Isaiah 51:5

51:5 I am ready to vindicate, ¹ 

I am ready to deliver, ² 

I will establish justice among the nations. ³ 

The coastlands ⁴  wait patiently for me;

they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power. ⁵ 

Isaiah 53:1

53:1 Who would have believed ⁶  what we ⁷  just heard? ⁸ 

When ⁹  was the Lord’s power ¹⁰  revealed through him?

Isaiah 17:5

17:5 It will be as when one gathers the grain harvest,

and his hand gleans the ear of grain.

It will be like one gathering the ears of grain

in the Valley of Rephaim.

Isaiah 33:2

33:2 Lord, be merciful to us! We wait for you.

Give us strength each morning! ¹¹ 

Deliver us when distress comes. ¹² 

Isaiah 40:11

40:11 Like a shepherd he tends his flock;

he gathers up the lambs with his arm;

he carries them close to his heart; ¹³ 

he leads the ewes along.

Isaiah 63:5

63:5 I looked, but there was no one to help;

I was shocked because there was no one offering support. ¹⁴ 

So my right arm accomplished deliverance;

my raging anger drove me on. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 63:12

63:12 the one who made his majestic power available to Moses, ¹⁶ 

who divided the water before them,

gaining for himself a lasting reputation, ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 9:20

9:20 They devoured ¹⁸  on the right, but were still hungry,

they ate on the left, but were not satisfied.

People even ate ¹⁹  the flesh of their own arm! ²⁰ 

Isaiah 30:30

30:30 The Lord will give a mighty shout ²¹ 

and intervene in power, ²² 

with furious anger and flaming, destructive fire, ²³ 

with a driving rainstorm and hailstones.

Isaiah 40:10

40:10 Look, the sovereign Lord comes as a victorious warrior; ²⁴ 

his military power establishes his rule. ²⁵ 

Look, his reward is with him;

his prize goes before him. ²⁶ 

Isaiah 44:12

44:12 A blacksmith works with his tool ²⁷ 

and forges metal over the coals.

He forms it ²⁸  with hammers;

he makes it with his strong arm.

He gets hungry and loses his energy; ²⁹ 

he drinks no water and gets tired.

Isaiah 48:14

48:14 All of you, gather together and listen!

Who among them ³⁰  announced these things?

The Lord’s ally ³¹  will carry out his desire against Babylon;

he will exert his power against the Babylonians. ³² 

Isaiah 51:9

51:9 Wake up! Wake up!

Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord! ³³ 

Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity!

Did you not smash ³⁴  the Proud One? ³⁵ 

Did you not ³⁶  wound the sea monster? ³⁷ 

Isaiah 52:10

52:10 The Lord reveals ³⁸  his royal power ³⁹ 

in the sight of all the nations;

the entire ⁴⁰  earth sees

our God deliver. ⁴¹ 

Isaiah 59:16

The Lord Intervenes

59:16 He sees there is no advocate; ⁴² 

he is shocked ⁴³  that no one intervenes.

So he takes matters into his own hands; ⁴⁴ 

his desire for justice drives him on. ⁴⁵ 

Isaiah 62:8

62:8 The Lord swears an oath by his right hand,

by his strong arm: ⁴⁶ 

“I will never again give your grain

to your enemies as food,

and foreigners will not drink your wine,

which you worked hard to produce.

[51:5]  ¹ tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”] is near.”

[51:5]  ² tn Heb “my deliverance goes forth.”

[51:5]  ³ tn Heb “and my arms will judge [on behalf of] nations.”

[51:5]  ⁴ tn Or “islands” (NIV); TEV “Distant lands.”

[51:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “for my arm” (so NIV, NRSV).

[53:1]  ⁶ tn The perfect has a hypothetical force in this rhetorical question. For another example, see Gen 21:7.

[53:1]  ⁷ sn The speaker shifts here from God to an unidentified group (note the first person plural pronouns throughout vv. 1-6). The content of the speech suggests that the prophet speaks here as representative of the sinful nation Israel. The group acknowledges its sin and recognizes that the servant suffered on their behalf.

[53:1]  ⁸ tn The first half of v. 1 is traditionally translated, “Who has believed our report?” or “Who has believed our message?” as if the group speaking is lamenting that no one will believe what they have to say. But that doesn’t seem to be the point in this context. Here the group speaking does not cast itself in the role of a preacher or evangelist. No, they are repentant sinners, who finally see the light. The phrase “our report” can mean (1) the report which we deliver, or (2) the report which was delivered to us. The latter fits better here, where the report is most naturally taken as the announcement that has just been made in 52:13-15.

[53:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “to whom” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[53:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the arm of the Lord.” The “arm of the Lord” is a metaphor of military power; it pictures the Lord as a warrior who bares his arm, takes up his weapon, and crushes his enemies (cf. 51:9-10; 63:5-6). But Israel had not seen the Lord’s military power at work in the servant.

[33:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Be their arm each morning.” “Arm” is a symbol for strength. The mem suffixed to the noun has been traditionally understood as a third person suffix, but this is contrary to the context, where the people speak of themselves in the first person. The mem (מ) is probably enclitic with ellipsis of the pronoun, which can be supplied from the context. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:589, n. 1.

[33:2]  ¹² tn Heb “[Be] also our deliverance in the time of distress.”

[40:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in his bosom” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV), an expression which reflects closeness and protective care.

[63:5]  ²¹ sn See Isa 59:16 for similar language.

