2:6 Indeed, O Lord, 1 you have abandoned your people,
the descendants of Jacob.
For diviners from the east are everywhere; 2
they consult omen readers like the Philistines do. 3
Plenty of foreigners are around. 4
10:20 At that time 5 those left in Israel, those who remain of the family 6 of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. 7 Instead they will truly 8 rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 9
29:23 For when they see their children,
whom I will produce among them, 10
they will honor 11 my name.
They will honor the Holy One of Jacob; 12
they will respect 13 the God of Israel.
40:27 Why do you say, Jacob,
Why do you say, Israel,
“The Lord is not aware of what is happening to me, 14
My God is not concerned with my vindication”? 15
42:24 Who handed Jacob over to the robber?
Who handed Israel over to the looters? 16
Was it not the Lord, against whom we sinned?
They refused to follow his commands;
they disobeyed his law. 17
43:1 Now, this is what the Lord says,
the one who created you, O Jacob,
and formed you, O Israel:
“Don’t be afraid, for I will protect 18 you.
I call you by name, you are mine.
44:2 This is what the Lord, the one who made you, says –
the one who formed you in the womb and helps you:
“Don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob,
Jeshurun, 19 whom I have chosen!
44:5 One will say, ‘I belong to the Lord,’
and another will use 20 the name ‘Jacob.’
One will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’
and use the name ‘Israel.’” 21
45:4 For the sake of my servant Jacob,
Israel, my chosen one,
I call you by name
and give you a title of respect, even though you do not recognize 22 me.
45:19 I have not spoken in secret,
in some hidden place. 23
I did not tell Jacob’s descendants,
‘Seek me in vain!’ 24
I am the Lord,
the one who speaks honestly,
who makes reliable announcements. 25
46:3 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob, 26
all you who are left from the family of Israel, 27
you who have been carried from birth, 28
you who have been supported from the time you left the womb. 29
58:14 Then you will find joy in your relationship to the Lord, 30
and I will give you great prosperity, 31
and cause crops to grow on the land I gave to your ancestor Jacob.” 32
Know for certain that the Lord has spoken. 33
60:16 You will drink the milk of nations;
you will nurse at the breasts of kings. 34
Then you will recognize that I, the Lord, am your deliverer,
your protector, 35 the powerful ruler of Jacob. 36
65:9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
and from Judah people to take possession of my mountains.
My chosen ones will take possession of the land; 37
my servants will live there.
1 tn The words “O Lord” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Isaiah addresses the Lord in prayer.
2 tc Heb “they are full from the east.” Various scholars retain the BHS reading and suggest that the prophet makes a general statement concerning Israel’s reliance on foreign customs (J. Watts, Isaiah [WBC], 1:32; J. de Waard, Isaiah, 12-13). Nevertheless, it appears that a word is missing. Based on the parallelism (note “omen readers” in 5:6c), many suggest that קֹסְמִים (qosÿmim, “diviners”) or מִקְסָם (miqsam, “divination”) has been accidentally omitted. Homoioteleuton could account for the omission of an original קֹסְמִים (note how this word and the following מִקֶּדֶם [miqqedem, “from the east”] both end in mem); an original מִקְסָם could have fallen out by homoioarcton (note how this word and the following מִקֶּדֶם both begin with mem).
3 tn Heb “and omen readers like the Philistines.” Through this line and the preceding, the prophet contends that Israel has heavily borrowed the pagan practices of the east and west (in violation of Lev 19:26; Deut 18:9-14).
4 tn Heb “and with the children of foreigners they [?].” The precise meaning of the final word is uncertain. Some take this verb (I שָׂפַק, safaq) to mean “slap,” supply the object “hands,” and translate, “they slap [hands] with foreigners”; HALOT 1349 s.v. I שׂפק. This could be a reference to foreign alliances. This translation has two disadvantages: It requires the conjectural insertion of “hands” and the use of this verb with its object prefixed with a בְּ (bet) preposition with this meaning does not occur elsewhere. The other uses of this verb refer to clapping at someone, an indication of hostility. The translation above assumes the verb is derived from II שׂפק (“to suffice,” attested in the Qal in 1 Kgs 20:10; HALOT 1349 s.v. II שׂפק). In this case the point is that a sufficient number of foreigners (in this case, too many!) live in the land. The disadvantage of this option is that the preposition prefixed to “the children of foreigners” does not occur with this verb elsewhere. The chosen translation is preferred since it continues the idea of abundant foreign influence and does not require a conjectural insertion or emendation.
