Isaiah 42:23-25

42:23 Who among you will pay attention to this?

Who will listen attentively in the future? ¹ 

42:24 Who handed Jacob over to the robber?

Who handed Israel over to the looters? ² 

Was it not the Lord, against whom we sinned?

They refused to follow his commands;

they disobeyed his law. ³ 

42:25 So he poured out his fierce anger on them,

along with the devastation ⁴  of war.

Its flames encircled them, but they did not realize it; ⁵ 

it burned against them, but they did notice. ⁶ 

[42:23]  ¹ tn The interrogative particle is understood in the second line by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[42:24]  ² tn Heb “Who gave to the robber Jacob, and Israel to the looters?” In the first line the consonantal text (Kethib) has מְשׁוֹסֶה (mÿshoseh), a Polel participle from שָׁסָה (shasah, “plunder”). The marginal reading (Qere) is מְשִׁיסָּה (mÿshissah), a noun meaning “plunder.” In this case one could translate “Who handed Jacob over as plunder?”

[42:24]  ³ tn Heb “they were not willing in his ways to walk, and they did not listen to his law.”

[42:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “strength” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “fury”; NASB “fierceness”; NIV “violence.”

[42:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “and it blazed against him all around, but he did not know.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb “blazed” is the divine חֵמָה (khemah, “anger”) mentioned in the previous line.

[42:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “and it burned against him, but he did not set [it] upon [the] heart.”