Psalms 39:2

39:2 I was stone silent; ¹ 

I held back the urge to speak. ² 

My frustration grew; ³ 

Psalms 39:9

39:9 I am silent and cannot open my mouth

because of what you have done. ⁴ 

Psalms 39:2

39:2 I was stone silent; ⁵ 

I held back the urge to speak. ⁶ 

My frustration grew; ⁷ 

Psalms 16:10

16:10 You will not abandon me ⁸  to Sheol; ⁹ 

you will not allow your faithful follower ¹⁰  to see ¹¹  the Pit. ¹² 

Isaiah 53:7

53:7 He was treated harshly and afflicted, ¹³ 

but he did not even open his mouth.

Like a lamb led to the slaughtering block,

like a sheep silent before her shearers,

he did not even open his mouth. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 53:1

53:1 Who would have believed ¹⁵  what we ¹⁶  just heard? ¹⁷ 

When ¹⁸  was the Lord’s power ¹⁹  revealed through him?

Isaiah 2:1

The Future Glory of Jerusalem

2:1 Here is the message about Judah and Jerusalem ²⁰  that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz. ²¹ 

[39:2]  ¹ tn Heb “I was mute [with] silence.”

[39:2]  ² tn Heb “I was quiet from good.” He kept quiet, resisting the urge to find emotional release and satisfaction by voicing his lament.

[39:2]  ³ tn Heb “and my pain was stirred up.” Emotional pain is in view here.

[39:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “because you acted.” The psalmist has in mind God’s disciplinary measures (see vv. 10-13).

[39:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “I was mute [with] silence.”

[39:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “I was quiet from good.” He kept quiet, resisting the urge to find emotional release and satisfaction by voicing his lament.

[39:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “and my pain was stirred up.” Emotional pain is in view here.

[16:10]  ⁸ tn Or “my life.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[16:10]  ⁹ sn In ancient Israelite cosmology Sheol is the realm of the dead, viewed as being under the earth’s surface. See L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 165-76.

[16:10]  ¹⁰ tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד [khasid], traditionally rendered “holy one”) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10). The psalmist here refers to himself, as the parallel line (“You will not abandon me to Sheol”) indicates.

[16:10]  ¹¹ tn That is, “experience.” The psalmist is confident that the Lord will protect him in his present crisis (see v. 1) and prevent him from dying.

[16:10]  ¹² tn The Hebrew word שָׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 30:9; 49:9; 55:24; 103:4). Note the parallelism with the previous line.

[53:7]  ¹³ tn The translation assumes the Niphal is passive; another option is take the clause (note the subject + verb pattern) as concessive and the Niphal as reflexive, “though he humbled himself.”

[53:7]  ¹⁴ sn This verse emphasizes the servant’s silent submission. The comparison to a sheep does not necessarily suggest a sacrificial metaphor. Sheep were slaughtered for food as well as for sacrificial rituals, and טֶבַח (tevakh) need not refer to sacrificial slaughter (see Gen 43:16; Prov 7:22; 9:2; Jer 50:27; note also the use of the related verb in Exod 21:37; Deut 28:31; 1 Sam 25:11).

[53:1]  ¹⁵ tn The perfect has a hypothetical force in this rhetorical question. For another example, see Gen 21:7.

[53:1]  ¹⁶ sn The speaker shifts here from God to an unidentified group (note the first person plural pronouns throughout vv. 1-6). The content of the speech suggests that the prophet speaks here as representative of the sinful nation Israel. The group acknowledges its sin and recognizes that the servant suffered on their behalf.

[53:1]  ¹⁷ tn The first half of v. 1 is traditionally translated, “Who has believed our report?” or “Who has believed our message?” as if the group speaking is lamenting that no one will believe what they have to say. But that doesn’t seem to be the point in this context. Here the group speaking does not cast itself in the role of a preacher or evangelist. No, they are repentant sinners, who finally see the light. The phrase “our report” can mean (1) the report which we deliver, or (2) the report which was delivered to us. The latter fits better here, where the report is most naturally taken as the announcement that has just been made in 52:13-15.

[53:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to whom” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[53:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the arm of the Lord.” The “arm of the Lord” is a metaphor of military power; it pictures the Lord as a warrior who bares his arm, takes up his weapon, and crushes his enemies (cf. 51:9-10; 63:5-6). But Israel had not seen the Lord’s military power at work in the servant.

[2:1]  ²⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “the word which Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.”