Discovery BoxIsaiah 14:25 
Context14:25 I will break Assyria 1 in my land,
I will trample them 2 underfoot on my hills.
Their yoke will be removed from my people,
the burden will be lifted from their shoulders. 3
Isaiah 19:25
Context19:25 The Lord who commands armies will pronounce a blessing over the earth, saying, 4 “Blessed be my people, Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria, and my special possession, 5 Israel!”
Isaiah 37:29
Context37:29 Because you rage against me
and the uproar you create has reached my ears, 6
I will put my hook in your nose, 7
and my bridle between your lips,
and I will lead you back
the way you came.”
Isaiah 42:1
Context42:1 8 “Here is my servant whom I support,
my chosen one in whom I take pleasure.
I have placed my spirit on him;
he will make just decrees 9 for the nations. 10
Isaiah 46:13
Context46:13 I am bringing my deliverance near, it is not far away;
I am bringing my salvation near, 11 it does not wait.
I will save Zion; 12
I will adorn Israel with my splendor.” 13
Isaiah 48:5
Context48:5 I announced them to you beforehand;
before they happened, I predicted them for you,
so you could never say,
‘My image did these things,
my idol, my cast image, decreed them.’
Isaiah 51:16
Context51:16 I commission you 14 as my spokesman; 15
I cover you with the palm of my hand, 16
to establish 17 the sky and to found the earth,
to say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’” 18
Isaiah 65:9
Context65:9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
and from Judah people to take possession of my mountains.
My chosen ones will take possession of the land; 19
my servants will live there.
Isaiah 65:13
Context65:13 So this is what the sovereign Lord says:
“Look, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry!
Look, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty!
Look, my servants will rejoice, but you will be humiliated!
1 tn Heb “to break Assyria.”
2 tn Heb “him.” This is a collective singular referring to the nation, or a reference to the king of Assyria who by metonymy stands for the entire nation.
3 tn Heb “and his [i.e., Assyria’s] yoke will be removed from them [the people?], and his [Assyria’s] burden from his [the nation’s?] shoulder will be removed.” There are no antecedents in this oracle for the suffixes in the phrases “from them” and “from his shoulder.” Since the Lord’s land and hills are referred to in the preceding line and the statement seems to echo 10:27, it is likely that God’s people are the referents of the suffixes; the translation uses “my people” to indicate this.
4 tn Heb “which the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] will bless [it], saying.” The third masculine singular suffix on the form בֵּרֲכוֹ (berakho) should probably be emended to a third feminine singular suffix בֵּרֲכָהּ (berakhah), for its antecedent would appear to be the feminine noun אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) at the end of v. 24.
5 tn Or “my inheritance” (NAB, NASB, NIV).
6 tc Heb “and your complacency comes up into my ears.” The parallelism is improved if שַׁאֲנַנְךָ (sha’anankha, “your complacency”) is emended to שְׁאוֹנְךָ (shÿ’onÿkha, “your uproar”). See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 237-38. However, the LXX seems to support the MT and Sennacherib’s cavalier dismissal of Yahweh depicts an arrogant complacency (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:658, n. 10).
7 sn The word-picture has a parallel in Assyrian sculpture. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 238.
8 sn Verses 1-7 contain the first of Isaiah’s “servant songs,” which describe the ministry of a special, ideal servant who accomplishes God’s purposes for Israel and the nations. This song depicts the servant as a just king who brings justice to the earth and relief for the oppressed. The other songs appear in 49:1-13; 50:4-11; and 52:13-53:12.
9 tn Heb “he will bring out justice” (cf. ASV, NASB, NRSV).
10 sn Like the ideal king portrayed in Isa 11:1-9, the servant is energized by the divine spirit and establishes justice on the earth.
11 tn Heb “my salvation.” The verb “I am bringing near” is understood by ellipsis (note the previous line).
12 tn Heb “I will place in Zion salvation”; NASB “I will grant salvation in Zion.”
13 tn Heb “to Israel my splendor”; KJV, ASV “for Israel my glory.”
14 tn The addressee (second masculine singular, as in vv. 13, 15) in this verse is unclear. The exiles are addressed in the immediately preceding verses (note the critical tone of vv. 12-13 and the reference to the exiles in v. 14). However, it seems unlikely that they are addressed in v. 16, for the addressee appears to be commissioned to tell Zion, who here represents the restored exiles, “you are my people.” The addressee is distinct from the exiles. The language of v. 16a is reminiscent of 49:2 and 50:4, where the Lord’s special servant says he is God’s spokesman and effective instrument. Perhaps the Lord, having spoken to the exiles in vv. 1-15, now responds to this servant, who spoke just prior to this in 50:4-11.
15 tn Heb “I place my words in your mouth.”
16 tn Heb “with the shadow of my hand.”
17 tc The Hebrew text has לִנְטֹעַ (lintoa’, “to plant”). Several scholars prefer to emend this form to לִנְטֹת (lintot) from נָטָה (natah, “to stretch out”); see v. 13, as well as 40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; cf. NAB, NCV, NRSV. However, since the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa, LXX (and Aquila and Symmachus), and Vulgate support the MT reading, there is no need to emend the form. The interpretation is clear enough: Yahweh fixed the sky in its place.
18 tn The infinitives in v. 16b are most naturally understood as indicating the purpose of the divine actions described in v. 16a. The relationship of the third infinitive to the commission is clear enough – the Lord has made the addressee (his special servant?) his spokesman so that the latter might speak encouraging words to those in Zion. But how do the first two infinitives relate? The text seems to indicate that the Lord has commissioned the addressee so that the latter might create the universe! Perhaps creation imagery is employed metaphorically here to refer to the transformation that Jerusalem will experience (see 65:17-18).
19 tn Heb “it.” The third feminine singular pronominal suffix probably refers to the land which contains the aforementioned mountains.
