40:15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales.
He lifts 1 the coastlands 2 as if they were dust.
41:1 “Listen to me in silence, you coastlands! 3
Let the nations find renewed strength!
Let them approach and then speak;
let us come together for debate! 4
42:4 He will not grow dim or be crushed 5
before establishing justice on the earth;
the coastlands 6 will wait in anticipation for his decrees.” 7
59:18 He repays them for what they have done,
dispensing angry judgment to his adversaries
and punishing his enemies. 8
He repays the coastlands. 9
1 tn Or “weighs” (NIV); NLT “picks up.”
2 tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV, NLT).
3 tn Or “islands” (KJV, NIV, CEV); TEV “distant lands”; NLT “lands beyond the sea.”
4 tn The Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) could be translated “judgment,” but here it seems to refer to the dispute or debate between the Lord and the nations.
5 tn For rhetorical effect the terms used to describe the “crushed (רָצַץ, ratsats) reed” and “dim (כָּהָה, kahah) wick” in v. 3 are repeated here.
6 tn Or “islands” (NIV); NLT “distant lands beyond the sea.”
7 tn Or “his law” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV) or “his instruction” (NLT).
8 tn Heb “in accordance with deeds, so he repays, anger to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies.”
9 tn Or “islands” (KJV, NIV).