Discovery BoxIsaiah 49:6 
Context49:6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,
to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the remnant 1 of Israel? 2
I will make you a light to the nations, 3
so you can bring 4 my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”
Isaiah 49:8
Context49:8 This is what the Lord says:
“At the time I decide to show my favor, I will respond to you;
in the day of deliverance I will help you;
I will protect you 5 and make you a covenant mediator for people, 6
and to reassign the desolate property.
Isaiah 51:6
Context51:6 Look up at the sky!
Look at the earth below!
For the sky will dissipate 9 like smoke,
and the earth will wear out like clothes;
its residents will die like gnats.
But the deliverance I give 10 is permanent;
the vindication I provide 11 will not disappear. 12
Isaiah 61:10
Context61:10 I 13 will greatly rejoice 14 in the Lord;
I will be overjoyed because of my God. 15
For he clothes me in garments of deliverance;
he puts on me a robe symbolizing vindication. 16
I look like a bridegroom when he wears a turban as a priest would;
I look like a bride when she puts on her jewelry. 17
1 tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”
2 sn The question is purely rhetorical; it does not imply that the servant was dissatisfied with his commission or that he minimized the restoration of Israel.
4 tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”
5 tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצָר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצָר (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. Here עָם (’am, “people”) appears to refer to Israel. See the note at 42:6.
7 tn The Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “arise”) is probably used here in the sense of “rebuild.”
8 tn The “land” probably stands by metonymy for the ruins within it.
9 tn Heb “will be torn in pieces.” The perfect indicates the certitude of the event, from the Lord’s rhetorical perspective.
10 tn Heb “my deliverance.” The same Hebrew word can also be translated “salvation” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); cf. CEV “victory.”
11 tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”].”
12 tn Heb “will not be shattered [or “dismayed”].”
13 sn The speaker in vv. 10-11 is not identified, but it is likely that the personified nation (or perhaps Zion) responds here to the Lord’s promise of restoration.
14 tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.
15 tn Heb “my being is happy in my God”; NAB “in my God is the joy of my soul.”
16 tn Heb “robe of vindication”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “robe of righteousness.”
17 tn Heb “like a bridegroom [who] acts like a priest [by wearing] a turban, and like a bride [who] wears her jewelry.” The words “I look” are supplied for stylistic reasons and clarification.
