45:13 It is me – I stir him up and commission him; 3
I will make all his ways level.
He will rebuild my city;
he will send my exiled people home,
but not for a price or a bribe,”
says the Lord who commands armies.
47:8 So now, listen to this,
O one who lives so lavishly, 4
who lives securely,
who says to herself, 5
‘I am unique! No one can compare to me! 6
I will never have to live as a widow;
I will never lose my children.’ 7
49:5 So now the Lord says,
the one who formed me from birth 8 to be his servant –
he did this 9 to restore Jacob to himself,
so that Israel might be gathered to him;
and I will be honored 10 in the Lord’s sight,
for my God is my source of strength 11 –
49:23 Kings will be your children’s 12 guardians;
their princesses will nurse your children. 13
With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you
and they will lick the dirt on 14 your feet.
Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;
those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.
50:2 Why does no one challenge me when I come?
Why does no one respond when I call? 15
Is my hand too weak 16 to deliver 17 you?
Do I lack the power to rescue you?
Look, with a mere shout 18 I can dry up the sea;
I can turn streams into a desert,
so the fish rot away and die
from lack of water. 19
50:11 Look, all of you who start a fire
and who equip yourselves with 20 flaming arrows, 21
walk 22 in the light 23 of the fire you started
and among the flaming arrows you ignited! 24
This is what you will receive from me: 25
you will lie down in a place of pain. 26
56:7 I will bring them to my holy mountain;
I will make them happy in the temple where people pray to me. 27
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar,
for my temple will be known as a temple where all nations may pray.” 28
57:13 When you cry out for help, let your idols 29 help you!
The wind blows them all away, 30
a breeze carries them away. 31
But the one who looks to me for help 32 will inherit the land
and will have access to 33 my holy mountain.”
59:21 “As for me, this is my promise to 34 them,” says the Lord. “My spirit, who is upon you, and my words, which I have placed in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and descendants from this time forward,” 35 says the Lord.
60:9 Indeed, the coastlands 36 look eagerly for me,
the large ships 37 are in the lead,
bringing your sons from far away,
along with their silver and gold,
to honor the Lord your God, 38
the Holy One of Israel, 39 for he has bestowed honor on you.
63:3 “I have stomped grapes in the winepress all by myself;
no one from the nations joined me.
I stomped on them 40 in my anger;
I trampled them down in my rage.
Their juice splashed on my garments,
and stained 41 all my clothes.
1 tn Heb “To your master and to you did my master send me to speak these words?” The rhetorical question expects a negative answer.
2 tn Heb “[Is it] not [also] to the men…?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Yes, it is.”
sn The chief adviser alludes to the horrible reality of siege warfare, when the starving people in the besieged city would resort to eating and drinking anything to stay alive.
3 tn Heb “I stir him up in righteousness”; NASB “I have aroused him.” See the note at 41:2. Cyrus (cf. 44:28) is in view here.
4 tn Or perhaps, “voluptuous one” (NAB); NAB “you sensual one”; NLT “You are a pleasure-crazy kingdom.”
5 tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”
6 tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.” See Zeph 2:15.
7 tn Heb “I will not live [as] a widow, and I will not know loss of children.”
8 tn Heb “from the womb” (so KJV, NASB).
9 tn The words “he did this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct of purpose is subordinated to the previous statement.
10 tn The vav (ו) + imperfect is translated here as a result clause; one might interpret it as indicating purpose, “and so I might be honored.”
11 tn Heb “and my God is [perhaps, “having been”] my strength.” The disjunctive structure (vav [ו] + subject + verb) is interpreted here as indicating a causal circumstantial clause.
12 tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).
13 tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.
14 tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”
15 sn The present tense translation of the verbs assumes that the Lord is questioning why Israel does not attempt to counter his arguments. Another possibility is to take the verbs as referring to past events: “Why did no one meet me when I came? Why did no one answer when I called?” In this case the Lord might be asking why Israel rejected his calls to repent and his offer to deliver them.
16 tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV).
17 tn Or “ransom” (NAB, NASB, NIV).
18 tn Heb “with my rebuke.”
19 tn Heb “the fish stink from lack of water and die from thirst.”
20 tc Several more recent commentators have proposed an emendation of מְאַזְּרֵי (mÿ’azzÿre, “who put on”) to מְאִירִי (mÿ’iri, “who light”). However, both Qumran scrolls of Isaiah and the Vulgate support the MT reading (cf. NIV, ESV).
21 tn On the meaning of זִיקוֹת (ziqot, “flaming arrows”), see HALOT 268 s.v. זִיקוֹת.
22 tn The imperative is probably rhetorical and has a predictive force.
23 tn Or perhaps, “flame” (so ASV).
24 sn Perhaps the servant here speaks to his enemies and warns them that they will self-destruct.
25 tn Heb “from my hand” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
26 sn The imagery may be that of a person who becomes ill and is forced to lie down in pain on a sickbed. Some see this as an allusion to a fiery place of damnation because of the imagery employed earlier in the verse.
27 tn Heb “in the house of my prayer.”
28 tn Heb “for my house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”
29 tn The Hebrew text has קִבּוּצַיִךְ (qibbutsayikh, “your gatherings”), an otherwise unattested noun from the verbal root קָבַץ (qavats, “gather”). Perhaps this alludes to their religious assemblies and by metonymy to their rituals. Since idolatry is a prominent theme in the context, some understand this as a reference to a collection of idols. The second half of the verse also favors this view.
30 tn Heb “all of them a wind lifts up.”
31 tn Heb “a breath takes [them] away.”
32 tn Or “seeks refuge in me.” “Seeking refuge” is a metonymy for “being loyal to.”
33 tn Heb “possess, own.” The point seems to be that he will have free access to God’s presence, as if God’s temple mount were his personal possession.
34 tn Or “my covenant with” (so many English versions); NCV “my agreement with.”
sn The Lord promises the repentant (note “to them”) that they and their offspring will possess his spirit and function as his spokesmen. In this regard they follow in the footsteps of the Lord’s special servant. See 42:1; 49:2; 51:16.
35 tn Heb “from now and on into the future.”
36 tn Or “islands” (NIV); CEV “distant islands”; TEV “distant lands.”
37 tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” See the note at 2:16.
38 tn Heb “to the name of the Lord your God.”
39 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
40 sn Nations, headed by Edom, are the object of the Lord’s anger (see v. 6). He compares military slaughter to stomping on grapes in a vat.
41 tn Heb “and I stained.” For discussion of the difficult verb form, see HALOT 170 s.v. II גאל. Perhaps the form is mixed, combining the first person forms of the imperfect (note the alef prefix) and perfect (note the תי- ending).
42 tn Heb “and I will set a sign among them.” The precise meaning of this statement is unclear. Elsewhere “to set a sign” means “perform a mighty act” (Ps 78:43; Jer 32:20), “make [someone] an object lesson” (Ezek 14:8), and “erect a [literal] standard” (Ps 74:4).
43 tn Some prefer to read “Put” (i.e., Libya).
44 sn That is, Lydia (in Asia Minor).
45 tn Heb “drawers of the bow” (KJV and ASV both similar).
46 sn Javan is generally identified today as Greece (so NIV, NCV, NLT).
47 tn Or “islands” (NIV).