Isaiah 50:2

50:2 Why does no one challenge me when I come?

Why does no one respond when I call? ¹ 

Is my hand too weak ²  to deliver ³  you?

Do I lack the power to rescue you?

Look, with a mere shout ⁴  I can dry up the sea;

I can turn streams into a desert,

so the fish rot away and die

from lack of water. ⁵ 

Isaiah 59:16

The Lord Intervenes

59:16 He sees there is no advocate; ⁶ 

he is shocked ⁷  that no one intervenes.

So he takes matters into his own hands; ⁸ 

his desire for justice drives him on. ⁹ 

Psalms 14:4

14:4 All those who behave wickedly ¹⁰  do not understand – ¹¹ 

those who devour my people as if they were eating bread,

and do not call out to the Lord.

Ezekiel 22:30

22:30 “I looked for a man from among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one. ¹² 

Hosea 7:7

7:7 All of them are blazing like an oven;

they devour their rulers.

All of their kings fall –

and none of them call on me!

Hosea 7:14

7:14 They do not pray to me, ¹³ 

but howl in distress on their beds;

They slash themselves ¹⁴  for grain and new wine,

but turn away from me.

[50:2]  ¹ sn The present tense translation of the verbs assumes that the Lord is questioning why Israel does not attempt to counter his arguments. Another possibility is to take the verbs as referring to past events: “Why did no one meet me when I came? Why did no one answer when I called?” In this case the Lord might be asking why Israel rejected his calls to repent and his offer to deliver them.

[50:2]  ² tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV).

[50:2]  ³ tn Or “ransom” (NAB, NASB, NIV).

[50:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “with my rebuke.”

[50:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “the fish stink from lack of water and die from thirst.”

[59:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “man” (so KJV, ASV); TEV “no one to help.”

[59:16]  ⁷ tn Or “appalled” (NAB, NIV, NRSV), or “disgusted.”

[59:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “and his arm delivers for him.”

[59:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “and his justice [or “righteousness”] supports him.”

[14:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all the workers of wickedness.” See Pss 5:5; 6:8.

[14:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Do they not understand?” The rhetorical question (rendered in the translation as a positive affirmation) expresses the psalmist’s amazement at their apparent lack of understanding. This may refer to their lack of moral understanding, but it more likely refers to their failure to anticipate God’s defense of his people (see vv. 5-7).

[22:30]  ¹² tn Heb “I did not find.”

[7:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “they do not cry out to me in their heart”; NLT “with sincere hearts.”

[7:14]  ¹⁴ tc The MT reads יִתְגּוֹרָרוּ (yitgoraru) which is either (1) Hitpolel imperfect 3rd person masculine plural (“they assemble themselves”; so KJV, NASB) from I גּוּר (gur, “to sojourn”; BDB 157 s.v. I גּוּר) or (2) Hitpolel imperfect 3rd person masculine plural (“they excite themselves”) from II גּוּר (gur, “to stir up”; BDB 158 s.v. II גּוּר). However, the Hebrew lexicographers suggest that both of these options are unlikely. Several other Hebrew mss preserve an alternate textual tradition of יִתְגּוֹדָדוּ (yitgodadu) which is a Hitpolel imperfect 3rd person common plural (“they slash themselves”) from גָּדַד (gadad, “to cut”; BDB 151 s.v. גָּדַד), as also reflected in the LXX (cf. NAB “they lacerated themselves”; NRSV, TEV “gash themselves”; NLT “cut themselves.” This reflects the pagan Canaanite cultic practice of priests cutting themselves and draining their blood on the ground to elicit agricultural fertility by resurrecting the slain fertility god Baal from the underworld (Deut 14:1; 1 Kgs 18:28; Jer 16:6; 41:5; 47:5). Cf. CEV which adds “in the hope that Baal will bless their crops.”