17:12 The many nations massing together are as good as dead, 1
those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea’s waves. 2
The people making such an uproar are as good as dead, 3
those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves. 4
17:13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, 5
when he shouts at 6 them, they will flee to a distant land,
driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills,
or like dead thistles 7 before a strong gale.
49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;
they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. 8
Then all humankind 9 will recognize that
I am the Lord, your deliverer,
your protector, 10 the powerful ruler of Jacob.” 11
53:12 So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, 12
he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, 13
because he willingly submitted 14 to death
and was numbered with the rebels,
when he lifted up the sin of many
and intervened 15 on behalf of the rebels.”
1 tn Heb “Woe [to] the massing of the many nations.” The word הוֹי (hoy) could be translated as a simple interjection here (“ah!”), but since the following verses announce the demise of these nations, it is preferable to take הוֹי as a funeral cry. See the note on the first phrase of 1:4.
2 tn Heb “like the loud noise of the seas, they make a loud noise.”
3 tn Heb “the uproar of the peoples.” The term הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse; the words “are as good as dead” are supplied in the translation to reflect this.
4 tn Heb “like the uproar of mighty waters they are in an uproar.”
5 tn Heb “the peoples are in an uproar like the uproar of mighty waters.”
6 tn Or “rebukes.” The verb and related noun are used in theophanies of God’s battle cry which terrifies his enemies. See, for example, Pss 18:15; 76:7; 106:9; Isa 50:2; Nah 1:4, and A. Caquot, TDOT 3:49-53.
7 tn Or perhaps “tumbleweed” (NAB, NIV, CEV); KJV “like a rolling thing.”
8 sn Verse 26a depicts siege warfare and bloody defeat. The besieged enemy will be so starved they will their own flesh. The bloodstained bodies lying on the blood-soaked battle site will look as if they collapsed in drunkenness.
9 tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).
10 tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
11 tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.” See 1:24.
12 tn Scholars have debated the precise meaning of the term רַבִּים (rabbim) that occurs five times in this passage (Isa 52:14, 15; 53:11, 12 [2x]). Its two broad categories of translation are “much”/“many” and “great” (HALOT 1171-72 s.v. I רַב). Unlike other Hebrew terms for might or strength, this term is linked with numbers or abundance. In all sixteen uses outside of Isaiah 52:13-53:12 (articular and plural) it signifies an inclusive meaning: “the majority” or “the multitude” (J. Jeremias, TDNT 6:536-37). This term occurs in parallelism with עֲצוּמִים (’atsumim), which normally signifies “numerous” or “large” or “powerful” (through large numbers). Like רַבִּים (rabbim), it refers to greatness in numbers (cf. Deut 4:38; 7:1; 9:1; 11:34). It emphasizes the multitudes with whom the Servant will share the spoil of his victory. As J. Olley wrote: “Yahweh has won the victory and vindicates his Servant, giving to him many subservient people, together with their spoils. These numerous peoples in turn receive blessing, sharing in the “peace” resulting from Yahweh’s victory and the Servant’s suffering” (John W. Olley, “‘The Many’: How Is Isa 53,12a to Be Understood,” Bib 68 [1987]: 330-56).
13 sn The servant is compared here to a warrior who will be richly rewarded for his effort and success in battle.
14 tn Heb “because he laid bare his life”; traditionally, ASV “because he (+ hath KJV) poured out his soul (life NIV) unto death.”
15 tn The Hiphil of פָּגַע (paga’) can mean “cause to attack” (v. 6), “urge, plead verbally” (Jer 15:11; 36:25), or “intervene militarily” (Isa 59:16). Perhaps the third nuance fits best here, for military imagery is employed in the first two lines of the verse.