Isaiah 45:14

The Lord is the Nations’ Only Hope

45:14 This is what the Lord says:

“The profit ¹  of Egypt and the revenue ²  of Ethiopia,

along with the Sabeans, those tall men,

will be brought to you ³  and become yours.

They will walk behind you, coming along in chains. ⁴ 

They will bow down to you

and pray to you: ⁵ 

‘Truly God is with ⁶  you; he has no peer; ⁷ 

there is no other God!’”

Genesis 10:7

10:7 The sons of Cush were Seba, ⁸  Havilah, ⁹  Sabtah, ¹⁰  Raamah, ¹¹  and Sabteca. ¹²  The sons of Raamah were Sheba ¹³  and Dedan. ¹⁴ 

Genesis 25:3

25:3 Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. ¹⁵  The descendants of Dedan were the Asshurites, Letushites, and Leummites.

Genesis 25:2

25:2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

Genesis 9:1

God’s Covenant with Humankind through Noah

9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Psalms 72:10

72:10 The kings of Tarshish ¹⁶  and the coastlands will offer gifts;

the kings of Sheba ¹⁷  and Seba ¹⁸  will bring tribute.

Psalms 72:15

72:15 May he live! ¹⁹  May they offer him gold from Sheba! ²⁰ 

May they continually pray for him!

May they pronounce blessings on him all day long! ²¹ 

[45:14]  ¹ tn Heb “labor,” which stands metonymically for the fruits of labor, either “monetary profit,” or “products.”

[45:14]  ² tn Or perhaps, “merchandise” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “the gain of Ethiopia”; CEV “the treasures of Ethiopia.”

[45:14]  ³ tn Heb “they will pass over to you”; NASB, NIV “will come over to you”; CEV “will belong to you.”

[45:14]  ⁴ sn Restored Israel is depicted here in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion as an imperial power that receives riches and slaves as tribute.

[45:14]  ⁵ sn Israel’s vassals are portrayed as so intimidated and awed that they treat Israel as an intermediary to God or sub-deity.

[45:14]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps, “among.” Cf. KJV, ASV “Surely God is in thee.”

[45:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “there is no other” (so NIV, NRSV). The same phrase occurs at the end of v. 18, in v. 21, and at the end of v. 22.

[10:7]  ⁸ sn The descendants of Seba settled in Upper Egypt along the Nile.

[10:7]  ⁹ sn The Hebrew name Havilah apparently means “stretch of sand” (see HALOT 297 s.v. חֲוִילָה). Havilah’s descendants settled in eastern Arabia.

[10:7]  ¹⁰ sn The descendants of Sabtah settled near the western shore of the Persian Gulf in ancient Hadhramaut.

[10:7]  ¹¹ sn The descendants of Raamah settled in southwest Arabia.

[10:7]  ¹² sn The descendants of Sabteca settled in Samudake, east toward the Persian Gulf.

[10:7]  ¹³ sn Sheba became the name of a kingdom in southwest Arabia.

[10:7]  ¹⁴ sn The name Dedan is associated with àUla in northern Arabia.

[25:3]  ¹⁵ sn The names Sheba and Dedan appear in Gen 10:7 as descendants of Ham through Cush and Raamah. Since these two names are usually interpreted to be place names, one plausible suggestion is that some of Abraham’s descendants lived in those regions and took names linked with it.

[72:10]  ¹⁶ sn Tarshish was a distant western port, the precise location of which is uncertain.

[72:10]  ¹⁷ sn Sheba was located in Arabia.

[72:10]  ¹⁸ sn Seba was located in Africa.

[72:15]  ¹⁹ tn The prefixed verbal form is jussive, not imperfect. Because the form has the prefixed vav (ו), some subordinate it to what precedes as a purpose/result clause. In this case the representative poor individual might be the subject of this and the following verb, “so that he may live and give to him gold of Sheba.” But the idea of the poor offering gold is incongruous. It is better to take the jussive as a prayer with the king as subject of the verb. (Perhaps the initial vav is dittographic; note the vav at the end of the last form in v. 14.) The statement is probably an abbreviated version of the formula יְחִי הַמֶּלֶךְ (yÿkhiy hammelekh, “may the king live”; see 1 Sam 10:24; 2 Sam 16:16; 1 Kgs 1:25, 34, 39; 2 Kgs 11:12).

[72:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and he will give to him some gold of Sheba.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive with a grammatically indefinite subject (“and may one give”). Of course, the king’s subjects, mentioned in the preceding context, are the tribute bearers in view here.

[72:15]  ²¹ tn As in the preceding line, the prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives with a grammatically indefinite subject (“and may one pray…and may one bless”). Of course, the king’s subjects, mentioned in the preceding context, are in view here.