Discovery BoxIsaiah 46:1--49:26
ContextNebo 2 bends low.
Their images weigh down animals and beasts. 3
Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals. 4
46:2 Together they bend low and kneel down;
they are unable to rescue the images; 5
they themselves 6 head off into captivity. 7
46:3 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob, 8
all you who are left from the family of Israel, 9
you who have been carried from birth, 10
you who have been supported from the time you left the womb. 11
46:4 Even when you are old, I will take care of you, 12
even when you have gray hair, I will carry you.
I made you and I will support you;
I will carry you and rescue you. 13
46:5 To whom can you compare and liken me?
Tell me whom you think I resemble, so we can be compared!
46:6 Those who empty out gold from a purse
and weigh out silver on the scale 14
hire a metalsmith, who makes it into a god.
They then bow down and worship it.
46:7 They put it on their shoulder and carry it;
they put it in its place and it just stands there;
it does not 15 move from its place.
Even when someone cries out to it, it does not reply;
it does not deliver him from his distress.
46:8 Remember this, so you can be brave! 16
Think about it, you rebels! 17
46:9 Remember what I accomplished in antiquity! 18
Truly I am God, I have no peer; 19
I am God, and there is none like me,
46:10 who announces the end from the beginning
and reveals beforehand 20 what has not yet occurred,
who says, ‘My plan will be realized,
I will accomplish what I desire,’
46:11 who summons an eagle 21 from the east,
from a distant land, one who carries out my plan.
Yes, I have decreed, 22
yes, I will bring it to pass;
I have formulated a plan,
yes, I will carry it out.
46:12 Listen to me, you stubborn people, 23
you who distance yourself from doing what is right. 24
46:13 I am bringing my deliverance near, it is not far away;
I am bringing my salvation near, 25 it does not wait.
I will save Zion; 26
I will adorn Israel with my splendor.” 27
47:1 “Fall down! Sit in the dirt,
O virgin 28 daughter Babylon!
Sit on the ground, not on a throne,
O daughter of the Babylonians!
Indeed, 29 you will no longer be called delicate and pampered.
47:2 Pick up millstones and grind flour!
Remove your veil,
strip off your skirt,
expose your legs,
cross the streams!
47:3 Let your private parts be exposed!
Your genitals will be on display! 30
I will get revenge;
I will not have pity on anyone,” 31
47:4 says our protector –
the Lord who commands armies is his name,
the Holy One of Israel. 32
47:5 “Sit silently! Go to a hiding place, 33
O daughter of the Babylonians!
Indeed, 34 you will no longer be called ‘Queen of kingdoms.’
47:6 I was angry at my people;
I defiled my special possession
and handed them over to you.
You showed them no mercy; 35
you even placed a very heavy burden on old people. 36
47:7 You said,
‘I will rule forever as permanent queen!’ 37
You did not think about these things; 38
you did not consider how it would turn out. 39
47:8 So now, listen to this,
O one who lives so lavishly, 40
who lives securely,
who says to herself, 41
‘I am unique! No one can compare to me! 42
I will never have to live as a widow;
I will never lose my children.’ 43
47:9 Both of these will come upon you
suddenly, in one day!
You will lose your children and be widowed. 44
You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, 45
despite 46 your many incantations
and your numerous amulets. 47
47:10 You were complacent in your evil deeds; 48
you thought, 49 ‘No one sees me.’
Your self-professed 50 wisdom and knowledge lead you astray,
when you say, ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me!’ 51
47:11 Disaster will overtake you;
you will not know how to charm it away. 52
Destruction will fall on you;
you will not be able to appease it.
Calamity will strike you suddenly,
before you recognize it. 53
47:12 Persist 54 in trusting 55 your amulets
and your many incantations,
which you have faithfully recited 56 since your youth!
Maybe you will be successful 57 –
maybe you will scare away disaster. 58
47:13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice. 59
Let them take their stand –
the ones who see omens in the sky,
who gaze at the stars,
who make monthly predictions –
let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! 60
47:14 Look, they are like straw,
which the fire burns up;
they cannot rescue themselves
from the heat 61 of the flames.
