Isaiah 61:11

61:11 For just as the ground produces its crops

and a garden yields its produce,

so the sovereign Lord will cause deliverance ¹  to grow,

and give his people reason to praise him in the sight of all the nations. ² 

Isaiah 44:4

44:4 They will sprout up like a tree in the grass, ³ 

like poplars beside channels of water.

Isaiah 42:9

42:9 Look, my earlier predictive oracles have come to pass; ⁴ 

now I announce new events.

Before they begin to occur,

I reveal them to you.” ⁵ 

Isaiah 43:19

43:19 “Look, I am about to do something new.

Now it begins to happen! ⁶  Do you not recognize ⁷  it?

Yes, I will make a road in the desert

and paths ⁸  in the wilderness.

Isaiah 45:8

45:8 O sky, rain down from above!

Let the clouds send down showers ⁹  of deliverance!

Let the earth absorb it ¹⁰  so salvation may grow, ¹¹ 

and deliverance may sprout up ¹²  along with it.

I, the Lord, create it. ¹³ 

Isaiah 58:8

58:8 Then your light will shine like the sunrise; ¹⁴ 

your restoration will quickly arrive; ¹⁵ 

your godly behavior ¹⁶  will go before you,

and the Lord’s splendor will be your rear guard. ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 55:10

55:10 ¹⁸ The rain and snow fall from the sky

and do not return,

but instead water the earth

and make it produce and yield crops,

and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat.

[61:11]  ¹ tn Or perhaps, “righteousness,” but the context seems to emphasize deliverance and restoration (see v. 10 and 62:1).

[61:11]  ² tn Heb “and praise before all the nations.”

[44:4]  ³ tn The Hebrew term בֵין (ven) is usually taken as a preposition, in which case one might translate, “among the grass.” But בֵין is probably the name of a tree (cf. C. R. North, Second Isaiah, 133). If one alters the preposition bet (בְּ) to kaf (כְּ), one can then read, “like a binu-tree.” (The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a supports this reading.) This forms a nice parallel to “like poplars” in the next line. חָצִיר (khatsir) is functioning as an adverbial accusative of location.

[42:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “the former things, look, they have come.”

[42:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “before they sprout up, I cause you to hear.” The pronoun “you” is plural, referring to the people of Israel. In this verse “the former things” are the Lord’s earlier predictive oracles which have come to pass, while “the new things” are predicted events that have not yet begun to take place. “The former things” are earlier events in Israel’s history which God announced beforehand, such as the Exodus (see 43:16-18). “The new things” are the predictions about the servant (42:1-7). and may also include Cyrus’ conquests (41:25-27).

[43:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “sprouts up”; NASB “will spring forth.”

[43:19]  ⁸ tn Or “know” (KJV, ASV); NASB “be aware of”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “perceive.”

[43:19]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew texts has “streams,” probably under the influence of v. 20. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has נתיבות (“paths”).

[45:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “let the clouds drip with”; KJV “let the skies pour down.”

[45:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “open up” (so NASB); NIV, NLT “open wide.”

[45:8]  ¹¹ tc The plural verb should be emended to a singular form. The vav (ו) ending is probably virtually dittographic (note the yod at the beginning of the following word).

[45:8]  ¹² tc The Hiphil verb form (תַצְמִיחַ, tatsmiakh) should probably be emended to a Qal (תִצְמַח, titsmakh). The יח sequence at the end of the form is probably due to dittography (note the following יַחַד, yakhad).

[45:8]  ¹³ tn The masculine singular pronominal suffix probably refers back to יָשַׁע (yasha’, “salvation”).

[58:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “will burst out like the dawn.”

[58:8]  ¹² tn Heb “prosper”; KJV “spring forth speedily.”

[58:8]  ¹³ tn Or “righteousness.” Their godly behavior will be on display for all to see.

[58:8]  ¹⁴ sn The nation will experience God’s protective presence.

[55:10]  ¹³ tn This verse begins in the Hebrew text with כִּי כַּאֲשֶׁר (ki ka’asher, “for, just as”), which is completed by כֵּן (ken, “so, in the same way”) at the beginning of v. 11. For stylistic reasons, this lengthy sentence is divided up into separate sentences in the translation.