Isaiah 48:8

48:8 You did not hear,

you do not know,

you were not told beforehand. ¹ 

For I know that you are very deceitful; ² 

you were labeled ³  a rebel from birth.

Isaiah 64:5

64:5 You assist ⁴  those who delight in doing what is right, ⁵ 

who observe your commandments. ⁶ 

Look, you were angry because we violated them continually.

How then can we be saved? ⁷ 

[48:8]  ¹ tn Heb “beforehand your ear did not open.”

[48:8]  ² tn Heb “deceiving, you deceive.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[48:8]  ³ tn Or “called” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[64:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “meet [with kindness].”

[64:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “the one who rejoices and does righteousness.”

[64:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “in your ways they remember you.”

[64:5]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “look, you were angry and we sinned against them continually [or perhaps, “in ancient times”] and we were delivered.” The statement makes little sense as it stands. The first vav [ו] consecutive (“and we sinned”) must introduce an explanatory clause here (see Num 1:48 and Isa 39:1 for other examples of this relatively rare use of the vav [ו] consecutive). The final verb (if rendered positively) makes no sense in this context – God’s anger at their sin resulted in judgment, not deliverance. One of the alternatives involves an emendation to וַנִּרְשָׁע (vannirsha’, “and we were evil”; LXX, NRSV, TEV). The Vulgate and the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a support the MT reading. One can either accept an emendation or cast the statement as a question (as above).