22:19 I will remove you from 1 your office;
you will be thrown down 2 from your position.
25:3 So a strong nation will extol you;
the towns of 3 powerful nations will fear you.
26:3 You keep completely safe the people who maintain their faith,
for they trust in you. 4
31:6 You Israelites! Return to the one against whom you have so blatantly rebelled! 5
33:17 You will see a king in his splendor; 6
you will see a wide land. 7
40:18 To whom can you compare God?
To what image can you liken him?
46:8 Remember this, so you can be brave! 8
Think about it, you rebels! 9
46:12 Listen to me, you stubborn people, 10
you who distance yourself from doing what is right. 11
54:7 “For a short time I abandoned 12 you,
but with great compassion I will gather you.
57:3 But approach, you sons of omen readers,
you offspring of adulteresses and prostitutes! 13
57:7 On every high, elevated hill you prepare your bed;
you go up there to offer sacrifices.
1 tn Heb “I will push you away from.”
2 tn Heb “he will throw you down.” The shift from the first to third person is peculiar and abrupt, but certainly not unprecedented in Hebrew poetry. See GKC 462 §144.p. The third person may be indefinite (“one will throw you down”), in which case the passive translation is justified.
3 tn The Hebrew text has a singular form, but it should be emended to a plural or eliminated altogether. The noun may have been accidentally copied from the preceding verse.
4 tn Heb “[one of] firm purpose you will keep [in] peace, peace, for in you he possesses trust.” The Hebrew term יֵצֶר (yetser) refers to what one devises in the mind; סָמוּךְ (samukh) probably functions here like an attributive adjective and carries the nuance “firm.” So the phrase literally means, “a firm purpose,” but as the object of the verb “keep, guard,” it must stand by metonymy for the one(s) who possess a firm purpose. In this context the “righteous nation” (v. 2) is probably in view and the “firm purpose” refers to their unwavering faith in God’s vindication (see 25:9). In this context שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “peace”), which is repeated for emphasis, likely refers to national security, not emotional or psychological composure (see vv. 1-2). The passive participle בָּטוּחַ (batuakh) expresses a state that results from the subject’s action.
5 tn Heb “Return to the one [against] whom the sons of Israel made deep rebellion.” The syntax is awkward here. A preposition is omitted by ellipsis after the verb (see GKC 446 §138.f, n. 2), and there is a shift from direct address (note the second plural imperative “return”) to the third person (note “they made deep”). For other examples of abrupt shifts in person in poetic style, see GKC 462 §144.p.
6 tn Heb “your eyes will see a king in his beauty”; NIV, NRSV “the king.”
7 tn Heb “a land of distances,” i.e., an extensive land.
8 tn The meaning of the verb אָשַׁשׁ (’ashash, which appears here in the Hitpolel stem) is uncertain. BDB 84 s.v. אשׁשׁ relates it to a root meaning “found, establish” in Arabic; HALOT 100 s.v. II אשׁשׁ gives the meaning “pluck up courage.” The imperative with vav (ו) may indicate purpose following the preceding imperative.
9 tn Heb “return [it], rebels, to heart”; NRSV “recall it to mind, you transgressors.”
10 tn Heb “strong of heart [or, mind]”; KJV “stouthearted”; NAB “fainthearted”; NIV “stubborn-hearted.”
11 tn Heb “who are far from righteousness [or perhaps, “deliverance”].”
12 tn Or “forsook” (NASB).
13 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “offspring of an adulterer [masculine] and [one who] has committed adultery.” Perhaps the text has suffered from transposition of vav (ו) and tav (ת) and מְנָאֵף וַתִּזְנֶה (mÿna’ef vattizneh) should be emended to מְנָאֶפֶת וְזֹנָה (mÿna’efet vÿzonah, “an adulteress and a prostitute”). Both singular nouns would be understood in a collective sense. Most modern English versions render both forms as nouns.