There are no coals to warm them,
no firelight to enjoy. 62
47:15 They will disappoint you, 63
those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. 64
Each strays off in his own direction, 65
leaving no one to rescue you.”
48:1 Listen to this, O family of Jacob, 66
you who are called by the name ‘Israel,’
and are descended from Judah, 67
who take oaths in the name of the Lord,
and invoke 68 the God of Israel –
but not in an honest and just manner. 69
48:2 Indeed, they live in the holy city; 70
they trust in 71 the God of Israel,
whose name is the Lord who commands armies.
48:3 “I announced events beforehand, 72
I issued the decrees and made the predictions; 73
suddenly I acted and they came to pass.
48:4 I did this 74 because I know how stubborn you are.
Your neck muscles are like iron
and your forehead like bronze. 75
48:5 I announced them to you beforehand;
before they happened, I predicted them for you,
so you could never say,
‘My image did these things,
my idol, my cast image, decreed them.’
48:6 You have heard; now look at all the evidence! 76
Will you not admit that what I say is true? 77
From this point on I am announcing to you new events
that are previously unrevealed and you do not know about. 78
48:7 Now they come into being, 79 not in the past;
before today you did not hear about them,
so you could not say,
‘Yes, 80 I know about them.’
48:8 You did not hear,
you do not know,
you were not told beforehand. 81
For I know that you are very deceitful; 82
you were labeled 83 a rebel from birth.
48:9 For the sake of my reputation 84 I hold back my anger;
for the sake of my prestige 85 I restrain myself from destroying you. 86
48:10 Look, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have purified you 87 in the furnace of misery.
48:11 For my sake alone 88 I will act,
for how can I allow my name to be defiled? 89
I will not share my glory with anyone else! 90
48:12 Listen to me, O Jacob,
Israel, whom I summoned!
I am the one;
I am present at the very beginning
and at the very end. 91
48:13 Yes, my hand founded the earth;
my right hand spread out the sky.
I summon them;
they stand together.
48:14 All of you, gather together and listen!
Who among them 92 announced these things?
The Lord’s ally 93 will carry out his desire against Babylon;
he will exert his power against the Babylonians. 94
48:15 I, I have spoken –
yes, I have summoned him;
I lead him and he will succeed. 95
48:16 Approach me! Listen to this!
From the very first I have not spoken in secret;
when it happens, 96 I am there.”
So now, the sovereign Lord has sent me, accompanied by his spirit. 97
48:17 This is what the Lord, your protector, 98 says,
the Holy One of Israel: 99
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you how to succeed,
who leads you in the way you should go.
48:18 If only you had obeyed my 100 commandments,
prosperity would have flowed to you like a river, 101
deliverance would have come to you like the waves of the sea. 102
48:19 Your descendants would have been as numerous as sand, 103
and your children 104 like its granules.
Their name would not have been cut off
and eliminated from my presence. 105
48:20 Leave Babylon!
Flee from the Babylonians!
Announce it with a shout of joy!
Make this known!
Proclaim it throughout the earth! 106
Say, ‘The Lord protects 107 his servant Jacob.
48:21 They do not thirst as he leads them through dry regions;
he makes water flow out of a rock for them;
he splits open a rock and water flows out.’ 108
48:22 There will be no prosperity for the wicked,” says the Lord.
49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! 109
Pay attention, you people who live far away!
The Lord summoned me from birth; 110
he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. 111
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 112 arrow,
he hid me in his quiver. 113
49:3 He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, through whom I will reveal my splendor.” 114
49:4 But I thought, 115 “I have worked in vain;
I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing.” 116
But the Lord will vindicate me;
my God will reward me. 117
49:5 So now the Lord says,
the one who formed me from birth 118 to be his servant –
he did this 119 to restore Jacob to himself,
so that Israel might be gathered to him;
and I will be honored 120 in the Lord’s sight,
for my God is my source of strength 121 –
49:6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,
to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the remnant 122 of Israel? 123
I will make you a light to the nations, 124
so you can bring 125 my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”
49:7 This is what the Lord,
the protector 126 of Israel, their Holy One, 127 says
to the one who is despised 128 and rejected 129 by nations, 130
a servant of rulers:
“Kings will see and rise in respect, 131
princes will bow down,
because of the faithful Lord,
the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”
49:8 This is what the Lord says:
“At the time I decide to show my favor, I will respond to you;
in the day of deliverance I will help you;
I will protect you 132 and make you a covenant mediator for people, 133
and to reassign the desolate property.
