Isaiah 41:25

41:25 I have stirred up one out of the north ¹  and he advances,

one from the eastern horizon who prays in my name. ² 

He steps on ³  rulers as if they were clay,

like a potter treading the clay.

Isaiah 58:13

58:13 You must ⁴  observe the Sabbath ⁵ 

rather than doing anything you please on my holy day. ⁶ 

You must look forward to the Sabbath ⁷ 

and treat the Lord’s holy day with respect. ⁸ 

You must treat it with respect by refraining from your normal activities,

and by refraining from your selfish pursuits and from making business deals. ⁹ 

Isaiah 65:1

The Lord Will Distinguish Between Sinners and the Godly

65:1 “I made myself available to those who did not ask for me; ¹⁰ 

I appeared to those who did not look for me. ¹¹ 

I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’

to a nation that did not invoke ¹²  my name.

[41:25]  ¹ sn That is, Cyrus the Persian. See the note at v. 2.

[41:25]  ² tn Heb “[one] from the rising of the sun [who] calls in my name.”

[41:25]  ³ tn The Hebrew text has וְיָבֹא (vÿyavo’, “and he comes”), but this is likely a corruption of an original וַיָּבָס (vayyavas), from בּוּס (bus, “step on”).

[58:13]  ⁴ tn Lit., “if you.” In the Hebrew text vv. 13-14 are one long conditional sentence. The protasis (“if” clauses appear in v. 13), with the apodosis (“then” clause) appearing in v. 14.

[58:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “if you turn from the Sabbath your feet.”

[58:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “[from] doing your desires on my holy day.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a supplies the preposition מִן (min) on “doing.”

[58:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “and call the Sabbath a pleasure”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “a delight.”

[58:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “and [call] the holy [day] of the Lord honored.” On קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, “holy”) as indicating a time period, see BDB 872 s.v. 2.e (cf. also Neh 8:9-11).

[58:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “and you honor it [by refraining] from accomplishing your ways, from finding your desire and speaking a word.” It is unlikely that the last phrase (“speaking a word”) is a prohibition against talking on the Sabbath; instead it probably refers to making transactions or plans (see Hos 10:4). Some see here a reference to idle talk (cf. 2 Sam 19:30).

[65:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “I allowed myself to be sought by those who did not ask.”

[65:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “I allowed myself to be found by those who did not seek.”

[65:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “call out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “call on.”