Discovery BoxIsaiah 49:8-11 
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 1 and make you a covenant mediator for people, 2
and to reassign the desolate property.
49:9 You will say 5 to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
and to those who are in dark dungeons, 6 ‘Emerge.’ 7
They will graze beside the roads;
on all the slopes they will find pasture.
49:10 They will not be hungry or thirsty;
the sun’s oppressive heat will not beat down on them, 8
for one who has compassion on them will guide them;
he will lead them to springs of water.
49:11 I will make all my mountains into a road;
I will construct my roadways.”
1 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”).
2 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.
3 tn The Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “arise”) is probably used here in the sense of “rebuild.”
4 tn The “land” probably stands by metonymy for the ruins within it.
5 tn Heb “to say.” In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct is subordinated to what precedes.
6 tn Heb “in darkness” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “the prisoners of darkness.”
7 tn Heb “show yourselves” (so ASV, NAB, NASB).
8 tn Heb “and the heat and the sun will not strike them.” In Isa 35:7, its only other occurrence in the OT, שָׁרָב (sharav) stands parallel to “parched ground” and in contrast to “pool.” In later Hebrew and Aramaic it refers to “dry heat, heat of the sun” (Jastrow 1627 s.v.). Here it likely has this nuance and forms a hendiadys with “sun.”