49:9 You will say 136 to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
and to those who are in dark dungeons, 137 ‘Emerge.’ 138
They will graze beside the roads;
on all the slopes they will find pasture.
49:10 They will not be hungry or thirsty;
the sun’s oppressive heat will not beat down on them, 139
for one who has compassion on them will guide them;
he will lead them to springs of water.
49:11 I will make all my mountains into a road;
I will construct my roadways.”
49:12 Look, they come from far away!
Look, some come from the north and west,
and others from the land of Sinim! 140
49:13 Shout for joy, O sky! 141
Rejoice, O earth!
Let the mountains give a joyful shout!
For the Lord consoles his people
and shows compassion to the 142 oppressed.
49:14 “Zion said, ‘The Lord has abandoned me,
the sovereign master 143 has forgotten me.’
49:15 Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast? 144
Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne? 145
Even if mothers 146 were to forget,
I could never forget you! 147
49:16 Look, I have inscribed your name 148 on my palms;
your walls are constantly before me.
49:17 Your children hurry back,
while those who destroyed and devastated you depart.
49:18 Look all around you! 149
All of them gather to you.
As surely as I live,” says the Lord,
“you will certainly wear all of them like jewelry;
you will put them on as if you were a bride.
49:19 Yes, your land lies in ruins;
it is desolate and devastated. 150
But now you will be too small to hold your residents,
and those who devoured you will be far away.
49:20 Yet the children born during your time of bereavement
will say within your hearing,
‘This place is too cramped for us, 151
make room for us so we can live here.’ 152
49:21 Then you will think to yourself, 153
‘Who bore these children for me?
I was bereaved and barren,
dismissed and divorced. 154
Who raised these children?
Look, I was left all alone;
where did these children come from?’”
49:22 This is what the sovereign Lord says:
“Look I will raise my hand to the nations;
I will raise my signal flag to the peoples.
They will bring your sons in their arms
and carry your daughters on their shoulders.
49:23 Kings will be your children’s 155 guardians;
their princesses will nurse your children. 156
With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you
and they will lick the dirt on 157 your feet.
Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;
those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.
49:24 Can spoils be taken from a warrior,
or captives be rescued from a conqueror? 158
49:25 Indeed,” says the Lord,
“captives will be taken from a warrior;
spoils will be rescued from a conqueror.
I will oppose your adversary
and I will rescue your children.
49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;
they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. 159
Then all humankind 160 will recognize that
I am the Lord, your deliverer,
[46:1] 1 sn Bel was the name of a Babylonian god. The name was originally associated with Enlil, but later was applied to Marduk. See HALOT 132 s.v. בֵּל.
[46:1] 2 sn Nebo is a variation of the name of the Babylonian god Nabu.
[46:1] 3 tn Heb “their images belong to animals and beasts”; NIV “their idols are borne by beasts of burden”; NLT “are being hauled away.”
[46:1] 4 tn Heb “your loads are carried [as] a burden by a weary [animal].”
[46:2] 5 tn Heb “[the] burden,” i.e., their images, the heavy burden carried by the animals.
[46:2] 6 tn נַפְשָׁם (nafsham, “their souls/lives”) is equivalent here to a third masculine plural suffix, but the third feminine singular verb הָלָכָה (halakhah, “they go”) agrees with the feminine noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul, life”).
[46:2] 7 sn The downfall of Babylon is depicted here. The idols are carried off by the victorious enemy; the gods are likened to defeated captives who cower before the enemy and are taken into exile.
[46:3] 9 tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV “descendants of Jacob.”
[46:3] 10 tn Heb “and all the remnant of the house of Israel.”
[46:3] 11 tn Heb “from the womb” (so NRSV); KJV “from the belly”; NAB “from your infancy.”
[46:3] 12 tn Heb “who have been lifted up from the womb.”
[46:4] 13 tn Heb “until old age, I am he” (NRSV similar); NLT “I will be your God throughout your lifetime.”
