Discovery BoxIsaiah 20:2 
Context20:2 At that time the Lord announced through 1 Isaiah son of Amoz: “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and take your sandals off your feet.” He did as instructed and walked around in undergarments 2 and barefoot.
Isaiah 28:19
Context28:19 Whenever it sweeps by, it will overtake you;
indeed, 3 every morning it will sweep by,
it will come through during the day and the night.” 4
When this announcement is understood,
it will cause nothing but terror.
Isaiah 29:18
Context29:18 At that time 5 the deaf will be able to hear words read from a scroll,
and the eyes of the blind will be able to see through deep darkness. 6
Isaiah 37:3
Context37:3 “This is what Hezekiah says: 7 ‘This is a day of distress, insults, 8 and humiliation, 9 as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through. 10
Isaiah 48:21
Context48:21 They do not thirst as he leads them through dry regions;
he makes water flow out of a rock for them;
he splits open a rock and water flows out.’ 11
Isaiah 51:10
Context51:10 Did you not dry up the sea,
the waters of the great deep?
Did you not make 12 a path through the depths of the sea,
so those delivered from bondage 13 could cross over?
Isaiah 53:10
Context53:10 Though the Lord desired to crush him and make him ill,
once restitution is made, 14
he will see descendants and enjoy long life, 15
and the Lord’s purpose will be accomplished through him.
Isaiah 60:21
Context60:21 All of your people will be godly; 16
they will possess the land permanently.
I will plant them like a shoot;
they will be the product of my labor,
through whom I reveal my splendor. 17
Isaiah 63:9
Context63:9 Through all that they suffered, he suffered too. 18
The messenger sent from his very presence 19 delivered them.
In his love and mercy he protected 20 them;
he lifted them up and carried them throughout ancient times. 21
1 tn Heb “spoke by the hand of.”
2 tn The word used here (עָרוֹם, ’arom) sometimes means “naked,” but here it appears to mean simply “lightly dressed,” i.e., stripped to one’s undergarments. See HALOT 883 s.v. עָרוֹם. The term also occurs in vv. 3, 4.
3 tn Or “for” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).
4 tn The words “it will come through” are supplied in the translation. The verb “will sweep by” does double duty in the parallel structure.
5 tn Or “In that day” (KJV).
6 tn Heb “and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.”
sn Perhaps this depicts the spiritual transformation of the once spiritually insensitive nation (see vv. 10-12, cf. also 6:9-10).
7 tn In the Hebrew text this verse begins with “they said to him” (cf. NRSV).
8 tn Or “rebuke” (KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV), or “correction.”
9 tn Or “contempt”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “disgrace.”
10 tn Heb “when sons come to the cervical opening and there is no strength to give birth.”
11 sn The translation above (present tense) assumes that this verse describes God’s provision for returning Babylonian exiles (see v. 20; 35:6; 49:10) in terms reminiscent of the Exodus from Egypt (see Exod 17:6).
12 tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “Are you not the one who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made…?”
13 tn Heb “the redeemed” (so ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); KJV “the ransomed.”
14 tn The meaning of this line is uncertain. It reads literally, “if you/she makes, a reparation offering, his life.” The verb תָּשִׂים (tasim) could be second masculine singular,in which case it would have to be addressed to the servant or to God. However, the servant is only addressed once in this servant song (see 52:14a), and God either speaks or is spoken about in this servant song; he is never addressed. Furthermore, the idea of God himself making a reparation offering is odd. If the verb is taken as third feminine singular, then the feminine noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) at the end of the line is the likely subject. In this case one can take the suffixed form of the noun as equivalent to a pronoun and translate, “if he [literally, “his life”] makes a reparation offering.”
sn What constitutes the servant’s reparation offering? Some might think his suffering, but the preceding context views this as past, while the verb here is imperfect in form. The offering appears to be something the servant does after his suffering has been completed. Perhaps the background of the language can be found in the Levitical code, where a healed leper would offer a reparation offering as part of the ritual to achieve ceremonial cleanliness (see Lev 14). The servant was pictured earlier in the song as being severely ill. This illness (a metaphor for the effects of the people’s sin) separated him from God. However, here we discover the separation is not final; once reparation is made, so to speak, he will again experience the Lord’s favor.
15 sn The idiomatic and stereotypical language emphasizes the servant’s restoration to divine favor. Having numerous descendants and living a long life are standard signs of divine blessing. See Job 42:13-16.
16 tn Or “righteous” (NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “just.”
17 tn Heb “a shoot of his planting, the work of my hands, to reveal splendor.”
18 tn Heb “in all their distress, there was distress to him” (reading לוֹ [lo] with the margin/Qere).
19 tn Heb “the messenger [or “angel”] of his face”; NIV “the angel of his presence.”
sn This may refer to the “angel of God” mentioned in Exod 14:19, who in turn may be identical to the divine “presence” (literally, “face”) referred to in Exod 33:14-15 and Deut 4:37. Here in Isa 63 this messenger may be equated with God’s “holy Spirit” (see vv. 10-11) and “the Spirit of the Lord” (v. 14). See also Ps 139:7, where God’s “Spirit” seems to be equated with his “presence” (literally, “face”) in the synonymous parallelistic structure.
20 tn Or “redeemed” (KJV, NAB, NIV), or “delivered.”
21 tn Heb “all the days of antiquity”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “days of old.”
