5:1 I 1 will sing to my love –
a song to my lover about his vineyard. 2
My love had a vineyard
on a fertile hill. 3
13:3 I have given orders to my chosen soldiers; 4
I have summoned the warriors through whom I will vent my anger, 5
my boasting, arrogant ones. 6
37:35 I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.”’” 7
42:19 My servant is truly blind,
my messenger is truly deaf.
My covenant partner, 8 the servant of the Lord, is truly blind. 9
48:9 For the sake of my reputation 10 I hold back my anger;
for the sake of my prestige 11 I restrain myself from destroying you. 12
48:11 For my sake alone 13 I will act,
for how can I allow my name to be defiled? 14
I will not share my glory with anyone else! 15
51:4 Pay attention to me, my people!
Listen to me, my people!
For 16 I will issue a decree, 17
I will make my justice a light to the nations. 18
1 tn It is uncertain who is speaking here. Possibly the prophet, taking the role of best man, composes a love song for his friend on the occasion of his wedding. If so, יָדִיד (yadid) should be translated “my friend.” The present translation assumes that Israel is singing to the Lord. The word דוֹד (dod, “lover”) used in the second line is frequently used by the woman in the Song of Solomon to describe her lover.
2 sn Israel, viewing herself as the Lord’s lover, refers to herself as his vineyard. The metaphor has sexual connotations, for it pictures her capacity to satisfy his appetite and to produce children. See Song 8:12.
3 tn Heb “on a horn, a son of oil.” Apparently קֶרֶן (qeren, “horn”) here refers to the horn-shaped peak of a hill (BDB 902 s.v.) or to a mountain spur, i.e., a ridge that extends laterally from a mountain (HALOT 1145 s.v. קֶרֶן; H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:180). The expression “son of oil” pictures this hill as one capable of producing olive trees. Isaiah’s choice of קֶרֶן, a rare word for hill, may have been driven by paronomastic concerns, i.e., because קֶרֶן sounds like כֶּרֶם (kerem, “vineyard”).
4 tn Heb “my consecrated ones,” i.e., those who have been set apart by God for the special task of carrying out his judgment.
5 tn Heb “my warriors with respect to my anger.”
6 tn Heb “the boasting ones of my pride”; cf. ASV, NASB, NRSV “my proudly exulting ones.”
7 tn Heb “for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”
8 tc The precise meaning of מְשֻׁלָּם (mÿshullam) in this context is uncertain. In later biblical Hebrew the form (which appears to be a Pual participle from the root שָׁלַם, shalam) occurs as a proper name, Meshullam. The Pual of שָׁלַם (“be complete”) is attested with the meaning “repaid, requited,” but that makes little sense here. BDB 1023 s.v. שָׁלַם relates the form to the denominative verb שָׁלַם (“be at peace”) and paraphrases “one in a covenant of peace” (J. N. Oswalt suggests “the covenanted one”; Isaiah [NICOT], 2:128, n. 59) Some emend the form to מֹשְׁלָם (moshÿlam, “their ruler”) or to מְשֻׁלָּחִי (mÿshullakhi, “my sent [or “commissioned”] one”), which fits nicely in the parallelism (note “my messenger” in the previous line). The translation above assumes an emendation to כְּמוֹ שֹׁלְמִי (kÿmo sholÿmi, “like my ally”). Isaiah uses כְּמוֹ in 30:22 and perhaps 51:5; for שֹׁלְמי (“my ally”) see Ps 7:5 HT (7:4 ET).
9 tn Heb “Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like my messenger I send? Who is blind like my commissioned one, blind like the servant of the Lord?” The point of the rhetorical questions is that no one is as blind/deaf as this servant. In this context the Lord’s “servant” is exiled Israel (cf. 41:8-9), which is spiritually blind and deaf and has failed to fulfill God’s purpose for it. This servant stands in contrast to the ideal “Israel” of the servant songs.
10 tn Heb “for the sake of my name” (so NAB, NASB); NLT “for my own sake.”
11 tn Heb “and my praise.” לְמַעַן (lÿma’an, “for the sake of”) is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
12 tn Heb “I restrain [myself] concerning you not to cut you off.”
13 tn The Hebrew text repeats לְמַעֲנִי (lÿma’ani, “for my sake”) for emphasis.
14 tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “for how can it be defiled?” The subject of the verb is probably “name” (v. 9).
15 sn See 42:8.
16 tn Or “certainly.”
17 tn Heb “instruction [or “a law”] will go out from me.”
18 tn Heb “and my justice for a light to the nations I will cause to rest.”