[46:4] 14 sn Unlike the weary idol gods, whose images must be carried by animals, the Lord carries his weary people.
[46:6] 17 tn Heb “the reed,” probably referring to the beam of a scales. See BDB 889 s.v. קָנֶה 4.c.
[46:7] 21 tn Or perhaps, “cannot,” here and in the following two lines. The imperfect forms can indicate capability.
[46:8] 25 tn The meaning of the verb אָשַׁשׁ (’ashash, which appears here in the Hitpolel stem) is uncertain. BDB 84 s.v. אשׁשׁ relates it to a root meaning “found, establish” in Arabic; HALOT 100 s.v. II אשׁשׁ gives the meaning “pluck up courage.” The imperative with vav (ו) may indicate purpose following the preceding imperative.
[46:8] 26 tn Heb “return [it], rebels, to heart”; NRSV “recall it to mind, you transgressors.”
[46:9] 29 tn Heb “remember the former things, from antiquity”; KJV, ASV “the former things of old.”
[46:9] 30 tn Heb “and there is no other” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
[46:10] 33 tn Or “from long ago”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “from ancient times.”
[46:11] 37 tn Or, more generally, “a bird of prey” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV; see 18:6).
[46:11] 38 tn Heb “spoken”; KJV “I have spoken it.”
[46:12] 41 tn Heb “strong of heart [or, mind]”; KJV “stouthearted”; NAB “fainthearted”; NIV “stubborn-hearted.”
[46:12] 42 tn Heb “who are far from righteousness [or perhaps, “deliverance”].”
[46:13] 45 tn Heb “my salvation.” The verb “I am bringing near” is understood by ellipsis (note the previous line).
[46:13] 46 tn Heb “I will place in Zion salvation”; NASB “I will grant salvation in Zion.”
[46:13] 47 tn Heb “to Israel my splendor”; KJV, ASV “for Israel my glory.”
[47:1] 49 tn בְּתוּלַה (bÿtulah) often refers to a virgin, but the phrase “virgin daughter” is apparently stylized (see also 23:12; 37:22). In the extended metaphor of this chapter, where Babylon is personified as a queen (vv. 5, 7), she is depicted as being both a wife and mother (vv. 8-9).
[47:1] 50 tn Or “For” (NASB, NRSV).
[47:3] 53 tn Heb “Your shame will be seen.” In this context “shame” is a euphemism referring to the genitals.
[47:3] 54 tn Heb “I will not meet a man.” The verb פָּגַע (pagah) apparently carries the nuance “meet with kindness” here (cf. 64:5, and see BDB 803 s.v. Qal.2).
[47:4] 57 tc The Hebrew text reads, “Our redeemer – the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] is his name, the Holy One of Israel.” The ancient Greek version adds “says” before “our redeemer.” אָמַר (’amar) may have accidentally dropped from the text by virtual haplography. Note that the preceding word אָדָם (’adam) is graphically similar.
[47:5] 61 tn Heb “darkness,” which may indicate a place of hiding where a fugitive would seek shelter and protection.
[47:5] 62 tn Or “For” (NASB, NRSV).
[47:6] 66 tn Heb “on the old you made very heavy your yoke.”
[47:7] 69 tn Heb “Forever I [will be] permanent queen”; NIV “the eternal queen”; CEV “queen forever.”
[47:7] 70 tn Heb “you did not set these things upon your heart [or “mind”].”
[47:7] 71 tn Heb “you did not remember its outcome”; NAB “you disregarded their outcome.”
[47:8] 73 tn Or perhaps, “voluptuous one” (NAB); NAB “you sensual one”; NLT “You are a pleasure-crazy kingdom.”
[47:8] 74 tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”
[47:8] 75 tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.” See Zeph 2:15.
[47:8] 76 tn Heb “I will not live [as] a widow, and I will not know loss of children.”
[47:9] 77 tn Heb “loss of children and widowhood.” In the Hebrew text the phrase is in apposition to “both of these” in line 1.
[47:9] 78 tn Heb “according to their fullness, they will come upon you.”
[47:9] 79 tn For other examples of the preposition bet (בְּ) having the sense of “although, despite,” see BDB 90 s.v. III.7.