[63:5]  ²² tn Heb “and my anger, it supported me”; NIV “my own wrath sustained me.”

[63:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “who caused to go at the right hand of Moses the arm of his splendor.”

[63:12]  ²⁷ tn Heb “making for himself a lasting name.”

[9:20]  ³¹ tn Or “cut.” The verb גָּזַר (gazar) means “to cut.” If it is understood here, then one might paraphrase, “They slice off meat on the right.” However, HALOT 187 s.v. I גזר, proposes here a rare homonym meaning “to devour.”

[9:20]  ³² tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite without vav consecutive or an imperfect used in a customary sense, describing continual or repeated behavior in past time.

[9:20]  ³³ tn Some suggest that זְרֹעוֹ (zÿro’o, “his arm”) be repointed זַרְעוֹ (zar’o, “his offspring”). In either case, the metaphor is that of a desperately hungry man who resorts to an almost unthinkable act to satisfy his appetite. He eats everything he can find to his right, but still being unsatisfied, then turns to his left and eats everything he can find there. Still being desperate for food, he then resorts to eating his own flesh (or offspring, as this phrase is metaphorically understood by some English versions, e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT). The reality behind the metaphor is the political turmoil of the period, as the next verse explains. There was civil strife within the northern kingdom; even the descendants of Joseph were at each other’s throats. Then the northern kingdom turned on their southern brother, Judah.

[30:30]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the Lord will cause the splendor of his voice to be heard.”

[30:30]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and reveal the lowering of his arm.”

[30:30]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and a flame of consuming fire.”

[40:10]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “comes as a strong one”; ASV “will come as a mighty one.” The preposition בְּ (bet) here carries the nuance “in the capacity of.” It indicates that the Lord possesses the quality expressed by the noun. See GKC 379 §119.i and HALOT 104 s.v. בְּ.

[40:10]  ⁴² tn Heb “his arm rules for him” (so NIV, NRSV). The Lord’s “arm” symbolizes his military power (see Isa 51:9-10; 63:5).

[40:10]  ⁴³ tn As the Lord returns to Jerusalem as a victorious warrior, he brings with him the spoils of victory, called here his “reward” and “prize.” These terms might also be translated “wages” and “recompense.” Verse 11 indicates that his rescued people, likened to a flock of sheep, are his reward.

[44:12]  ⁴⁶ tn The noun מַעֲצָד (ma’atsad), which refers to some type of tool used for cutting, occurs only here and in Jer 10:3. See HALOT 615 s.v. מַעֲצָד.

[44:12]  ⁴⁷ tn Some English versions take the pronoun “it” to refer to an idol being fashioned by the blacksmith (cf. NIV, NCV, CEV). NLT understands the referent to be “a sharp tool,” which is then used by the carpenter in the following verse to carve an idol from wood.

[44:12]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “and there is no strength”; NASB “his strength fails.”

[48:14]  ⁵¹ sn This probably refers to the idol gods (see v. 5).

[48:14]  ⁵² tn Or “friend,” or “covenant partner.”

[48:14]  ⁵³ tn Heb “and his arm [against] the Babylonians.”

[51:9]  ⁵⁶ tn The arm of the Lord is a symbol of divine military power. Here it is personified and told to arouse itself from sleep and prepare for action.

[51:9]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “Are you not the one who smashed?” The feminine singular forms agree grammatically with the feminine noun “arm.” The Hebrew text has ַהמַּחְצֶבֶת (hammakhtsevet), from the verbal root חָצַב (khatsav, “hew, chop”). The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has, probably correctly, המחצת, from the verbal root מָחַץ (makhats, “smash”) which is used in Job 26:12 to describe God’s victory over “the Proud One.”

[51:9]  ⁵⁸ tn This title (רַהַב, rahav, “proud one”) is sometimes translated as a proper name: “Rahab” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). It is used here of a symbolic sea monster, known elsewhere in the Bible and in Ugaritic myth as Leviathan. This sea creature symbolizes the forces of chaos that seek to destroy the created order. In the Bible “the Proud One” opposes God’s creative work, but is defeated (see Job 26:12; Ps 89:10). Here the title refers to Pharaoh’s Egyptian army that opposed Israel at the Red Sea (see v. 10, and note also Isa 30:7 and Ps 87:4, where the title is used of Egypt).

[51:9]  ⁵⁹ tn The words “did you not” are understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line). The rhetorical questions here and in v. 10 expect the answer, “Yes, you certainly did!”

[51:9]  ⁶⁰ tn Hebrew תַּנִּין (tannin) is another name for the symbolic sea monster. See the note at 27:1. In this context the sea creature represents Egypt. See the note on the title “Proud One” earlier in this verse.

[52:10]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “lays bare”; NLT “will demonstrate.”

[52:10]  ⁶² tn Heb “his holy arm.” This is a metonymy for his power.

[52:10]  ⁶³ tn Heb “the remote regions,” which here stand for the extremities and everything in between.

[52:10]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “the deliverance of our God.” “God” is a subjective genitive here.

[59:16]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “man” (so KJV, ASV); TEV “no one to help.”

[59:16]  ⁶⁷ tn Or “appalled” (NAB, NIV, NRSV), or “disgusted.”

[59:16]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “and his arm delivers for him.”

[59:16]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “and his justice [or “righteousness”] supports him.”

[62:8]  ⁷¹ tn The Lord’s right hand and strong arm here symbolize his power and remind the audience that his might guarantees the fulfillment of the following promise.