Isaiah 44:1-2

The Lord Will Renew Israel

44:1 “Now, listen, Jacob my servant,

Israel whom I have chosen!”

44:2 This is what the Lord, the one who made you, says –

the one who formed you in the womb and helps you:

“Don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob,

Jeshurun, ¹  whom I have chosen!

Isaiah 49:1-2

Ideal Israel Delivers the Exiles

49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! ² 

Pay attention, you people who live far away!

The Lord summoned me from birth; ³ 

he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. ⁴ 

49:2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword,

he hid me in the hollow of his hand;

he made me like a sharpened ⁵  arrow,

he hid me in his quiver. ⁶ 

Isaiah 63:9

63:9 Through all that they suffered, he suffered too. ⁷ 

The messenger sent from his very presence ⁸  delivered them.

In his love and mercy he protected ⁹  them;

he lifted them up and carried them throughout ancient times. ¹⁰ 

Exodus 19:4

19:4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I lifted you on eagles’ wings ¹¹  and brought you to myself. ¹² 

Deuteronomy 1:31

1:31 and in the desert, where you saw him ¹³  carrying you along like a man carries his son. This he did everywhere you went until you came to this very place.”

Deuteronomy 32:11-12

32:11 Like an eagle that stirs up ¹⁴  its nest,

that hovers over its young,

so the Lord ¹⁵  spread out his wings and took him, ¹⁶ 

he lifted him up on his pinions.

32:12 The Lord alone was guiding him, ¹⁷ 

no foreign god was with him.

Psalms 22:9-10

22:9 Yes, you are the one who brought me out ¹⁸  from the womb

and made me feel secure on my mother’s breasts.

22:10 I have been dependent on you since birth; ¹⁹ 

from the time I came out of my mother’s womb you have been my God. ²⁰ 

Psalms 71:6

71:6 I have leaned on you since birth; ²¹ 

you pulled me ²²  from my mother’s womb.

I praise you continually. ²³ 

Ezekiel 16:6-16

16:6 “‘I passed by you and saw you kicking around helplessly in your blood. I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!” I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!” ²⁴  16:7 I made you plentiful like sprouts in a field; you grew tall and came of age so that you could wear jewelry. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, but you were still naked and bare.

16:8 “‘Then I passed by you and watched you, noticing ²⁵  that you had reached the age for love. ²⁶  I spread my cloak ²⁷  over you and covered your nakedness. I swore a solemn oath to you and entered into a marriage covenant with you, declares the sovereign Lord, and you became mine.

16:9 “‘Then I bathed you in water, washed the blood off you, and anointed you with fragrant oil. 16:10 I dressed you in embroidered clothing and put fine leather sandals on your feet. I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 16:11 I adorned you with jewelry. I put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. 16:12 I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 16:13 You were adorned with gold and silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidery. You ate the finest flour, honey, and olive oil. You became extremely beautiful and attained the position of royalty. 16:14 Your fame ²⁸  spread among the nations because of your beauty; your beauty was perfect because of the splendor which I bestowed on you, declares the sovereign Lord. ²⁹ 

16:15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and capitalized on your fame by becoming a prostitute. You offered your sexual favors to every man who passed by so that your beauty ³⁰  became his. 16:16 You took some of your clothing and made for yourself decorated high places; you engaged in prostitution on them. You went to him to become his. ³¹ 

[44:2]  ¹ sn Jeshurun is a poetic name for Israel; it occurs here and in Deut 32:15; 33:5, 26.

[49:1]  ² tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”

[49:1]  ³ tn Heb “called me from the womb.”

[49:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”

[49:2]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps, “polished” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NASB “a select arrow.”

[49:2]  ⁶ sn The figurative language emphasizes the servant’s importance as the Lord’s effective instrument. The servant’s mouth, which stands metonymically for his words, is compared to a sharp sword because he will be an effective spokesman on God’s behalf (see 50:4). The Lord holds his hand on the servant, ready to draw and use him at the appropriate time. The servant is like a sharpened arrow reserved in a quiver for just the right moment.