[47:9] 80 sn Reference is made to incantations and amulets, both of which were important in Mesopotamian religion. They were used to ward off danger and demons.
[47:10] 81 tn Heb “you trusted in your evil”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “wickedness.”
[47:10] 82 tn Or “said”; NAB “said to yourself”’ NASB “said in your heart.”
[47:10] 83 tn The words “self-professed” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[47:10] 84 tn See the note at v. 8.
[47:11] 85 tc The Hebrew text has שַׁחְרָהּ (shakhrah), which is either a suffixed noun (“its dawning,” i.e., origin) or infinitive (“to look early for it”). Some have suggested an emendation to שַׁחֲדָהּ (shakhadah), a suffixed infinitive from שָׁחַד (shakhad, “[how] to buy it off”; see BDB 1005 s.v. שָׁחַד). This forms a nice parallel with the following couplet. The above translation is based on a different etymology of the verb in question. HALOT 1466 s.v. III שׁחר references a verbal root with these letters (שׁחד) that refers to magical activity.
[47:11] 86 tn Heb “you will not know”; NIV “you cannot foresee.”
[47:12] 89 tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”
[47:12] 90 tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.
[47:12] 91 tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”
[47:12] 92 tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”
[47:12] 93 tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.
[47:13] 93 tn Heb “you are tired because of the abundance of your advice.”
[47:13] 94 tn Heb “let them stand and rescue you – the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make known by months – from those things which are coming upon you.”
[47:14] 97 tn Heb “hand,” here a metaphor for the strength or power of the flames.
[47:14] 98 tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “there is no coal [for?] their food, light to sit before it.” Some emend לַחְמָם (lakhmam, “their food”) to לְחֻמָּם (lÿkhummam, “to warm them”; see HALOT 328 s.v. חמם). This statement may allude to Isa 44:16, where idolaters are depicted warming themselves over a fire made from wood, part of which was used to form idols. The fire of divine judgment will be no such campfire; its flames will devour and destroy.
[47:15] 101 tn Heb “So they will be to you”; NIV “That is all they can do for you.”
[47:15] 102 tn Heb “that for which you toiled, your traders from your youth.” The omen readers and star gazers are likened to merchants with whom Babylon has had an ongoing economic relationship.
[47:15] 103 tn Heb “each to his own side, they err.”
[48:1] 105 tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV, CEV “people of Israel.”
[48:1] 106 tc The Hebrew text reads literally “and from the waters of Judah came out.” מִמֵּי (mimme) could be a corruption of מִמְּעֵי (mimmÿ’e, “from the inner parts of”; cf. NASB, NIV, NLT, NRSV) as suggested in the above translation. Some translations (ESV, NKJV) retain the MT reading because the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa, which corrects a similar form to “from inner parts of” in 39:7, does not do it here.
[48:1] 107 tn Heb “cause to remember”; KJV, ASV “make mention of.”
[48:1] 108 tn Heb “not in truth and not in righteousness.”
[48:2] 109 tn Heb “they call themselves [or “are called”] from the holy city.” The precise meaning of the statement is uncertain. The Niphal of קָרָא (qara’) is combined with the preposition מִן (min) only here. When the Qal of קָרָא is used with מִן, the preposition often indicates the place from which one is summoned (see 46:11). So one could translate, “from the holy city they are summoned,” meaning that they reside there.
[48:2] 110 tn Heb “lean on” (so NASB, NRSV); NAB, NIV “rely on.”
[48:3] 113 tn Heb “the former things beforehand I declared.”
[48:3] 114 tn Heb “and from my mouth they came forth and I caused them to be heard.”
[48:4] 117 tn The words “I did this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text v. 4 is subordinated to v. 3.
[48:4] 118 sn The image is that of a person who has tensed the muscles of the face and neck as a sign of resolute refusal.
[48:6] 121 tn Heb “gaze [at] all of it”; KJV “see all this.”
[48:6] 122 tn Heb “[as for] you, will you not declare?”
[48:6] 123 tn Heb “and hidden things, and you do not know them.”
[48:7] 125 tn Heb “are created” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “They are brand new.”
[48:7] 126 tn Heb “look”; KJV, NASB “Behold.”
[48:8] 129 tn Heb “beforehand your ear did not open.”
