5:3 So now, residents of Jerusalem, 1
people 2 of Judah,
you decide between me and my vineyard!
21:4 My heart palpitates, 3
I shake in fear; 4
the twilight I desired
has brought me terror.
37:28 I know where you live
and everything you do
and how you rage against me. 5
40:25 “To whom can you compare me? Whom do I resemble?”
says the Holy One. 6
43:11 I, I am the Lord,
and there is no deliverer besides me.
43:21 the people whom I formed for myself,
so they might praise me.” 7
43:27 The father of your nation 8 sinned;
your spokesmen 9 rebelled against me.
46:12 Listen to me, you stubborn people, 10
you who distance yourself from doing what is right. 11
49:3 He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, through whom I will reveal my splendor.” 12
49:16 Look, I have inscribed your name 13 on my palms;
your walls are constantly before me.
1 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
2 tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.
3 tn Heb “wanders,” perhaps here, “is confused.”
4 tn Heb “shuddering terrifies me.”
5 tc Heb “your going out and your coming in and how you have raged against me.” Several scholars have suggested that this line is probably dittographic (note the beginning of the next line). However, most English translations include the statement in question at the end of v. 28 and the beginning of v. 29. Interestingly, the LXX does not have this clause at the end of v. 28 and the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa does not have it at the beginning of v. 29. In light of this ambiguous manuscript evidence, it appears best to retain the clause in both verses.
6 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
7 tn Heb “[so] they might declare my praise.”
8 tn Heb “your first father.” This could refer to Abraham (see 51:2), but elsewhere in Isaiah he does not appear in a negative light (see 29:22; 41:8; 63:16). A more likely candidate is Jacob/Israel, also referred to as the nation’s “father” elsewhere (see 58:14; 63:16).
9 tn On the meaning of the term לִיץ (lits), see HALOT 590 s.v. מֵלִיץ. This may refer to the nation’s prophets, priests, and/or kings.
10 tn Heb “strong of heart [or, mind]”; KJV “stouthearted”; NAB “fainthearted”; NIV “stubborn-hearted.”
11 tn Heb “who are far from righteousness [or perhaps, “deliverance”].”
12 sn This verse identifies the servant as Israel. This seems to refer to the exiled nation (cf. 41:8-9; 44:1-2, 21; 45:4; 48:20), but in vv. 5-6 this servant says he has been commissioned to reconcile Israel to God, so he must be distinct from the exiled nation. This servant is an ideal “Israel” who, like Moses of old, mediates a covenant for the nation (see v. 8), leads them out of bondage (v. 9a), and carries out God’s original plan for Israel by positively impacting the pagan nations (see v. 6b). By living according to God’s law, Israel was to be a model of God’s standards of justice to the surrounding nations (Deut 4:6-8). The sinful nation failed, but the servant, the ideal “Israel,” will succeed by establishing justice throughout the earth.
13 tn Heb “you.” Here the pronoun is put by metonymy for the person’s name.