[63:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “in all their distress, there was distress to him” (reading לוֹ [lo] with the margin/Qere).

[63:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “the messenger [or “angel”] of his face”; NIV “the angel of his presence.”

[63:9]  ⁹ tn Or “redeemed” (KJV, NAB, NIV), or “delivered.”

[63:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all the days of antiquity”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “days of old.”

[19:4]  ¹¹ tn The figure compares the way a bird would teach its young to fly and leave the nest with the way Yahweh brought Israel out of Egypt. The bird referred to could be one of several species of eagles, but more likely is the griffin-vulture. The image is that of power and love.

[19:4]  ¹² sn The language here is the language of a bridegroom bringing the bride to the chamber. This may be a deliberate allusion to another metaphor for the covenant relationship.

[1:31]  ¹³ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun (“him”) has been employed in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:11]  ¹⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form is an imperfect, indicating habitual or typical behavior. The parallel verb (cf. “hovers” in the next line) is used in the same manner.

[32:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:11]  ¹⁶ tn The form of the suffix on this and the following verb forms (cf. “lifted him up”) indicates that the verbs are preterites, not imperfects. As such they simply state the action factually. The use of the preterite here suggests that the preceding verb (cf. “spread out”) is preterite as well.

[32:12]  ¹⁷ tn The distinctive form of the suffix on this verb form indicates that the verb is an imperfect, not a preterite. As such it draws attention to God’s continuing guidance during the period in view.

[22:9]  ¹⁸ tn Or “the one who pulled me.” The verb is derived from either גָחָה (gakhah; see HALOT 187 s.v. גחה) or גִּיחַ (giyakh; see BDB 161 s.v. גִּיחַ) and seems to carry the nuance “burst forth” or “pull out.”

[22:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “upon you I was cast from [the] womb.”

[22:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “from the womb of my mother you [have been] my God.”

[71:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “from the womb.”

[71:6]  ²² tc The form in the MT is derived from גָזָה (gazah, “to cut off”), perhaps picturing God as the one who severed the psalmist’s umbilical cord. Many interpreters and translators prefer to emend the text to גֹחִי (gokhiy), from גוּח (gukh) or גִיח, (gikh, “pull out”; see Ps 22:9; cf. the present translation) or to עוּזִּי (’uzziy, “my strength”; cf. NEB “my protector since I left my mother’s womb”).

[71:6]  ²³ tn Heb “in you [is] my praise continually.”

[16:6]  ²⁴ tc The translation reflects the Hebrew text, which repeats the statement, perhaps for emphasis. However, a few medieval Hebrew manuscripts, the Old Greek, and the Syriac do not include the repetition. The statement could have been accidentally repeated or the second occurrence could have been accidentally omitted. Based on the available evidence it is difficult to know which is more likely.

[16:8]  ²⁵ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a participle.

[16:8]  ²⁶ tn See similar use of this term in Ezek 23:17; Prov 7:16; Song of Songs 4:10; 7:13.

[16:8]  ²⁷ tn Heb “wing” or “skirt.” The gesture symbolized acquiring a woman in early Arabia (similarly, see Deut 22:30; Ruth 3:9).

[16:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “name.”

[16:14]  ²⁹ sn The description of the nation Israel in vv. 10-14 recalls the splendor of the nation’s golden age under King Solomon.

[16:15]  ³⁰ tn Heb “it” (so KJV, ASV); the referent (the beauty in which the prostitute trusted, see the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:16]  ³¹ tc The text as written in the MT is incomprehensible (“not coming [plural] and he will not”). Driver has suggested a copying error of similar-sounding words, specifically לֹא (lo’) for לוֹ (lo). The feminine participle בָאוֹת (va’ot) has also been read as the feminine perfect בָאת (va’t). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:228, n. 15.b, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:486, n. 137.