Discovery BoxIsaiah 41:4 
Context41:4 Who acts and carries out decrees? 1
Who 2 summons the successive generations from the beginning?
I, the Lord, am present at the very beginning,
and at the very end – I am the one. 3
Isaiah 42:6
Context42:6 “I, the Lord, officially commission you; 4
I take hold of your hand.
I protect you 5 and make you a covenant mediator for people, 6
and a light 7 to the nations, 8
Isaiah 42:8
Context42:8 I am the Lord! That is my name!
I will not share my glory with anyone else,
or the praise due me with idols.
Isaiah 43:10-11
Context43:10 You are my witnesses,” says the Lord,
“my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may consider 9 and believe in me,
and understand that I am he.
No god was formed before me,
and none will outlive me. 10
43:11 I, I am the Lord,
and there is no deliverer besides me.
Isaiah 44:6
Context44:6 This is what the Lord, Israel’s king, says,
their protector, 11 the Lord who commands armies:
“I am the first and I am the last,
there is no God but me.
Isaiah 45:5-7
Context45:5 I am the Lord, I have no peer, 12
there is no God but me.
I arm you for battle, 13 even though you do not recognize 14 me.
45:6 I do this 15 so people 16 will recognize from east to west
that there is no God but me;
I am the Lord, I have no peer.
45:7 I am 17 the one who forms light
and creates darkness; 18
the one who brings about peace
and creates calamity. 19
I am the Lord, who accomplishes all these things.
1 tn Heb “Who acts and accomplishes?”; NASB “Who has performed and accomplished it.”
2 tn The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
3 tn Heb “I, the Lord, [am with] the first, and with the last ones I [am] he.”
4 tn Heb “call you in righteousness.” The pronoun “you” is masculine singular, referring to the servant. See the note at 41:2.
5 tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצַר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצַר (yatsar, “form”).
6 tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (bÿrit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. The precise identity of עָם (’am, “people”) is uncertain. In v. 5 עָם refers to mankind, and the following reference to “nations” also favors this. But in 49:8, where the phrase בְּרִית עָם occurs again, Israel seems to be in view.
7 sn Light here symbolizes deliverance from bondage and oppression; note the parallelism in 49:6b and in 51:4-6.
8 tn Or “the Gentiles” (so KJV, ASV, NIV); the same Hebrew word can be translated “nations” or “Gentiles” depending on the context.
9 tn Or “know” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
10 tn Heb “and after me, there will not be”; NASB “there will be none after Me.”
11 tn Heb “his kinsman redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
12 tn Heb “and there is none besides.” On the use of עוֹד (’od) here, see BDB 729 s.v. 1.c.
13 tn Heb “gird you” (so NASB) or “strengthen you” (so NIV).
14 tn Or “know” (NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT); NIV “have not acknowledged.”
15 tn The words “I do this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
16 tn Heb “they” (so KJV, ASV); TEV, CEV “everyone”; NLT “all the world.”
17 tn The words “I am” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the participle at the beginning of v. 7 stands in apposition to “the Lord” in v. 6.
18 tn On the surface v. 7a appears to describe God’s sovereign control over the cycle of day and night, but the following statement suggests that “light” and “darkness” symbolize “deliverance” and “judgment.”
19 sn This verses affirms that God is ultimately sovereign over his world, including mankind and nations. In accordance with his sovereign will, he can cause wars to cease and peace to predominate (as he was about to do for his exiled people through Cyrus), or he can bring disaster and judgment on nations (as he was about to do to Babylon through Cyrus).
