49:10 They will not be hungry or thirsty;
the sun’s oppressive heat will not beat down on them, 1
for one who has compassion on them will guide them;
he will lead them to springs of water.
63:9 Through all that they suffered, he suffered too. 2
The messenger sent from his very presence 3 delivered them.
In his love and mercy he protected 4 them;
he lifted them up and carried them throughout ancient times. 5
1 tn Heb “and the heat and the sun will not strike them.” In Isa 35:7, its only other occurrence in the OT, שָׁרָב (sharav) stands parallel to “parched ground” and in contrast to “pool.” In later Hebrew and Aramaic it refers to “dry heat, heat of the sun” (Jastrow 1627 s.v.). Here it likely has this nuance and forms a hendiadys with “sun.”
2 tn Heb “in all their distress, there was distress to him” (reading לוֹ [lo] with the margin/Qere).
3 tn Heb “the messenger [or “angel”] of his face”; NIV “the angel of his presence.”
sn This may refer to the “angel of God” mentioned in Exod 14:19, who in turn may be identical to the divine “presence” (literally, “face”) referred to in Exod 33:14-15 and Deut 4:37. Here in Isa 63 this messenger may be equated with God’s “holy Spirit” (see vv. 10-11) and “the Spirit of the Lord” (v. 14). See also Ps 139:7, where God’s “Spirit” seems to be equated with his “presence” (literally, “face”) in the synonymous parallelistic structure.
4 tn Or “redeemed” (KJV, NAB, NIV), or “delivered.”
5 tn Heb “all the days of antiquity”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “days of old.”