22:20 “At that time 1 I will summon my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah.
41:8 “You, my servant Israel,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
offspring of Abraham my friend, 2
49:3 He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, through whom I will reveal my splendor.” 3
52:13 “Look, my servant will succeed! 4
He will be elevated, lifted high, and greatly exalted 5 –
1 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.
2 tn Or perhaps, “covenantal partner” (see 1 Kgs 5:15 HT [5:1 ET]; 2 Chr 20:7).
3 sn This verse identifies the servant as Israel. This seems to refer to the exiled nation (cf. 41:8-9; 44:1-2, 21; 45:4; 48:20), but in vv. 5-6 this servant says he has been commissioned to reconcile Israel to God, so he must be distinct from the exiled nation. This servant is an ideal “Israel” who, like Moses of old, mediates a covenant for the nation (see v. 8), leads them out of bondage (v. 9a), and carries out God’s original plan for Israel by positively impacting the pagan nations (see v. 6b). By living according to God’s law, Israel was to be a model of God’s standards of justice to the surrounding nations (Deut 4:6-8). The sinful nation failed, but the servant, the ideal “Israel,” will succeed by establishing justice throughout the earth.
4 tn Heb “act wisely,” which by metonymy means “succeed.”
5 tn This piling up of synonyms emphasizes the degree of the servant’s coming exaltation.