Discovery BoxIsaiah 45:8 
Context45:8 O sky, rain down from above!
Let the clouds send down showers 1 of deliverance!
Let the earth absorb it 2 so salvation may grow, 3
and deliverance may sprout up 4 along with it.
I, the Lord, create it. 5
Isaiah 45:12
Context45:12 I made the earth,
I created the people who live 6 on it.
It was me – my hands 7 stretched out the sky, 8
I give orders to all the heavenly lights. 9
Isaiah 45:18
Context45:18 For this is what the Lord says,
the one who created the sky –
he is the true God, 10
the one who formed the earth and made it;
he established it,
he did not create it without order, 11
he formed it to be inhabited –
“I am the Lord, I have no peer.
1 tn Heb “let the clouds drip with”; KJV “let the skies pour down.”
2 tn Heb “open up” (so NASB); NIV, NLT “open wide.”
3 tc The plural verb should be emended to a singular form. The vav (ו) ending is probably virtually dittographic (note the yod at the beginning of the following word).
4 tc The Hiphil verb form (תַצְמִיחַ, tatsmiakh) should probably be emended to a Qal (תִצְמַח, titsmakh). The יח sequence at the end of the form is probably due to dittography (note the following יַחַד, yakhad).
5 tn The masculine singular pronominal suffix probably refers back to יָשַׁע (yasha’, “salvation”).
6 tn The words “who live” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
7 tn Heb “I, even my hands”; NASB “I stretched out…with My hands”; NRSV “it was my hands that stretched out.” The same construction occurs at the beginning of v. 13.
8 tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
9 tn Heb “and to all their host I commanded.” See the notes at 40:26.
10 tn Heb “he [is] the God.” The article here indicates uniqueness.
11 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.
