Job 31:3

31:3 Is it not misfortune for the unjust,

and disaster for those who work iniquity?

Isaiah 28:21

28:21 For the Lord will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim, ¹ 

he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon, ² 

to accomplish his work,

his peculiar work,

to perform his task,

his strange task. ³ 

Isaiah 43:19

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

Now it begins to happen! ⁴  Do you not recognize ⁵  it?

Yes, I will make a road in the desert

and paths ⁶  in the wilderness.

Isaiah 45:7

45:7 I am ⁷  the one who forms light

and creates darkness; ⁸ 

the one who brings about peace

and creates calamity. ⁹ 

I am the Lord, who accomplishes all these things.

Isaiah 45:12

45:12 I made the earth,

I created the people who live ¹⁰  on it.

It was me – my hands ¹¹  stretched out the sky, ¹² 

I give orders to all the heavenly lights. ¹³ 

Jeremiah 31:22

31:22 How long will you vacillate, ¹⁴ 

you who were once like an unfaithful daughter? ¹⁵ 

For I, the Lord, promise ¹⁶  to bring about something new ¹⁷  on the earth,

something as unique as a woman protecting a man!’” ¹⁸ 

[28:21]  ¹ sn This probably alludes to David’s victory over the Philistines at Baal Perazim. See 2 Sam 5:20.

[28:21]  ² sn This probably alludes to the Lord’s victory over the Canaanites at Gibeon, during the days of Joshua. See Josh 10:10-11.

[28:21]  ³ sn God’s judgment of his own people is called “his peculiar work” and “his strange task,” because he must deal with them the way he treated their enemies in the past.

[43:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “sprouts up”; NASB “will spring forth.”

[43:19]  ⁵ tn Or “know” (KJV, ASV); NASB “be aware of”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “perceive.”

[43:19]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew texts has “streams,” probably under the influence of v. 20. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has נתיבות (“paths”).

[45:7]  ⁷ tn The words “I am” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the participle at the beginning of v. 7 stands in apposition to “the Lord” in v. 6.

[45:7]  ⁸ tn On the surface v. 7a appears to describe God’s sovereign control over the cycle of day and night, but the following statement suggests that “light” and “darkness” symbolize “deliverance” and “judgment.”

[45:7]  ⁹ sn This verses affirms that God is ultimately sovereign over his world, including mankind and nations. In accordance with his sovereign will, he can cause wars to cease and peace to predominate (as he was about to do for his exiled people through Cyrus), or he can bring disaster and judgment on nations (as he was about to do to Babylon through Cyrus).

[45:12]  ¹⁰ tn The words “who live” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[45:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I, even my hands”; NASB “I stretched out…with My hands”; NRSV “it was my hands that stretched out.” The same construction occurs at the beginning of v. 13.

[45:12]  ¹² tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[45:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “and to all their host I commanded.” See the notes at 40:26.

[31:22]  ¹⁴ tn The translation “dilly-dally” is suggested by J. Bright, Jeremiah (AB), 276. The verb occurs only here in this stem (the Hitpael) and only one other time in any other stem (the Qal in Song 5:6). The dictionaries define it as “to turn this way and that” (cf., e.g., BDB 330 s.v. חָמַק Hithp.). In the context it refers to turning this way and that looking for the way back.

[31:22]  ¹⁵ sn Israel’s backsliding is forgotten and forgiven. They had once been characterized as an apostate people (3:14, 22; the word “apostate” and “unfaithful” are the same in Hebrew) and figuratively depicted as an adulterous wife (3:20). Now they are viewed as having responded to his invitation (compare 31:18-19 with 3:22-25). Hence they are no longer depicted as an unfaithful daughter but as an unsullied virgin (see the literal translation of “my dear children” in vv. 4, 21 and the study note on v. 4.)

[31:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “For the Lord will create.” The person has been shifted to avoid the possible confusion for some readers of a third person reference to the Lord in what has otherwise been a first person address. The verb “will create” is another one of the many examples of the prophetic perfect that have been seen in the book of Jeremiah. For the significance of the verb “create” here see the study note on “bring about something new.”

[31:22]  ¹⁷ sn Heb “create.” This word is always used with God as the subject and refers to the production of something new or unique, like the creation of the world and the first man and woman (Gen 1:1; 2:3; 1:27; 5:1) or the creation of a new heavens and a new earth in a new age (Isa 65:17), or the bringing about of new and unique circumstances (Num 16:30). Here reference is made contextually to the new exodus, that marvelous deliverance which will be so great that the old will pale in comparison (see the first note on v. 9).

[31:22]  ¹⁸ tn The meaning of this last line is uncertain. The translation has taken it as proverbial for something new and unique. For a fairly complete discussion of most of the options see C. Feinberg, “Jeremiah,” EBC 6:571. For the nuance of “protecting” for the verb here see BDB 686 s.v. סָבַב Po‘ 1 and compare the usage in Deut 32:10.