28:29 This also comes from the Lord who commands armies,
who gives supernatural guidance and imparts great wisdom. 1
33:2 Lord, be merciful to us! We wait for you.
Give us strength each morning! 2
Deliver us when distress comes. 3
59:20 “A protector 4 comes to Zion,
to those in Jacob who repent of their rebellious deeds,” 5 says the Lord.
1 sn Verses 23-29 emphasize that God possesses great wisdom and has established a natural order. Evidence of this can be seen in the way farmers utilize divinely imparted wisdom to grow and harvest crops. God’s dealings with his people will exhibit this same kind of wisdom and order. Judgment will be accomplished according to a divinely ordered timetable and, while severe enough, will not be excessive. Judgment must come, just as planting inevitably follows plowing. God will, as it were, thresh his people, but he will not crush them to the point where they will be of no use to him.
2 tn Heb “Be their arm each morning.” “Arm” is a symbol for strength. The mem suffixed to the noun has been traditionally understood as a third person suffix, but this is contrary to the context, where the people speak of themselves in the first person. The mem (מ) is probably enclitic with ellipsis of the pronoun, which can be supplied from the context. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:589, n. 1.
3 tn Heb “[Be] also our deliverance in the time of distress.”
4 tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
5 tn Heb “and to those who turn from rebellion in Jacob.”