36:11 Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, 1 for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect 2 in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”
54:17 No weapon forged to be used against you will succeed;
you will refute everyone who tries to accuse you. 4
This is what the Lord will do for his servants –
I will vindicate them,” 5
says the Lord.
61:6 You will be called, ‘the Lord’s priests,
servants of our God.’ 6
You will enjoy 7 the wealth of nations
and boast about 8 the riches you receive from them. 9
63:17 Why, Lord, do you make us stray 10 from your ways, 11
and make our minds stubborn so that we do not obey you? 12
Return for the sake of your servants,
the tribes of your inheritance!
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; 13
my servants will live there.
65:14 Look, my servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts! 14
But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts; 15
you will wail because your spirits will be crushed. 16
1 sn Aramaic was the diplomatic language of the Assyrian empire.
2 tn Or “in Hebrew” (NIV, NCV, NLT); NAB, NASB “in Judean.”
3 tn Heb “by which the servants of the king of Assyria have insulted me.”
4 tn Heb “and every tongue that rises up for judgment with you will prove to be guilty.”
5 tn Heb “this is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication from me.”
6 tn The Hebrew text adds, “it will be said concerning you.”
7 tn Heb “eat” (KJV, NAB, NASB); NIV “feed on”; NLT “be fed with.”
8 tc The form in the Hebrew text is probably a corruption of יִתְאַמְּרוּ (yit’ammÿru), a Hitpael from אָמַר (’amar), meaning “boast about” (see HALOT 67 s.v. II אמר, HALOT 416 s.v. ימר, and BDB 56 s.v. אָמַר).
9 tn Heb “their glory” (i.e., riches).
10 tn Some suggest a tolerative use of the Hiphil here, “[why do] you allow us to stray?” (cf. NLT). Though the Hiphil of תָעָה (ta’ah) appears to be tolerative in Jer 50:6, elsewhere it is preferable or necessary to take it as causative. See Isa 3:12; 9:15; and 30:28, as well as Gen 20:13; 2 Kgs 21:9; Job 12:24-25; Prov 12:26; Jer 23:13, 32; Hos 4:12; Amos 2:4; Mic 3:5.
11 tn This probably refers to God’s commands.
12 tn Heb “[Why do] you harden our heart[s] so as not to fear you.” The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
sn How direct this hardening is, one cannot be sure. The speaker may envision direct involvement on the Lord’s part. The Lord has brought the exile as judgment for the nation’s sin and now he continues to keep them at arm’s length by blinding them spiritually. The second half of 64:7 might support this, though the precise reading of the final verb is uncertain. On the other hand, the idiom of lament is sometimes ironic and hyperbolically deterministic. For example, Naomi lamented that Shaddai was directly opposing her and bringing her calamity (Ruth 1:20-21), while the author of Ps 88 directly attributes his horrible suffering and loneliness to God (see especially vv. 6-8, 16-18). Both individuals make little, if any, room for intermediate causes or the principle of sin and death which ravages the human race. In the same way, the speaker in Isa 63:17 (who evidences great spiritual sensitivity and is anything but “hardened”) may be referring to the hardships of exile, which discouraged and even embittered the people, causing many of them to retreat from their Yahwistic faith. In this case, the “hardening” in view is more indirect and can be lifted by the Lord’s intervention. Whether the hardening here is indirect or direct, it is important to recognize that the speaker sees it as one of the effects of rebellion against the Lord (note especially 64:5-6).
13 tn Heb “it.” The third feminine singular pronominal suffix probably refers to the land which contains the aforementioned mountains.
14 tn Heb “from the good of the heart.”
15 tn Heb “from the pain of the heart.”
16 tn Heb “from the breaking of the spirit.”