[48:8] 130 tn Heb “deceiving, you deceive.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.
[48:8] 131 tn Or “called” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
[48:9] 133 tn Heb “for the sake of my name” (so NAB, NASB); NLT “for my own sake.”
[48:9] 134 tn Heb “and my praise.” לְמַעַן (lÿma’an, “for the sake of”) is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
[48:9] 135 tn Heb “I restrain [myself] concerning you not to cut you off.”
[48:10] 137 tc The Hebrew text has בְּחַרְתִּיךָ (bÿkhartikha, “I have chosen you”), but the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa reads correctly בחנתיכה (“I have tested you”). The metallurgical background of the imagery suggests that purification through testing is the idea.
[48:11] 141 tn The Hebrew text repeats לְמַעֲנִי (lÿma’ani, “for my sake”) for emphasis.
[48:11] 142 tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “for how can it be defiled?” The subject of the verb is probably “name” (v. 9).
[48:12] 145 tn Heb “I [am] he, I [am the] first, also I [am the] last.”
[48:14] 149 sn This probably refers to the idol gods (see v. 5).
[48:14] 150 tn Or “friend,” or “covenant partner.”
[48:14] 151 tn Heb “and his arm [against] the Babylonians.”
[48:15] 153 tn Heb “and his way will be prosperous.”
[48:16] 157 tn Heb “from the time of its occurring.”
[48:16] 158 sn The speaker here is not identified specifically, but he is probably Cyrus, the Lord’s “ally” mentioned in vv. 14-15.
[48:17] 161 tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
[48:17] 162 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
[48:18] 165 tn Heb “paid attention to” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “had listened to.”
[48:18] 166 tn Heb “like a river your peace would have been.” שָׁלוֹם (shalom) probably refers here to the peace and prosperity which God promised in return for obedience to the covenant.
[48:18] 167 tn Heb “and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah) probably refers here to divine deliverance from enemies. See v. 19.
[48:19] 169 tn Heb “like sand”; NCV “as many as the grains of sand.”
[48:19] 170 tn Heb “and the issue from your inner parts.”
[48:19] 171 tn Heb “and his name would not be cut off and would not be destroyed from before me.”
[48:20] 173 tn Heb “to the end of the earth” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).
[48:20] 174 tn Heb “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.
[48:21] 177 sn The translation above (present tense) assumes that this verse describes God’s provision for returning Babylonian exiles (see v. 20; 35:6; 49:10) in terms reminiscent of the Exodus from Egypt (see Exod 17:6).
[49:1] 181 tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”
[49:1] 182 tn Heb “called me from the womb.”
[49:1] 183 tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”
[49:2] 185 tn Or perhaps, “polished” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NASB “a select arrow.”
[49:2] 186 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.
[49:3] 189 sn This verse identifies the servant as Israel. This seems to refer to the exiled nation (cf. 41:8-9; 44:1-2, 21; 45:4; 48:20), but in vv. 5-6 this servant says he has been commissioned to reconcile Israel to God, so he must be distinct from the exiled nation. This servant is an ideal “Israel” who, like Moses of old, mediates a covenant for the nation (see v. 8), leads them out of bondage (v. 9a), and carries out God’s original plan for Israel by positively impacting the pagan nations (see v. 6b). By living according to God’s law, Israel was to be a model of God’s standards of justice to the surrounding nations (Deut 4:6-8). The sinful nation failed, but the servant, the ideal “Israel,” will succeed by establishing justice throughout the earth.
[49:4] 193 tn Or “said” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “I replied.”
[49:4] 194 tn Heb “for nothing and emptiness.” Synonyms are combined to emphasize the common idea.
[49:4] 195 tn Heb “But my justice is with the Lord, and my reward [or “wage”] with my God.”
[49:5] 197 tn Heb “from the womb” (so KJV, NASB).
[49:5] 198 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] 199 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] 200 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.
[49:6] 201 tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”
[49:6] 202 sn The question is purely rhetorical; it does not imply that the servant was dissatisfied with his commission or that he minimized the restoration of Israel.
[49:6] 203 tn See the note at 42:6.
