Discovery BoxIsaiah 45:17-22 
Context45:17 Israel will be delivered once and for all by the Lord; 1
you will never again be ashamed or humiliated. 2
45:18 For this is what the Lord says,
the one who created the sky –
he is the true God, 3
the one who formed the earth and made it;
he established it,
he did not create it without order, 4
he formed it to be inhabited –
“I am the Lord, I have no peer.
45:19 I have not spoken in secret,
in some hidden place. 5
I did not tell Jacob’s descendants,
‘Seek me in vain!’ 6
I am the Lord,
the one who speaks honestly,
who makes reliable announcements. 7
45:20 Gather together and come!
Approach together, you refugees from the nations!
Those who carry wooden idols know nothing,
those who pray to a god that cannot deliver.
45:21 Tell me! Present the evidence! 8
Let them consult with one another!
Who predicted this in the past?
Who announced it beforehand?
Was it not I, the Lord?
I have no peer, there is no God but me,
a God who vindicates and delivers; 9
there is none but me.
45:22 Turn to me so you can be delivered, 10
all you who live in the earth’s remote regions!
For I am God, and I have no peer.
1 tn Heb “Israel will be delivered by the Lord [with] a permanent deliverance.”
2 tn Heb “you will not be ashamed and you will not be humiliated for ages of future time.”
3 tn Heb “he [is] the God.” The article here indicates uniqueness.
4 tn Or “unformed.” Gen 1:2 describes the world as “unformed” (תֹהוּ, tohu) prior to God’s creative work, but God then formed the world and made it fit for habitation.
5 tn Heb “in a place of a land of darkness” (ASV similar); NASB “in some dark land.”
6 tn “In vain” translates תֹהוּ (tohu), used here as an adverbial accusative: “for nothing.”
7 tn The translation above assumes that צֶדֶק (tsedeq) and מֵישָׁרִים (mesharim) are adverbial accusatives (see 33:15). If they are taken as direct objects, indicating the content of what is spoken, one might translate, “who proclaims deliverance, who announces justice.”
8 tn Heb “Declare! Bring near!”; NASB “Declare and set forth your case.” See 41:21.
9 tn Or “a righteous God and deliverer”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “a righteous God and a Savior.”
10 tn The Niphal imperative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose after the preceding imperative. The Niphal probably has a tolerative sense, “allow yourselves to be delivered, accept help.”
