Psalms 66:10-12

66:10 For ¹  you, O God, tested us;

you purified us like refined silver.

66:11 You led us into a trap; ² 

you caused us to suffer. ³ 

66:12 You allowed men to ride over our heads;

we passed through fire and water,

but you brought us out into a wide open place. ⁴ 

Isaiah 11:15-16

11:15 The Lord will divide ⁵  the gulf ⁶  of the Egyptian Sea; ⁷ 

he will wave his hand over the Euphrates River ⁸  and send a strong wind, ⁹ 

he will turn it into seven dried-up streams, ¹⁰ 

and enable them to walk across in their sandals.

11:16 There will be a highway leading out of Assyria

for the remnant of his people, ¹¹ 

just as there was for Israel,

when ¹²  they went up from the land of Egypt.

Isaiah 42:15-16

42:15 I will make the trees on the mountains and hills wither up; ¹³ 

I will dry up all their vegetation.

I will turn streams into islands, ¹⁴ 

and dry up pools of water. ¹⁵ 

42:16 I will lead the blind along an unfamiliar way; ¹⁶ 

I will guide them down paths they have never traveled. ¹⁷ 

I will turn the darkness in front of them into light,

and level out the rough ground. ¹⁸ 

This is what I will do for them.

I will not abandon them.

Isaiah 43:2

43:2 When you pass through the waters, I am with you;

when you pass ¹⁹  through the streams, they will not overwhelm you.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;

the flames will not harm ²⁰  you.

[66:10]  ¹ tn Or “indeed.”

[66:11]  ² tn Heb “you brought us into a net.” This rare word for “net” also occurs in Ezek 12:13; 13:21; 17:20.

[66:11]  ³ tn Heb “you placed suffering on our hips.” The noun מוּעָקָה (mu’aqah, “suffering”) occurs only here in the OT.

[66:12]  ⁴ tc The MT reads רְוָיָה (“saturation”) but this should be emended to רְוָחָה (rÿvakhah, “wide open place”; i.e., “relief”), a reading supported by several ancient versions (LXX, Syriac, Jerome, Targum).

[11:15]  ⁵ tn The verb is usually understood as “put under the ban, destroy,” or emended to חָרָב (kharav, “dry up”). However, HALOT 354 s.v. II חרם proposes a homonymic root meaning “divide.”

[11:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “tongue” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[11:15]  ⁷ sn That is, the Red Sea.

[11:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “the river”; capitalized in some English versions (e.g., ASV, NASB, NRSV) as a reference to the Euphrates River.

[11:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “with the [?] of his wind” [or “breath”]. The Hebrew term עַיָם (’ayam) occurs only here. Some attempt to relate the word to an Arabic root and translate, “scorching [or “hot”] wind.” This interpretation fits especially well if one reads “dry up” in the previous line. Others prefer to emend the form to עֹצֶם (’otsem, “strong”). See HALOT 817 s.v. עֲצַם.

[11:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “seven streams.” The Hebrew term נַחַל (nakhal, “stream”) refers to a wadi, or seasonal stream, which runs during the rainy season, but is otherwise dry. The context (see v. 15b) here favors the translation, “dried up streams.” The number seven suggests totality and completeness. Here it indicates that God’s provision for escape will be thorough and more than capable of accommodating the returning exiles.

[11:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and there will be a highway for the remnant of his people who remain, from Assyria.”

[11:16]  ¹² tn Heb “in the day” (so KJV).

[42:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “I will dry up the mountains and hills.” The “mountains and hills” stand by synecdoche for the trees that grow on them. Some prefer to derive the verb from a homonymic root and translate, “I will lay waste.”

[42:15]  ¹⁴ tc The Hebrew text reads, “I will turn streams into coastlands [or “islands”].” Scholars who believe that this reading makes little sense have proposed an emendation of אִיִּים (’iyyim, “islands”) to צִיּוֹת (tsiyyot, “dry places”; cf. NCV, NLT, TEV). However, since all the versions support the MT reading, there is insufficient grounds for an emendation here. Although the imagery of changing rivers into islands is somewhat strange, J. N. Oswalt describes this imagery against the backdrop of rivers of the Near East. The receding of these rivers at times occasioned the appearance of previously submerged islands (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:126).

[42:15]  ¹⁵ sn The imagery of this verse, which depicts the Lord bringing a curse of infertility to the earth, metaphorically describes how the Lord will destroy his enemies.

[42:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a way they do not know” (so NASB); NRSV “a road they do not know.”

[42:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in paths they do not know I will make them walk.”

[42:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and the rough ground into a level place.”

[43:2]  ¹⁹ tn The verb is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[43:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “burn” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV, NLT “consume”; NIV “set you ablaze.”