Discovery BoxIsaiah 42:5-8 
Context42:5 This is what the true God, 1 the Lord, says –
the one who created the sky and stretched it out,
the one who fashioned the earth and everything that lives on it, 2
the one who gives breath to the people on it,
and life to those who live on it: 3
42:6 “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
to release prisoners 10 from dungeons,
those who live in darkness from prisons.
42:8 I am the Lord! That is my name!
I will not share my glory with anyone else,
or the praise due me with idols.
1 tn Heb “the God.” The definite article here indicates distinctiveness or uniqueness.
2 tn Heb “and its offspring” (so NASB); NIV “all that comes out of it.”
3 tn Heb “and spirit [i.e., “breath”] to the ones walking in it” (NAB, NASB, and NRSV all similar).
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 sn This does not refer to literal physical healing of the blind. As the next two lines suggest, this refers metonymically to freeing captives from their dark prisons where their eyes have grown unaccustomed to light.
10 sn This does not refer to hardened, dangerous criminals, who would have been executed for their crimes in ancient Near Eastern society. This verse refers to political prisoners or victims of social injustice.
