40:28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is an eternal God,
the creator of the whole earth. 1
He does not get tired or weary;
there is no limit to his wisdom. 2
45:8 O sky, rain down from above!
Let the clouds send down showers 3 of deliverance!
Let the earth absorb it 4 so salvation may grow, 5
and deliverance may sprout up 6 along with it.
I, the Lord, create it. 7
48:16 Approach me! Listen to this!
From the very first I have not spoken in secret;
when it happens, 8 I am there.”
So now, the sovereign Lord has sent me, accompanied by his spirit. 9
48:20 Leave Babylon!
Flee from the Babylonians!
Announce it with a shout of joy!
Make this known!
Proclaim it throughout the earth! 10
Say, ‘The Lord protects 11 his servant Jacob.
49:13 Shout for joy, O sky! 12
Rejoice, O earth!
Let the mountains give a joyful shout!
For the Lord consoles his people
and shows compassion to the 13 oppressed.
65:13 So this is what the sovereign Lord says:
“Look, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry!
Look, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty!
Look, my servants will rejoice, but you will be humiliated!
1 tn Heb “the ends of the earth,” but this is a merism, where the earth’s extremities stand for its entirety, i.e., the extremities and everything in between them.
2 sn Exiled Israel’s complaint (v. 27) implies that God might be limited in some way. Perhaps he, like so many of the pagan gods, has died. Or perhaps his jurisdiction is limited to Judah and does not include Babylon. Maybe he is unable to devise an adequate plan to rescue his people, or is unable to execute it. But v. 28 affirms that he is not limited temporally or spatially nor is his power and wisdom restricted in any way. He can and will deliver his people, if they respond in hopeful faith (v. 31a).
3 tn Heb “let the clouds drip with”; KJV “let the skies pour down.”
4 tn Heb “open up” (so NASB); NIV, NLT “open wide.”
5 tc The plural verb should be emended to a singular form. The vav (ו) ending is probably virtually dittographic (note the yod at the beginning of the following word).
6 tc The Hiphil verb form (תַצְמִיחַ, tatsmiakh) should probably be emended to a Qal (תִצְמַח, titsmakh). The יח sequence at the end of the form is probably due to dittography (note the following יַחַד, yakhad).
7 tn The masculine singular pronominal suffix probably refers back to יָשַׁע (yasha’, “salvation”).
8 tn Heb “from the time of its occurring.”
9 sn The speaker here is not identified specifically, but he is probably Cyrus, the Lord’s “ally” mentioned in vv. 14-15.
10 tn Heb “to the end of the earth” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).
11 tn Heb “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.
12 tn Or “O heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
13 tn Heb “his” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).