14:25 I will break Assyria 1 in my land,
I will trample them 2 underfoot on my hills.
Their yoke will be removed from my people,
the burden will be lifted from their shoulders. 3
63:9 Through all that they suffered, he suffered too. 4
The messenger sent from his very presence 5 delivered them.
In his love and mercy he protected 6 them;
he lifted them up and carried them throughout ancient times. 7
1 tn Heb “to break Assyria.”
2 tn Heb “him.” This is a collective singular referring to the nation, or a reference to the king of Assyria who by metonymy stands for the entire nation.
3 tn Heb “and his [i.e., Assyria’s] yoke will be removed from them [the people?], and his [Assyria’s] burden from his [the nation’s?] shoulder will be removed.” There are no antecedents in this oracle for the suffixes in the phrases “from them” and “from his shoulder.” Since the Lord’s land and hills are referred to in the preceding line and the statement seems to echo 10:27, it is likely that God’s people are the referents of the suffixes; the translation uses “my people” to indicate this.
4 tn Heb “in all their distress, there was distress to him” (reading לוֹ [lo] with the margin/Qere).
5 tn Heb “the messenger [or “angel”] of his face”; NIV “the angel of his presence.”
sn This may refer to the “angel of God” mentioned in Exod 14:19, who in turn may be identical to the divine “presence” (literally, “face”) referred to in Exod 33:14-15 and Deut 4:37. Here in Isa 63 this messenger may be equated with God’s “holy Spirit” (see vv. 10-11) and “the Spirit of the Lord” (v. 14). See also Ps 139:7, where God’s “Spirit” seems to be equated with his “presence” (literally, “face”) in the synonymous parallelistic structure.
6 tn Or “redeemed” (KJV, NAB, NIV), or “delivered.”
7 tn Heb “all the days of antiquity”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “days of old.”