Isaiah 45:19

45:19 I have not spoken in secret,

in some hidden place. ¹ 

I did not tell Jacob’s descendants,

‘Seek me in vain!’ ² 

I am the Lord,

the one who speaks honestly,

who makes reliable announcements. ³ 

Isaiah 55:10

55:10 ⁴ The rain and snow fall from the sky

and do not return,

but instead water the earth

and make it produce and yield crops,

and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat.

[45:19]  ¹ tn Heb “in a place of a land of darkness” (ASV similar); NASB “in some dark land.”

[45:19]  ² tn “In vain” translates תֹהוּ (tohu), used here as an adverbial accusative: “for nothing.”

[45:19]  ³ tn The translation above assumes that צֶדֶק (tsedeq) and מֵישָׁרִים (mesharim) are adverbial accusatives (see 33:15). If they are taken as direct objects, indicating the content of what is spoken, one might translate, “who proclaims deliverance, who announces justice.”

[55:10]  ⁴ tn This verse begins in the Hebrew text with כִּי כַּאֲשֶׁר (ki ka’asher, “for, just as”), which is completed by כֵּן (ken, “so, in the same way”) at the beginning of v. 11. For stylistic reasons, this lengthy sentence is divided up into separate sentences in the translation.