2:3 many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain,
to the temple of the God of Jacob,
so 1 he can teach us his requirements, 2
and 3 we can follow his standards.” 4
For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; 5
the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem. 6
42:5 This is what the true God, 7 the Lord, says –
the one who created the sky and stretched it out,
the one who fashioned the earth and everything that lives on it, 8
the one who gives breath to the people on it,
and life to those who live on it: 9
44:15 A man uses it to make a fire; 10
he takes some of it and warms himself.
Yes, he kindles a fire and bakes bread.
Then he makes a god and worships it;
he makes an idol and bows down to it. 11
45:18 For this is what the Lord says,
the one who created the sky –
he is the true God, 12
the one who formed the earth and made it;
he established it,
he did not create it without order, 13
he formed it to be inhabited –
“I am the Lord, I have no peer.
48:1 Listen to this, O family of Jacob, 14
you who are called by the name ‘Israel,’
and are descended from Judah, 15
who take oaths in the name of the Lord,
and invoke 16 the God of Israel –
but not in an honest and just manner. 17
49:5 So now the Lord says,
the one who formed me from birth 18 to be his servant –
he did this 19 to restore Jacob to himself,
so that Israel might be gathered to him;
and I will be honored 20 in the Lord’s sight,
for my God is my source of strength 21 –
60:9 Indeed, the coastlands 22 look eagerly for me,
the large ships 23 are in the lead,
bringing your sons from far away,
along with their silver and gold,
to honor the Lord your God, 24
the Holy One of Israel, 25 for he has bestowed honor on you.
61:10 I 26 will greatly rejoice 27 in the Lord;
I will be overjoyed because of my God. 28
For he clothes me in garments of deliverance;
he puts on me a robe symbolizing vindication. 29
I look like a bridegroom when he wears a turban as a priest would;
I look like a bride when she puts on her jewelry. 30
1 tn The prefixed verb form with simple vav (ו) introduces a purpose/result clause after the preceding prefixed verb form (probably to be taken as a cohortative; see IBHS 650 §39.2.2a).
2 tn Heb “his ways.” In this context God’s “ways” are the standards of moral conduct he decrees that people should live by.
3 tn The cohortative with vav (ו) after the prefixed verb form indicates the ultimate purpose/goal of their action.
4 tn Heb “walk in his ways.”
5 tn Heb “for out of Zion will go instruction.”
6 tn Heb “the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
7 tn Heb “the God.” The definite article here indicates distinctiveness or uniqueness.
8 tn Heb “and its offspring” (so NASB); NIV “all that comes out of it.”
9 tn Heb “and spirit [i.e., “breath”] to the ones walking in it” (NAB, NASB, and NRSV all similar).
10 tn Heb “and it becomes burning [i.e., firewood] for a man”; NAB “to serve man for fuel.”
11 tn Or perhaps, “them.”
12 tn Heb “he [is] the God.” The article here indicates uniqueness.
13 tn Or “unformed.” Gen 1:2 describes the world as “unformed” (תֹהוּ, tohu) prior to God’s creative work, but God then formed the world and made it fit for habitation.
14 tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV, CEV “people of Israel.”
15 tc The Hebrew text reads literally “and from the waters of Judah came out.” מִמֵּי (mimme) could be a corruption of מִמְּעֵי (mimmÿ’e, “from the inner parts of”; cf. NASB, NIV, NLT, NRSV) as suggested in the above translation. Some translations (ESV, NKJV) retain the MT reading because the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa, which corrects a similar form to “from inner parts of” in 39:7, does not do it here.
16 tn Heb “cause to remember”; KJV, ASV “make mention of.”
17 tn Heb “not in truth and not in righteousness.”
18 tn Heb “from the womb” (so KJV, NASB).
19 tn The words “he did this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct of purpose is subordinated to the previous statement.
20 tn The vav (ו) + imperfect is translated here as a result clause; one might interpret it as indicating purpose, “and so I might be honored.”
21 tn Heb “and my God is [perhaps, “having been”] my strength.” The disjunctive structure (vav [ו] + subject + verb) is interpreted here as indicating a causal circumstantial clause.
22 tn Or “islands” (NIV); CEV “distant islands”; TEV “distant lands.”
23 tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” See the note at 2:16.
24 tn Heb “to the name of the Lord your God.”
25 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
26 sn The speaker in vv. 10-11 is not identified, but it is likely that the personified nation (or perhaps Zion) responds here to the Lord’s promise of restoration.
27 tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.
28 tn Heb “my being is happy in my God”; NAB “in my God is the joy of my soul.”
29 tn Heb “robe of vindication”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “robe of righteousness.”
30 tn Heb “like a bridegroom [who] acts like a priest [by wearing] a turban, and like a bride [who] wears her jewelry.” The words “I look” are supplied for stylistic reasons and clarification.