Isaiah 55:3

55:3 Pay attention and come to me!

Listen, so you can live! ¹ 

Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to ²  you,

just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. ³ 

Isaiah 55:6-7

55:6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; ⁴ 

call to him while he is nearby!

55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle ⁵ 

and sinful people their plans. ⁶ 

They should return ⁷  to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, ⁸ 

and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. ⁹ 

[55:3]  ¹ tn The jussive with vav (ו) conjunctive following the imperative indicates purpose/result.

[55:3]  ² tn Or “an eternal covenant with.”

[55:3]  ³ tn Heb “the reliable expressions of loyalty of David.” The syntactical relationship of חַסְדֵי (khasde, “expressions of loyalty”) to the preceding line is unclear. If the term is appositional to בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”), then the Lord here transfers the promises of the Davidic covenant to the entire nation. Another option is to take חַסְדֵי (khasde) as an adverbial accusative and to translate “according to the reliable covenantal promises.” In this case the new covenantal arrangement proposed here is viewed as an extension or perhaps fulfillment of the Davidic promises. A third option, the one reflected in the above translation, is to take the last line as comparative. In this case the new covenant being proposed is analogous to the Davidic covenant. Verses 4-5, which compare David’s international prominence to what Israel will experience, favors this view. In all three of these interpretations, “David” is an objective genitive; he is the recipient of covenantal promises. A fourth option would be to take David as a subjective genitive and understand the line as giving the basis for the preceding promise: “Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, because of David’s faithful acts of covenantal loyalty.”

[55:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “while he allows himself to be found.” The Niphal form has a tolerative force here.

[55:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “Let the wicked one abandon his way.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the man of evil his thoughts.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “let him return.” The singular is collective, meaning “let them.”

[55:7]  ⁸ tn The imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive after the jussive indicates purpose/result.

[55:7]  ⁹ sn The appeal and promise of vv. 6-7 echoes the language of Deut 4:25-31; 30:1-10; and 1 Kgs 8:46-53, all of which anticipate the exile and speak of the prerequisites for restoration.