Isaiah 53:11

53:11 Having suffered, he will reflect on his work,

he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done. ¹ 

“My servant ²  will acquit many, ³ 

for he carried their sins. ⁴ 

Isaiah 58:10

58:10 You must ⁵  actively help the hungry

and feed the oppressed. ⁶ 

Then your light will dispel the darkness, ⁷ 

and your darkness will be transformed into noonday. ⁸ 

Isaiah 66:11

66:11 For ⁹  you will nurse from her satisfying breasts and be nourished; ¹⁰ 

you will feed with joy from her milk-filled breasts. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 1:11

1:11 “Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?” ¹² 

says the Lord.

“I am stuffed with ¹³  burnt sacrifices

of rams and the fat from steers.

The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats

I do not want. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 9:20

9:20 They devoured ¹⁵  on the right, but were still hungry,

they ate on the left, but were not satisfied.

People even ate ¹⁶  the flesh of their own arm! ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 44:16

44:16 Half of it he burns in the fire –

over that half he cooks ¹⁸  meat;

he roasts a meal and fills himself.

Yes, he warms himself and says,

‘Ah! I am warm as I look at the fire.’

Isaiah 56:11

56:11 The dogs have big appetites;

they are never full. ¹⁹ 

They are shepherds who have no understanding;

they all go their own way,

each one looking for monetary gain. ²⁰ 

Isaiah 58:11

58:11 The Lord will continually lead you;

he will feed you even in parched regions. ²¹ 

He will give you renewed strength, ²² 

and you will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring that continually produces water.

[53:11]  ¹ tn Heb “he will be satisfied by his knowledge,” i.e., “when he knows.” The preposition is understood as temporal and the suffix as a subjective genitive. Some take בְּדַעְתּוֹ (bÿda’to, “by his knowledge”) with what follows and translate “by knowledge of him,” understanding the preposition as instrumental and the suffix as objective.

[53:11]  ² sn The song ends as it began (cf. 52:13-15), with the Lord announcing the servant’s vindication and exaltation.

[53:11]  ³ tn Heb “he will acquit, a righteous one, my servant, many.” צַדִּיק (tsadiq) may refer to the servant, but more likely it is dittographic (note the preceding verb יַצְדִּיק, yatsdiq). The precise meaning of the verb (the Hiphil of צָדַק, tsadaq) is debated. Elsewhere the Hiphil is used at least six times in the sense of “make righteous” in a legal sense, i.e., “pronounce innocent, acquit” (see Exod 23:7; Deut 25:1; 1 Kgs 8:32 = 2 Chr 6:23; Prov 17:15; Isa 5:23). It can also mean “render justice” (as a royal function, see 2 Sam 15:4; Ps 82:3), “concede” (Job 27:5), “vindicate” (Isa 50:8), and “lead to righteousness” (by teaching and example, Dan 12:3). The preceding context and the next line suggest a legal sense here. Because of his willingness to carry the people’s sins, the servant is able to “acquit” them.

[53:11]  ⁴ tn The circumstantial clause (note the vav [ו] + object + subject + verb pattern) is understood as causal here. The prefixed verb form is either a preterite or an imperfect used in a customary manner.

[58:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “if you.” See the note on “you must” in v. 9b.

[58:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “If you furnish for the hungry [with] your being, and the appetite of the oppressed you satisfy.”

[58:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “will rise in the darkness.”

[58:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “and your darkness [will be] like noonday.”

[66:11]  ⁹ tn Or “in order that”; ASV, NRSV “that.”

[66:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you will suck and be satisfied, from her comforting breast.”

[66:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “you will slurp and refresh yourselves from her heavy breast.”

[1:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “Why to me the multitude of your sacrifices?” The sarcastic rhetorical question suggests that their many sacrifices are of no importance to the Lord. This phrase answers the possible objection that an Israelite could raise in response to God’s indictment: “But we are offering the sacrifices you commanded!”

[1:11]  ¹⁴ tn The verb שָׂבַע (sava’, “be satisfied, full”) is often used of eating and/or drinking one’s fill. See BDB 959 s.v. שָׂבַע. Here sacrifices are viewed, in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion, as food for the deity. God here declares that he has eaten and drunk, as it were, his fill.

[1:11]  ¹⁵ sn In the chiastic structure of the verse, the verbs at the beginning and end highlight God’s displeasure, while the heaping up of references to animals, fat, and blood in the middle lines hints at why God wants no more of their sacrifices. They have, as it were, piled the food on his table and he needs no more.

[9:20]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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.

[44:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “eats” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV “roasts.”

[56:11]  ²⁵ sn The phrase never full alludes to the greed of the leaders.

[56:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “for his gain from his end.”

[58:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “he will satisfy in parched regions your appetite.”

[58:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and your bones he will strengthen.”