Discovery BoxIsaiah 41:8-9 
Context41:8 “You, my servant Israel,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
offspring of Abraham my friend, 1
41:9 you whom I am bringing back 2 from the earth’s extremities,
and have summoned from the remote regions –
I told you, “You are my servant.”
I have chosen you and not rejected you.
Isaiah 44:1-2
Context44:1 “Now, listen, Jacob my servant,
Israel whom I have chosen!”
44:2 This is what the Lord, the one who made you, says –
the one who formed you in the womb and helps you:
“Don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob,
Jeshurun, 3 whom I have chosen!
Isaiah 44:21
Context44:21 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
1 tn Or perhaps, “covenantal partner” (see 1 Kgs 5:15 HT [5:1 ET]; 2 Chr 20:7).
2 tn Heb “whom I have taken hold of [i.e., to lead back].”
3 sn Jeshurun is a poetic name for Israel; it occurs here and in Deut 32:15; 33:5, 26.
4 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).
