Isaiah 44:2

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 44:24

The Lord Empowers Cyrus

44:24 This is what the Lord, your protector, ²  says,

the one who formed you in the womb:

“I am the Lord, who made everything,

who alone stretched out the sky,

who fashioned the earth all by myself, ³ 

Isaiah 49:1

Ideal Israel Delivers the Exiles

49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! ⁴ 

Pay attention, you people who live far away!

The Lord summoned me from birth; ⁵ 

he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. ⁶ 

Isaiah 48:8

48:8 You did not hear,

you do not know,

you were not told beforehand. ⁷ 

For I know that you are very deceitful; ⁸ 

you were labeled ⁹  a rebel from birth.

Isaiah 49:5

49:5 So now the Lord says,

the one who formed me from birth ¹⁰  to be his servant –

he did this ¹¹  to restore Jacob to himself,

so that Israel might be gathered to him;

and I will be honored ¹²  in the Lord’s sight,

for my God is my source of strength ¹³  –

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

[44:24]  ² tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[44:24]  ³ tn The consonantal text (Kethib) has “Who [was] with me?” The marginal reading (Qere) is “from with me,” i.e., “by myself.” See BDB 87 s.v. II אֵת 4.c.

[49:1]  ³ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”

[49:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “called me from the womb.”

[49:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”

[48:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “beforehand your ear did not open.”

[48:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “deceiving, you deceive.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[48:8]  ⁶ tn Or “called” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[49:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the womb” (so KJV, NASB).

[49:5]  ⁶ tn The words “he did this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct of purpose is subordinated to the previous statement.

[49:5]  ⁷ tn The vav (ו) + imperfect is translated here as a result clause; one might interpret it as indicating purpose, “and so I might be honored.”

[49:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “and my God is [perhaps, “having been”] my strength.” The disjunctive structure (vav [ו] + subject + verb) is interpreted here as indicating a causal circumstantial clause.