jacob, ¹ 

men of ²  Israel.

I am helping you,” says the Lord,

your protector, ³  the Holy One of Israel. ⁴ 

Isaiah 43:3

43:3 For I am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, ⁵  your deliverer.

I have handed over Egypt as a ransom price,

Ethiopia and Seba ⁶  in place of you.

Isaiah 43:14

The Lord Will Do Something New

43:14 This is what the Lord says,

your protector, ⁷  the Holy One of Israel: ⁸ 

“For your sake I send to Babylon

and make them all fugitives, ⁹ 

turning the Babylonians’ joyful shouts into mourning songs. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 44:6

The Absurdity of Idolatry

44:6 This is what the Lord, Israel’s king, says,

their protector, ¹¹  the Lord who commands armies:

“I am the first and I am the last,

there is no God but me.

Isaiah 49:26

49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;

they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. ¹² 

Then all humankind ¹³  will recognize that

I am the Lord, your deliverer,

your protector, ¹⁴  the powerful ruler of Jacob.” ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 54:5

54:5 For your husband is the one who made you –

the Lord who commands armies is his name.

He is your protector, ¹⁶  the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁷ 

He is called “God of the entire earth.”

Jeremiah 31:11

31:11 For the Lord will rescue the descendants of Jacob.

He will secure their release ¹⁸  from those who had overpowered them. ¹⁹ 

Jeremiah 50:33-34

50:33 The Lord who rules over all ²⁰  says,

“The people of Israel are oppressed.

So too are the people of Judah. ²¹ 

All those who took them captive are holding them prisoners.

They refuse to set them free.

50:34 But the one who will rescue them ²²  is strong.

He is known as the Lord who rules over all. ²³ 

He will strongly ²⁴  champion their cause.

As a result ²⁵  he will bring peace and rest to the earth,

but trouble and turmoil ²⁶  to the people who inhabit Babylonia. ²⁷ 

[41:14]  ¹ tn Heb “O worm Jacob” (NAB, NIV). The worm metaphor suggests that Jacob is insignificant and despised.

[41:14]  ² tn On the basis of the parallelism (note “worm”) and an alleged Akkadian cognate, some read “louse” or “weevil.” Cf. NAB “O maggot Israel”; NRSV “you insect Israel.”

[41:14]  ³ tn Heb “your kinsman redeemer.” A גָּאַל (ga’al, “kinsman redeemer”) was a protector of the extended family’s interests.

[41:14]  ⁴ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[43:3]  ⁵ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[43:3]  ⁶ sn Seba is not the same as Sheba in southern Arabia; cf. Gen 1:10; 1 Chr 1:9.

[43:14]  ⁷ tn Or “kinsman redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[43:14]  ⁸ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[43:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “and I bring down [as] fugitives all of them.”

[43:14]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “as for the Babylonians, in ships their joyful shout.” This might be paraphrased, “even the Babylonians in the ships [over which] they joyfully shouted.” The point would be that the Lord caused the Babylonians to flee for safety in the ships in which they took such great pride. A slight change in vocalization yields the reading “into mourning songs,” which provides a good contrast with “joyful shout.” The prefixed bet (בְּ) would indicate identity.

[44:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “his kinsman redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[49:26]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).

[49:26]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[49:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.” See 1:24.

[54:5]  ¹⁶ tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[54:5]  ¹⁷ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[31:11]  ¹⁸ sn Two rather theologically significant metaphors are used in this verse. The Hebrew word translated “will set…free” is a word used in the legal sphere for paying a redemption price to secure the freedom of a person or thing (see, e.g., Exod 13:13, 15). It is used metaphorically and theologically to refer to Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage (Deut 15:15; Mic 6:4) and its deliverance from Babylonian exile (Isa 35:10). The word translated “secure their release” is a word used in the sphere of family responsibility where a person paid the price to free an indentured relative (Lev 25:48, 49) or paid the price to restore a relative’s property seized to pay a debt (Lev 25:25, 33). This word, too, was used to refer metaphorically and theologically to Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage (Exod 6:6) or release from Babylonian exile (Isa 43:1-4; 44:22). These words are traditionally translated “ransom” and “redeem” and are a part of traditional Jewish and Christian vocabulary for physical and spiritual deliverance.

[31:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “from the hand/power of the one too strong for him.”

[50:33]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” For an explanation of this title see the study note on 2:19.

[50:33]  ²¹ tn Heb “Oppressed are the people of Israel and the people of Judah together,” i.e., both the people of Israel and Judah are oppressed. However, neither of these renderings is very poetic. The translation seeks to achieve the same meaning with better poetic expression.

[50:34]  ²² sn Heb “their redeemer.” The Hebrew term “redeemer” referred in Israelite family law to the nearest male relative who was responsible for securing the freedom of a relative who had been sold into slavery. For further discussion of this term as well as its metaphorical use to refer to God as the one who frees Israel from bondage in Egypt and from exile in Assyria and Babylonia see the study note on 31:11.

[50:34]  ²³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies is his name.” For the rendering of this title see the study note on 2:19.

[50:34]  ²⁴ tn Or “he will certainly champion.” The infinitive absolute before the finite verb here is probably functioning to intensify the verb rather than to express the certainty of the action (cf. GKC 333 §112.n and compare usage in Gen 43:3 and 1 Sam 20:6 listed there).

[50:34]  ²⁵ tn This appears to be another case where the particle לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) introduces a result rather than giving the purpose or goal. See the translator’s note on 25:7 for a listing of other examples in the book of Jeremiah and also the translator’s note on 27:10.

[50:34]  ²⁶ tn Heb “he will bring rest to the earth and will cause unrest to.” The terms “rest” and “unrest” have been doubly translated to give more of the idea underlying these two concepts.

[50:34]  ²⁷ tn This translation again reflects the problem often encountered in these prophecies where the Lord appears to be speaking but refers to himself in the third person. It would be possible to translate here using the first person as CEV and NIrV do. However, to sustain that over the whole verse results in a considerably greater degree of paraphrase. The verse could be rendered “But I am strong and I will rescue them. I am the Lord who rules over all. I will champion their cause. And I will bring peace and rest to….”