Isaiah 66:7

66:7 Before she goes into labor, she gives birth!

Before her contractions begin, she delivers a boy!

Isaiah 26:14

26:14 The dead do not come back to life,

the spirits of the dead do not rise. ¹ 

That is because ²  you came in judgment ³  and destroyed them,

you wiped out all memory of them.

Isaiah 44:21

44:21 Remember these things, O Jacob,

O Israel, for you are my servant.

I formed you to be my servant;

O Israel, I will not forget you! ⁴ 

Isaiah 38:3

38:3 “Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you ⁵  faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, ⁶  and how I have carried out your will.” ⁷  Then Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁸ 

[26:14]  ¹ sn In light of what is said in verse 14b, the “dead” here may be the “masters” mentioned in verse 13.

[26:14]  ² tn The Hebrew term לָכֵן (lakhen) normally indicates a cause-effect relationship between what precedes and follows and is translated, “therefore.” Here, however, it infers the cause from the effect and brings out what is implicit in the previous statement. See BDB 487 s.v.

[26:14]  ³ tn Heb “visited [for harm]” (cf. KJV, ASV); NAB, NRSV “you have punished.”

[44:21]  ¹ tc The verb in the Hebrew text is a Niphal imperfect with a pronominal suffix. Although the Niphal ordinarily has the passive sense, it can have a reflexive nuance as well (see above translation). Some have suggested an emendation to a Qal form: “Do not forget me” (all the ancient versions, NEB, REB; see GKC 369 §117.x). “Do not forget me” would make a good parallel with “remember these things” in the first line. Since the MT is the harder reading and fits with Israel’s complaint that God had forgotten her (Isa 40:27), the MT reading should be retained (NASB, NKJV, NRSV, ESV). The passive has been rendered as an active in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style (so also NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT).

[38:3]  ¹ tn Heb “walked before you.” For a helpful discussion of the background and meaning of this Hebrew idiom, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 254.

[38:3]  ² tn Heb “and with a complete heart”; KJV, ASV “with a perfect heart.”

[38:3]  ³ tn Heb “and that which is good in your eyes I have done.”

[38:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “wept with great weeping”; NCV “cried loudly”; TEV “began to cry bitterly.”