Discovery BoxPsalms 44:3
Context44:3 For they did not conquer 1 the land by their swords,
and they did not prevail by their strength, 2
but rather by your power, 3 strength 4 and good favor, 5
for you were partial to 6 them.
Isaiah 40:10-11
Context40:10 Look, the sovereign Lord comes as a victorious warrior; 7
his military power establishes his rule. 8
Look, his reward is with him;
his prize goes before him. 9
40:11 Like a shepherd he tends his flock;
he gathers up the lambs with his arm;
he carries them close to his heart; 10
he leads the ewes along.
Isaiah 51:5
Context51:5 I am ready to vindicate, 11
I am ready to deliver, 12
I will establish justice among the nations. 13
The coastlands 14 wait patiently for me;
they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power. 15
Isaiah 51:9
Context51:9 Wake up! Wake up!
Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord! 16
Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity!
Did you not smash 17 the Proud One? 18
Did you not 19 wound the sea monster? 20
Isaiah 51:1
Context51:1 “Listen to me, you who pursue godliness, 21
who seek the Lord!
Look at the rock from which you were chiseled,
at the quarry 22 from which you were dug! 23
Colossians 1:24
Context1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.
[44:3] 1 tn Or “take possession of.”
[44:3] 2 tn Heb “and their arm did not save them.” The “arm” here symbolizes military strength.
[44:3] 3 tn Heb “your right hand.” The
[44:3] 5 tn Heb “light of your face.” The idiom “light of your face” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 4:6; 31:16; 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19; 89:15; Dan 9:17).
[44:3] 6 tn Or “favorable toward.”
[40:10] 7 tn Heb “comes as a strong one”; ASV “will come as a mighty one.” The preposition בְּ (bet) here carries the nuance “in the capacity of.” It indicates that the Lord possesses the quality expressed by the noun. See GKC 379 §119.i and HALOT 104 s.v. בְּ.
[40:10] 8 tn Heb “his arm rules for him” (so NIV, NRSV). The Lord’s “arm” symbolizes his military power (see Isa 51:9-10; 63:5).
[40:10] 9 tn As the Lord returns to Jerusalem as a victorious warrior, he brings with him the spoils of victory, called here his “reward” and “prize.” These terms might also be translated “wages” and “recompense.” Verse 11 indicates that his rescued people, likened to a flock of sheep, are his reward.
[40:11] 10 tn Heb “in his bosom” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV), an expression which reflects closeness and protective care.
[51:5] 11 tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”] is near.”
[51:5] 12 tn Heb “my deliverance goes forth.”
[51:5] 13 tn Heb “and my arms will judge [on behalf of] nations.”
[51:5] 14 tn Or “islands” (NIV); TEV “Distant lands.”
[51:5] 15 tn Heb “for my arm” (so NIV, NRSV).
[51:9] 16 tn The arm of the Lord is a symbol of divine military power. Here it is personified and told to arouse itself from sleep and prepare for action.
[51:9] 17 tn Heb “Are you not the one who smashed?” The feminine singular forms agree grammatically with the feminine noun “arm.” The Hebrew text has ַהמַּחְצֶבֶת (hammakhtsevet), from the verbal root חָצַב (khatsav, “hew, chop”). The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has, probably correctly, המחצת, from the verbal root מָחַץ (makhats, “smash”) which is used in Job 26:12 to describe God’s victory over “the Proud One.”
[51:9] 18 tn This title (רַהַב, rahav, “proud one”) is sometimes translated as a proper name: “Rahab” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). It is used here of a symbolic sea monster, known elsewhere in the Bible and in Ugaritic myth as Leviathan. This sea creature symbolizes the forces of chaos that seek to destroy the created order. In the Bible “the Proud One” opposes God’s creative work, but is defeated (see Job 26:12; Ps 89:10). Here the title refers to Pharaoh’s Egyptian army that opposed Israel at the Red Sea (see v. 10, and note also Isa 30:7 and Ps 87:4, where the title is used of Egypt).
[51:9] 19 tn The words “did you not” are understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line). The rhetorical questions here and in v. 10 expect the answer, “Yes, you certainly did!”
[51:9] 20 tn Hebrew תַּנִּין (tannin) is another name for the symbolic sea monster. See the note at 27:1. In this context the sea creature represents Egypt. See the note on the title “Proud One” earlier in this verse.
[51:1] 21 tn Or “righteousness” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “justice”; NLT “hope for deliverance.”
[51:1] 22 tn Heb “the excavation of the hole.”
[51:1] 23 sn The “rock” and “quarry” refer here to Abraham and Sarah, the progenitors of the nation.