[49:6] 204 tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”
[49:7] 205 tn Heb “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
[49:7] 206 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
[49:7] 207 tc The Hebrew text reads literally “to [one who] despises life.” It is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa לבזוי, which should be vocalized as a passive participle, לִבְזוּי (livzuy, “to the one despised with respect to life” [נֶפֶשׁ is a genitive of specification]). The consonantal sequence וי was probably misread as ה in the MT tradition. The contextual argument favors the 1QIsaa reading. As J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:294) points out, the three terse phrases “convey a picture of lowliness, worthlessness, and helplessness.”
[49:7] 208 tn MT’s Piel participle (“to the one who rejects”) does not fit contextually. The form should be revocalized as a Pual, “to the one rejected.”
[49:7] 209 tn Parallelism (see “rulers,” “kings,” “princes”) suggests that the singular גּוֹי (goy) be emended to a plural or understood in a collective sense (see 55:5).
[49:7] 210 tn For this sense of קוּם (qum), see Gen 19:1; 23:7; 33:10; Lev 19:32; 1 Sam 20:41; 25:41; 1 Kgs 2:19; Job 29:8.
[49:8] 209 tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצָר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצָר (yatsar, “form”).
[49:8] 210 tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (bÿrit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. Here עָם (’am, “people”) appears to refer to Israel. See the note at 42:6.
[49:8] 211 tn The Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “arise”) is probably used here in the sense of “rebuild.”
[49:8] 212 tn The “land” probably stands by metonymy for the ruins within it.
[49:9] 213 tn Heb “to say.” In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct is subordinated to what precedes.
[49:9] 214 tn Heb “in darkness” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “the prisoners of darkness.”
[49:9] 215 tn Heb “show yourselves” (so ASV, NAB, NASB).
[49:10] 217 tn Heb “and the heat and the sun will not strike them.” In Isa 35:7, its only other occurrence in the OT, שָׁרָב (sharav) stands parallel to “parched ground” and in contrast to “pool.” In later Hebrew and Aramaic it refers to “dry heat, heat of the sun” (Jastrow 1627 s.v.). Here it likely has this nuance and forms a hendiadys with “sun.”
[49:12] 221 tc The MT reads “Sinim” here; the Dead Sea Scrolls read “Syene,” a location in Egypt associated with modern Aswan. A number of recent translations adopt this reading: “Syene” (NAB, NRSV); “Aswan” (NIV); “Egypt” (NLT).
[49:13] 225 tn Or “O heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
[49:13] 226 tn Heb “his” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
[49:14] 229 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
[49:15] 233 tn Heb “her suckling”; NASB “her nursing child.”
[49:15] 234 tn Heb “so as not to have compassion on the son of her womb?”
[49:15] 235 tn Heb “these” (so ASV, NASB).
[49:15] 236 sn The argument of v. 15 seems to develop as follows: The Lord has an innate attachment to Zion, just like a mother does for her infant child. But even if mothers were to suddenly abandon their children, the Lord would never forsake Zion. In other words, the Lord’s attachment to Zion is like a mother’s attachment to her infant child, but even stronger.
[49:16] 237 tn Heb “you.” Here the pronoun is put by metonymy for the person’s name.
[49:18] 241 tn Heb “Lift up around your eyes and see.”
[49:19] 245 tn Heb “Indeed your ruins and your desolate places, and the land of your destruction.” This statement is abruptly terminated in the Hebrew text and left incomplete.
[49:20] 249 tn Heb “me.” The singular is collective.
[49:20] 250 tn Heb “draw near to me so I can dwell.”
[49:21] 253 tn Heb “and you will say in your heart.”
[49:21] 254 tn Or “exiled and thrust away”; NIV “exiled and rejected.”
[49:23] 257 tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).
[49:23] 258 tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.
[49:23] 259 tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”
[49:24] 261 tc The Hebrew text has צָדִיק (tsadiq, “a righteous [one]”), but this makes no sense in the parallelism. The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa reads correctly עריץ (“violent [one], tyrant”; see v. 25).
[49:26] 265 sn Verse 26a depicts siege warfare and bloody defeat. The besieged enemy will be so starved they will their own flesh. The bloodstained bodies lying on the blood-soaked battle site will look as if they collapsed in drunkenness.
[49:26] 266 tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).
