44:12 A blacksmith works with his tool 7
and forges metal over the coals.
He forms it 8 with hammers;
he makes it with his strong arm.
He gets hungry and loses his energy; 9
he drinks no water and gets tired.
59:17 He wears his desire for justice 10 like body armor, 11
and his desire to deliver is like a helmet on his head. 12
He puts on the garments of vengeance 13
and wears zeal like a robe.
63:11 His people remembered the ancient times. 14
Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea,
along with the shepherd of 15 his flock?
Where is the one who placed his holy Spirit among them, 16
1 tn Heb “I will put in him a spirit.” The precise sense of רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) is uncertain in this context. It may refer to a spiritual being who will take control of his mind (see 1 Kgs 22:19), or it could refer to a disposition of concern and fear. In either case the Lord’s sovereignty over the king is apparent.
2 tn Heb “cause him to fall” (so KJV, ASV, NAB), that is, “kill him.”
3 sn The assassination of King Sennacherib probably took place in 681
4 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
5 sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name Nisroch is a corruption of Nusku.
6 sn Extra-biblical sources also mention the assassination of Sennacherib, though they refer to only one assassin. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 239-40.
7 tn The noun מַעֲצָד (ma’atsad), which refers to some type of tool used for cutting, occurs only here and in Jer 10:3. See HALOT 615 s.v. מַעֲצָד.
8 tn Some English versions take the pronoun “it” to refer to an idol being fashioned by the blacksmith (cf. NIV, NCV, CEV). NLT understands the referent to be “a sharp tool,” which is then used by the carpenter in the following verse to carve an idol from wood.
9 tn Heb “and there is no strength”; NASB “his strength fails.”
10 tn Or “righteousness” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NCV “goodness.”
11 tn Or “a breastplate” (traditional; so many English versions); TEV “a coat of armour.”
12 tn Heb “and [as] a helmet deliverance on his head.”
13 tn Heb “and he puts on the clothes of vengeance [as] a garment.”
14 tn Heb “and he remembered the days of antiquity, Moses, his people.” The syntax of the statement is unclear. The translation assumes that “his people” is the subject of the verb “remembered.” If original, “Moses” is in apposition to “the days of antiquity,” more precisely identifying the time period referred to. However, the syntactical awkwardness suggests that “Moses” may have been an early marginal note (perhaps identifying “the shepherd of his flock” two lines later) that has worked its way into the text.
15 tn The Hebrew text has a plural form, which if retained and taken as a numerical plural, would probably refer to Moses, Aaron, and the Israelite tribal leaders at the time of the Exodus. Most prefer to emend the form to the singular (רָעָה, ra’ah) and understand this as a reference just to Moses.
16 sn See the note at v. 10.