Isaiah 42:6

42:6 “I, the Lord, officially commission you; ¹ 

I take hold of your hand.

I protect you ²  and make you a covenant mediator for people, ³ 

and a light ⁴  to the nations, ⁵ 

Psalms 65:5

65:5 You answer our prayers by performing awesome acts of deliverance,

O God, our savior. ⁶ 

All the ends of the earth trust in you, ⁷ 

as well as those living across the wide seas. ⁸ 

[42:6]  ¹ tn Heb “call you in righteousness.” The pronoun “you” is masculine singular, referring to the servant. See the note at 41:2.

[42:6]  ² tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצַר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצַר (yatsar, “form”).

[42:6]  ³ tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (bÿrit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. The precise identity of עָם (’am, “people”) is uncertain. In v. 5 עָם refers to mankind, and the following reference to “nations” also favors this. But in 49:8, where the phrase בְּרִית עָם occurs again, Israel seems to be in view.

[42:6]  ⁴ sn Light here symbolizes deliverance from bondage and oppression; note the parallelism in 49:6b and in 51:4-6.

[42:6]  ⁵ tn Or “the Gentiles” (so KJV, ASV, NIV); the same Hebrew word can be translated “nations” or “Gentiles” depending on the context.

[65:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “[with] awesome acts in deliverance you answer us, O God of our salvation.”

[65:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “a source of confidence [for] all the ends of the earth.”

[65:5]  ⁸ tc Heb “and [the] distant sea.” The plural adjective is problematic after the singular form “sea.” One could emend יָם (yam, “sea”) to יָמִים (yamim, “seas”), or emend the plural form רְחֹקִים (rÿkhoqim, “far”) to the singular רָחֹק (rakhoq). In this case the final mem (ם) could be treated as dittographic; note the mem on the beginning of the first word in v. 6.