5 tn Or “in that day.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
6 tn Heb “house” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
7 tn Heb “on one who strikes him down.” This individual is the king (“foreign leader”) of the oppressing nation (which NLT specifies as “the Assyrians”).
8 tn Or “sincerely”; KJV, ASV, NAB, NRSV “in truth.”
9 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
10 tn Heb “for when he sees his children, the work of my hands in his midst.”
11 tn Or “treat as holy” (also in the following line); NASB, NRSV “will sanctify.”
12 sn Holy One of Jacob is similar to the phrase “Holy One of Israel” common throughout Isaiah; see the sn at Isa 1:4.
13 tn Or “fear,” in the sense of “stand in awe of.”
14 tn Heb “my way is hidden from the Lord” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
15 tn Heb “and from my God my justice passes away”; NRSV “my right is disregarded by my God.”
16 tn Heb “Who gave to the robber Jacob, and Israel to the looters?” In the first line the consonantal text (Kethib) has מְשׁוֹסֶה (mÿshoseh), a Polel participle from שָׁסָה (shasah, “plunder”). The marginal reading (Qere) is מְשִׁיסָּה (mÿshissah), a noun meaning “plunder.” In this case one could translate “Who handed Jacob over as plunder?”
17 tn Heb “they were not willing in his ways to walk, and they did not listen to his law.”
18 tn Or “redeem.” See the note at 41:14. Cf. NCV “saved you”; CEV “rescued you”; NLT “ransomed you.”
19 sn Jeshurun is a poetic name for Israel; it occurs here and in Deut 32:15; 33:5, 26.
20 tn The Hebrew text has a Qal verb form, “and another will call by the name of Jacob.” With support from Symmachus (an ancient Greek textual witness), some read the Niphal, “and another will be called by the name of Jacob.”
21 tn Heb “and by the name of Israel he will title.” Some, with support from several ancient versions, prefer to change the Piel (active) verb form to a Pual (passive), “and he will be titled by the name of Israel.”
22 tn Or “know” (NCV, NRSV, TEV, NLT); NIV “acknowledge.”
23 tn Heb “in a place of a land of darkness” (ASV similar); NASB “in some dark land.”
24 tn “In vain” translates תֹהוּ (tohu), used here as an adverbial accusative: “for nothing.”
25 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.”
26 tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV “descendants of Jacob.”
27 tn Heb “and all the remnant of the house of Israel.”
28 tn Heb “from the womb” (so NRSV); KJV “from the belly”; NAB “from your infancy.”
29 tn Heb “who have been lifted up from the womb.”
30 tn For a parallel use of the phrase “find joy in” (Hitpael of עָנַג [’anag] followed by the preposition עַל [’al]), see Ps 37:4.
31 tn Heb “and I will cause you to ride upon the heights of the land.” The statement seems to be an allusion to Deut 32:13, where it is associated, as here, with God’s abundant provision of food.
32 tn Heb “and I will cause you to eat the inheritance of Jacob your father.” The Hebrew term נַחֲלָה (nakhalah) likely stands by metonymy for the crops that grow on Jacob’s “inheritance” (i.e., the land he inherited as a result of God’s promise).
33 tn Heb “for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” The introductory כִּי (ki) may be asseverative (as reflected in the translation) or causal/explanatory, explaining why the preceding promise will become reality (because it is guaranteed by the divine word).
34 sn The nations and kings are depicted as a mother nursing her children. Restored Zion will be nourished by them as she receives their wealth as tribute.
35 tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
36 sn See 1:24 and 49:26.
37 tn Heb “it.” The third feminine singular pronominal suffix probably refers to the land which contains the aforementioned mountains.