Discovery BoxIsaiah 44:12 
Context44:12 A blacksmith works with his tool 1
and forges metal over the coals.
He forms it 2 with hammers;
he makes it with his strong arm.
He gets hungry and loses his energy; 3
he drinks no water and gets tired.
Isaiah 51:9
Context51:9 Wake up! Wake up!
Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord! 4
Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity!
Did you not smash 5 the Proud One? 6
Did you not 7 wound the sea monster? 8
Isaiah 62:8
Context62:8 The Lord swears an oath by his right hand,
by his strong arm: 9
“I will never again give your grain
to your enemies as food,
and foreigners will not drink your wine,
which you worked hard to produce.
Isaiah 63:5
Context63:5 I looked, but there was no one to help;
I was shocked because there was no one offering support. 10
So my right arm accomplished deliverance;
my raging anger drove me on. 11
1 tn The noun מַעֲצָד (ma’atsad), which refers to some type of tool used for cutting, occurs only here and in Jer 10:3. See HALOT 615 s.v. מַעֲצָד.
2 tn Some English versions take the pronoun “it” to refer to an idol being fashioned by the blacksmith (cf. NIV, NCV, CEV). NLT understands the referent to be “a sharp tool,” which is then used by the carpenter in the following verse to carve an idol from wood.
3 tn Heb “and there is no strength”; NASB “his strength fails.”
4 tn The arm of the Lord is a symbol of divine military power. Here it is personified and told to arouse itself from sleep and prepare for action.
5 tn Heb “Are you not the one who smashed?” The feminine singular forms agree grammatically with the feminine noun “arm.” The Hebrew text has ַהמַּחְצֶבֶת (hammakhtsevet), from the verbal root חָצַב (khatsav, “hew, chop”). The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has, probably correctly, המחצת, from the verbal root מָחַץ (makhats, “smash”) which is used in Job 26:12 to describe God’s victory over “the Proud One.”
6 tn This title (רַהַב, rahav, “proud one”) is sometimes translated as a proper name: “Rahab” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). It is used here of a symbolic sea monster, known elsewhere in the Bible and in Ugaritic myth as Leviathan. This sea creature symbolizes the forces of chaos that seek to destroy the created order. In the Bible “the Proud One” opposes God’s creative work, but is defeated (see Job 26:12; Ps 89:10). Here the title refers to Pharaoh’s Egyptian army that opposed Israel at the Red Sea (see v. 10, and note also Isa 30:7 and Ps 87:4, where the title is used of Egypt).
7 tn The words “did you not” are understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line). The rhetorical questions here and in v. 10 expect the answer, “Yes, you certainly did!”
8 tn Hebrew תַּנִּין (tannin) is another name for the symbolic sea monster. See the note at 27:1. In this context the sea creature represents Egypt. See the note on the title “Proud One” earlier in this verse.
9 tn The Lord’s right hand and strong arm here symbolize his power and remind the audience that his might guarantees the fulfillment of the following promise.
10 sn See Isa 59:16 for similar language.
11 tn Heb “and my anger, it supported me”; NIV “my own wrath sustained me.”
