9:7 His dominion will be vast 1
and he will bring immeasurable prosperity. 2
He will rule on David’s throne
and over David’s kingdom, 3
establishing it 4 and strengthening it
by promoting justice and fairness, 5
from this time forward and forevermore.
The Lord’s intense devotion to his people 6 will accomplish this.
26:19 8 Your dead will come back to life;
your corpses will rise up.
Wake up and shout joyfully, you who live in the ground! 9
For you will grow like plants drenched with the morning dew, 10
and the earth will bring forth its dead spirits. 11
42:22 But these people are looted and plundered;
all of them are trapped in pits 12
and held captive 13 in prisons.
They were carried away as loot with no one to rescue them;
they were carried away as plunder, and no one says, “Bring that back!” 14
49:6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,
to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the remnant 15 of Israel? 16
I will make you a light to the nations, 17
so you can bring 18 my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”
56:7 I will bring them to my holy mountain;
I will make them happy in the temple where people pray to me. 19
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar,
for my temple will be known as a temple where all nations may pray.” 20
66:4 So I will choose severe punishment 21 for them;
I will bring on them what they dread,
because I called, and no one responded,
I spoke and they did not listen.
They did evil before me; 22
they chose to do what displeases me.”
1 tc The Hebrew text has לְםַרְבֵּה (lÿmarbeh), which is a corrupt reading. לם is dittographic; note the preceding word, שָׁלוֹם (shalom). The corrected text reads literally, “great is the dominion.”
2 tn Heb “and to peace there will be no end” (KJV and ASV both similar). On the political and socio-economic sense of שָׁלוֹם (shalom) in this context, see the note at v. 6 on “Prince of Peace.”
3 tn Heb “over the throne of David, and over his kingdom.” The referent of the pronoun “his” (i.e., David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn The feminine singular pronominal suffix on this form and the following one (translated “it” both times) refers back to the grammatically feminine noun “kingdom.”
5 tn Heb “with/by justice and fairness”; ASV “with justice and with righteousness.”
6 tn Heb “the zeal of the Lord.” In this context the Lord’s “zeal” refers to his intense devotion to and love for his people which prompts him to vindicate them and to fulfill his promises to David and the nation.
7 tn Heb “and the house of Jacob will take possession of them [i.e., the nations], on the land of the Lord, as male servants and female servants.”
8 sn At this point the Lord (or prophet) gives the people an encouraging oracle.
9 tn Heb “dust” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
10 tn Heb “for the dew of lights [is] your dew.” The pronominal suffix on “dew” is masculine singular, like the suffixes on “your dead” and “your corpses” in the first half of the verse. The statement, then, is addressed to collective Israel, the speaker in verse 18. The plural form אוֹרֹת (’orot) is probably a plural of respect or magnitude, meaning “bright light” (i.e., morning’s light). Dew is a symbol of fertility and life. Here Israel’s “dew,” as it were, will soak the dust of the ground and cause the corpses of the dead to spring up to new life, like plants sprouting up from well-watered soil.
11 sn It is not certain whether the resurrection envisioned here is intended to be literal or figurative. A comparison with 25:8 and Dan 12:2 suggests a literal interpretation, but Ezek 37:1-14 uses resurrection as a metaphor for deliverance from exile and the restoration of the nation (see Isa 27:12-13).
12 tc The Hebrew text has בַּחוּרִים (bakhurim, “young men”), but the text should be emended to בְּהוֹרִים (bÿhorim, “in holes”).
13 tn Heb “and made to be hidden”; NAB, NASB, NIV, TEV “hidden away in prisons.”
14 tn Heb “they became loot and there was no one rescuing, plunder and there was no one saying, ‘Bring back’.”
15 tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”
16 sn The question is purely rhetorical; it does not imply that the servant was dissatisfied with his commission or that he minimized the restoration of Israel.
17 tn See the note at 42:6.
18 tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”
19 tn Heb “in the house of my prayer.”
20 tn Heb “for my house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”
21 tn The precise meaning of the noun is uncertain. It occurs only here and in 3:4 (but see the note there). It appears to be derived from the verbal root עָלַל (’alal), which can carry the nuance “deal severely.”
22 tn Heb “that which is evil in my eyes.”