19:11 The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools; 1
Pharaoh’s wise advisers give stupid advice.
How dare you say to Pharaoh,
“I am one of the sages,
one well-versed in the writings of the ancient kings?” 2
37:26 3 Certainly you must have heard! 4
Long ago I worked it out,
in ancient times I planned 5 it,
and now I am bringing it to pass.
The plan is this:
Fortified cities will crash
into heaps of ruins. 6
44:7 Who is like me? Let him make his claim! 7
Let him announce it and explain it to me –
since I established an ancient people – 8
let them announce future events! 9
58:12 Your perpetual ruins will be rebuilt; 10
you will reestablish the ancient foundations.
You will be called, ‘The one who repairs broken walls,
the one who makes the streets inhabitable again.’ 11
63:9 Through all that they suffered, he suffered too. 12
The messenger sent from his very presence 13 delivered them.
In his love and mercy he protected 14 them;
he lifted them up and carried them throughout ancient times. 15
63:11 His people remembered the ancient times. 16
Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea,
along with the shepherd of 17 his flock?
Where is the one who placed his holy Spirit among them, 18
63:16 For you are our father,
though Abraham does not know us
and Israel does not recognize us.
You, Lord, are our father;
you have been called our protector from ancient times. 19
1 tn Or “certainly the officials of Zoan are fools.” אַךְ (’akh) can carry the sense, “only, nothing but,” or “certainly, surely.”
2 tn Heb “A son of wise men am I, a son of ancient kings.” The term בֶּן (ben, “son of”) could refer to literal descent, but many understand the word, at least in the first line, in its idiomatic sense of “member [of a guild].” See HALOT 138 s.v. בֶּן and J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:371. If this is the case, then one can take the word in a figurative sense in the second line as well, the “son of ancient kings” being one devoted to their memory as preserved in their literature.
3 tn Having quoted the Assyrian king’s arrogant words in vv. 23-24, the Lord now speaks to the king.
4 tn Heb “Have you not heard?” The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s amazement that anyone might be ignorant of what he is about to say.
5 tn Heb “formed” (so KJV, ASV).
6 tn Heb “and it is to cause to crash into heaps of ruins fortified cities.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb תְהִי (tÿhi) is the implied plan, referred to in the preceding lines with third feminine singular pronominal suffixes.
7 tn Heb “let him call” or “let him proclaim” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “Let him stand up and speak.”
8 tc The Hebrew text reads, “from (the time) I established an ancient people, and the coming things.” Various emendations have been proposed. One of the options assumes the reading מַשְׁמִיעִים מֵעוֹלָם אוֹתִיּוֹת (mashmi’im me’olam ’otiyyot); This literally reads “the ones causing to hear from antiquity coming things,” but more idiomatically would read “as for those who predict from antiquity what will happen” (cf. NAB, NEB, REB). The emendation directs the attention of the reader to those who claim to be able to predict the future, challenging them to actually do what they claim they can do. The MT presents Yahweh as an example to whom these alleged “predictors of the future” can compare themselves. Since the ancient versions are unanimous in their support of the MT, the emendations should be set aside.
9 tn Heb and those things which are coming let them declare for themselves.”
10 tn Heb “and they will build from you ancient ruins.”
11 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.
12 tn Heb “in all their distress, there was distress to him” (reading לוֹ [lo] with the margin/Qere).
13 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.
14 tn Or “redeemed” (KJV, NAB, NIV), or “delivered.”
15 tn Heb “all the days of antiquity”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “days of old.”
16 tn Heb “and he remembered the days of antiquity, Moses, his people.” The syntax of the statement is unclear. The translation assumes that “his people” is the subject of the verb “remembered.” If original, “Moses” is in apposition to “the days of antiquity,” more precisely identifying the time period referred to. However, the syntactical awkwardness suggests that “Moses” may have been an early marginal note (perhaps identifying “the shepherd of his flock” two lines later) that has worked its way into the text.
17 tn The Hebrew text has a plural form, which if retained and taken as a numerical plural, would probably refer to Moses, Aaron, and the Israelite tribal leaders at the time of the Exodus. Most prefer to emend the form to the singular (רָעָה, ra’ah) and understand this as a reference just to Moses.
18 sn See the note at v. 10.
19 tn Heb “our protector [or “redeemer”] from antiquity [is] your name.”