Isaiah 48:12

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. ¹ 

Isaiah 30:8

30:8 Now go, write it ²  down on a tablet in their presence, ³ 

inscribe it on a scroll,

so that it might be preserved for a future time

as an enduring witness. ⁴ 

Isaiah 41:4

41:4 Who acts and carries out decrees? ⁵ 

Who ⁶  summons the successive generations from the beginning?

I, the Lord, am present at the very beginning,

and at the very end – I am the one. ⁷ 

Isaiah 44:6

The Absurdity of Idolatry

44:6 This is what the Lord, Israel’s king, says,

their protector, ⁸  the Lord who commands armies:

“I am the first and I am the last,

there is no God but me.

Isaiah 9:1

9:1 (8:23) ⁹  The gloom will be dispelled for those who were anxious. ¹⁰ 

In earlier times he ¹¹  humiliated

the land of Zebulun,

and the land of Naphtali; ¹² 

but now he brings honor ¹³ 

to the way of the sea,

the region beyond the Jordan,

and Galilee of the nations. ¹⁴ 

[48:12]  ¹ tn Heb “I [am] he, I [am the] first, also I [am the] last.”

[30:8]  ² tn The referent of the third feminine singular pronominal suffix is uncertain. Perhaps it refers to the preceding message, which accuses the people of rejecting the Lord’s help in favor of an alliance with Egypt.

[30:8]  ³ tn Heb “with them.” On the use of the preposition here, see BDB 86 s.v. II אֵת.

[30:8]  ⁴ sn Recording the message will enable the prophet to use it in the future as evidence that God warned his people of impending judgment and clearly spelled out the nation’s guilt. An official record of the message will also serve as proof of the prophet’s authority as God’s spokesman.

[41:4]  ³ tn Heb “Who acts and accomplishes?”; NASB “Who has performed and accomplished it.”

[41:4]  ⁴ tn The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[41:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “I, the Lord, [am with] the first, and with the last ones I [am] he.”

[44:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “his kinsman redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[9:1]  ⁵ sn In the Hebrew text (BHS) the chapter division comes one verse later than in the English Bible; 9:1 (8:23 HT). Thus 9:2-21 in the English Bible = 9:1-20 in the Hebrew text. Beginning with 10:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.

[9:1]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text reads, “Indeed there is no gloom for the one to whom there was anxiety for her.” The feminine singular pronominal suffix “her” must refer to the land (cf. vv. 22a, 23b). So one could translate, “Indeed there will be no gloom for the land which was anxious.” In this case the statement introduces the positive message to follow. Some assume an emendation of לֹא (lo’, “no”) to לוֹ (lo, “to him”) and of לָהּ (lah, “to her”) to לוֹ (lo, “to him”), yielding this literal reading: “indeed there is gloom for him, for the one to whom there was anxiety for him.” In this case the statement concludes the preceding description of judgment.

[9:1]  ⁷ tn The Lord must be understood as the subject of the two verbs in this verse.

[9:1]  ⁸ sn The statement probably alludes to the Assyrian conquest of Israel in ca. 734-733 b.c., when Tiglath-pileser III annexed much of Israel’s territory and reduced Samaria to a puppet state.

[9:1]  ⁹ tn Heb Just as in earlier times he humiliated…, [in] the latter times he has brought honor.” The main verbs in vv. 1b-4 are Hebrew perfects. The prophet takes his rhetorical stance in the future age of restoration and describes future events as if they have already occurred. To capture the dramatic effect of the original text, the translation uses the English present or present perfect.

[9:1]  ¹⁰ sn These three geographical designations may refer to provinces established by the Assyrians in 734-733 b.c. The “way of the sea” is the province of Dor, along the Mediterranean coast, the “region beyond the Jordan” is the province of Gilead in Transjordan, and “Galilee of the nations” (a title that alludes to how the territory had been overrun by foreigners) is the province of Megiddo located west of the Sea of Galilee. See Y. Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 374.