14:24 1 The Lord who commands armies makes this solemn vow:
“Be sure of this:
Just as I have intended, so it will be;
just as I have planned, it will happen.
26:1 At that time 4 this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
“We have a strong city!
The Lord’s 5 deliverance, like walls and a rampart, makes it secure. 6
41:2 Who stirs up this one from the east? 7
Who 8 officially commissions him for service? 9
He hands nations over to him, 10
and enables him to subdue 11 kings.
He makes them like dust with his sword,
like windblown straw with his bow. 12
44:12 A blacksmith works with his tool 13
and forges metal over the coals.
He forms it 14 with hammers;
he makes it with his strong arm.
He gets hungry and loses his energy; 15
he drinks no water and gets tired.
44:17 With the rest of it he makes a god, his idol;
he bows down to it and worships it.
He prays to it, saying,
‘Rescue me, for you are my god!’
45:19 I have not spoken in secret,
in some hidden place. 16
I did not tell Jacob’s descendants,
‘Seek me in vain!’ 17
I am the Lord,
the one who speaks honestly,
who makes reliable announcements. 18
46:6 Those who empty out gold from a purse
and weigh out silver on the scale 19
hire a metalsmith, who makes it into a god.
They then bow down and worship it.
48:21 They do not thirst as he leads them through dry regions;
he makes water flow out of a rock for them;
he splits open a rock and water flows out.’ 20
50:4 The sovereign Lord has given me the capacity to be his spokesman, 21
so that I know how to help the weary. 22
He wakes me up every morning;
he makes me alert so I can listen attentively as disciples do. 23
58:12 Your perpetual ruins will be rebuilt; 24
you will reestablish the ancient foundations.
You will be called, ‘The one who repairs broken walls,
the one who makes the streets inhabitable again.’ 25
1 sn Having announced the downfall of the Chaldean empire, the Lord appends to this prophecy a solemn reminder that the Assyrians, the major Mesopotamian power of Isaiah’s day, would be annihilated, foreshadowing what would subsequently happen to Babylon and the other hostile nations.
2 tn Heb “in three years, like the years of a hired worker.” The three years must be reckoned exactly, just as a hired worker would carefully keep track of the time he had agreed to work for an employer in exchange for a predetermined wage.
3 tn Heb “and the splendor of Moab will be disgraced with all the great multitude, and a small little remnant will not be strong.”
4 tn Heb “In that day” (so KJV).
5 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “deliverance he makes walls and a rampart.”
7 sn The expression this one from the east refers to the Persian conqueror Cyrus, as later texts indicate (see 44:28-45:6; 46:11; 48:14-16).
8 tn The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis.
9 tn Heb “[in] righteousness called him to his foot.”
10 tn Heb “he [the Lord] places before him [Cyrus] nations.”
11 tn The verb יַרְדְּ (yardÿ) is an otherwise unattested Hiphil form from רָדָה (radah, “rule”). But the Hiphil makes no sense with “kings” as object; one must understand an ellipsis and supply “him” (Cyrus) as the object. The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has יוֹרִד (yorid), which appears to be a Hiphil form from יָרַד (yarad, “go down”). Others suggest reading יָרֹד (yarod), a Qal form from רָדַד (radad, “beat down”).
12 sn The point is that they are powerless before Cyrus’ military power and scatter before him.
13 tn The noun מַעֲצָד (ma’atsad), which refers to some type of tool used for cutting, occurs only here and in Jer 10:3. See HALOT 615 s.v. מַעֲצָד.
14 tn Some English versions take the pronoun “it” to refer to an idol being fashioned by the blacksmith (cf. NIV, NCV, CEV). NLT understands the referent to be “a sharp tool,” which is then used by the carpenter in the following verse to carve an idol from wood.
15 tn Heb “and there is no strength”; NASB “his strength fails.”
16 tn Heb “in a place of a land of darkness” (ASV similar); NASB “in some dark land.”
17 tn “In vain” translates תֹהוּ (tohu), used here as an adverbial accusative: “for nothing.”
18 tn The translation above assumes that צֶדֶק (tsedeq) and מֵישָׁרִים (mesharim) are adverbial accusatives (see 33:15). If they are taken as direct objects, indicating the content of what is spoken, one might translate, “who proclaims deliverance, who announces justice.”
19 tn Heb “the reed,” probably referring to the beam of a scales. See BDB 889 s.v. קָנֶה 4.c.
20 sn The translation above (present tense) assumes that this verse describes God’s provision for returning Babylonian exiles (see v. 20; 35:6; 49:10) in terms reminiscent of the Exodus from Egypt (see Exod 17:6).
21 tn Heb “has given to me a tongue of disciples.”
sn Verses 4-11 contain the third of the so-called servant songs, which depict the career of the Lord’s special servant, envisioned as an ideal Israel (49:3) who rescues the exiles and fulfills God’s purposes for the world. Here the servant alludes to opposition (something hinted at in 49:4), but also expresses his determination to persevere with the Lord’s help.
22 tc Heb “to know [?] the weary with a word.” Comparing it with Arabic and Aramaic cognates yields the meaning of “help, sustain.” Nevertheless, the meaning of עוּת (’ut) is uncertain. The word occurs only here in the OT (see BDB 736 s.v.). Various scholars have suggested an emendation to עָנוֹת (’anot) from עָנָה (’anah, “answer”): “so that I know how to respond kindly to the weary.” Since the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa and the Vulgate support the MT reading, that reading is retained.
23 tn Heb “he arouses for me an ear, to hear like disciples.”
24 tn Heb “and they will build from you ancient ruins.”
25 tc The Hebrew text has “the one who restores paths for dwelling.” The idea of “paths to dwell in” is not a common notion. Some have proposed emending נְתִיבוֹת (nÿtivot, “paths”) to נְתִיצוֹת (nÿtitsot, “ruins”), a passive participle from נָתַץ (natats, “tear down”; see HALOT 732 s.v. *נְתִיצָה), because tighter parallelism with the preceding line is achieved. However, none of the textual sources support this emendation. The line may mean that paths must be repaired in order to dwell in the land.