Mazmur 36:10

36:10 Extend ¹  your loyal love to your faithful followers, ² 

and vindicate ³  the morally upright! ⁴ 

Yesaya 42:6

42:6 “I, the Lord, officially commission you; ⁵ 

I take hold of your hand.

I protect you ⁶  and make you a covenant mediator for people, ⁷ 

and a light ⁸  to the nations, ⁹ 

Yesaya 49:6

49:6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,

to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,

and restore the remnant ¹⁰  of Israel? ¹¹ 

I will make you a light to the nations, ¹² 

so you can bring ¹³  my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”

Yesaya 60:19

60:19 The sun will no longer supply light for you by day,

nor will the moon’s brightness shine on you;

the Lord will be your permanent source of light –

the splendor of your God will shine upon you. ¹⁴ 

Maleakhi 4:2

4:2 But for you who respect my name, the sun of vindication ¹⁵  will rise with healing wings, ¹⁶  and you will skip about ¹⁷  like calves released from the stall.

Efesus 5:8

5:8 for you were at one time darkness, but now you are ¹⁸  light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light –

[36:10]  ¹ tn Heb “draw out to full length.”

[36:10]  ² tn Heb “to those who know you.” The Hebrew verb יָדַע (yada’, “know”) is used here of those who “know” the Lord in the sense that they recognize his royal authority and obey his will (see Jer 22:16).

[36:10]  ³ tn Heb “and your justice to.” The verb “extend” is understood by ellipsis in the second line (see the previous line).

[36:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “the pure of heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of one’s moral character and motives. The “pure of heart” are God’s faithful followers who trust in and love the Lord and, as a result, experience his deliverance (see Pss 7:10; 11:2; 32:11; 64:10; 94:15; 97:11).

[42:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “call you in righteousness.” The pronoun “you” is masculine singular, referring to the servant. See the note at 41:2.

[42:6]  ⁶ tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצַר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצַר (yatsar, “form”).

[42:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (bÿrit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. The precise identity of עָם (’am, “people”) is uncertain. In v. 5 עָם refers to mankind, and the following reference to “nations” also favors this. But in 49:8, where the phrase בְּרִית עָם occurs again, Israel seems to be in view.

[42:6]  ⁸ sn Light here symbolizes deliverance from bondage and oppression; note the parallelism in 49:6b and in 51:4-6.

[42:6]  ⁹ tn Or “the Gentiles” (so KJV, ASV, NIV); the same Hebrew word can be translated “nations” or “Gentiles” depending on the context.

[49:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”

[49:6]  ¹¹ 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.

[49:6]  ¹² tn See the note at 42:6.

[49:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”

[60:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and your God for your splendor.”

[4:2]  ¹⁵ tn Here the Hebrew word צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah), usually translated “righteousness” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT; cf. NAB “justice”), has been rendered as “vindication” because it is the vindication of God’s people that is in view in the context. Cf. BDB 842 s.v. צְדָקָה 6; “righteousness as vindicated, justification, salvation, etc.”

[4:2]  sn The expression the sun of vindication will rise is a metaphorical way of describing the day of the Lord as a time of restoration when God vindicates his people (see 2 Sam 23:4; Isa 30:26; 60:1, 3). Their vindication and restoration will be as obvious and undeniable as the bright light of the rising sun.

[4:2]  ¹⁶ sn The point of the metaphor of healing wings is unclear. The sun seems to be compared to a bird. Perhaps the sun’s “wings” are its warm rays. “Healing” may refer to a reversal of the injury done by evildoers (see Mal 3:5).

[4:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “you will go out and skip about.”

[5:8]  ¹⁸ tn The verb “you are” is implied in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to make it clear.