Yesaya 41:8-9
Konteks41:8 “You, my servant Israel,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
offspring of Abraham my friend, 1
41:9 you whom I am bringing back 2 from the earth’s extremities,
and have summoned from the remote regions –
I told you, “You are my servant.”
I have chosen you and not rejected you.
Yesaya 42:18-19
Konteks42:18 “Listen, you deaf ones!
Take notice, 3 you blind ones!
42:19 My servant is truly blind,
my messenger is truly deaf.
My covenant partner, 4 the servant of the Lord, is truly blind. 5
Yesaya 44:1-2
Konteks44:1 “Now, listen, Jacob my servant,
Israel whom I have chosen!”
44:2 This is what the Lord, the one who made you, says –
the one who formed you in the womb and helps you:
“Don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob,
Jeshurun, 6 whom I have chosen!
Yesaya 44:21
Konteks44:21 Remember these things, O Jacob,
O Israel, for you are my servant.
I formed you to be my servant;
O Israel, I will not forget you! 7
Yesaya 45:4
Konteks45:4 For the sake of my servant Jacob,
Israel, my chosen one,
I call you by name
and give you a title of respect, even though you do not recognize 8 me.
Yesaya 48:20
Konteks48:20 Leave Babylon!
Flee from the Babylonians!
Announce it with a shout of joy!
Make this known!
Proclaim it throughout the earth! 9
Say, ‘The Lord protects 10 his servant Jacob.
Yesaya 49:3
Konteks49:3 He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, through whom I will reveal my splendor.” 11
[41:8] 1 tn Or perhaps, “covenantal partner” (see 1 Kgs 5:15 HT [5:1 ET]; 2 Chr 20:7).
[41:9] 2 tn Heb “whom I have taken hold of [i.e., to lead back].”
[42:18] 3 tn Heb “look to see”; NAB, NCV “look and see”; NRSV “look up and see.”
[42:19] 4 tc The precise meaning of מְשֻׁלָּם (mÿshullam) in this context is uncertain. In later biblical Hebrew the form (which appears to be a Pual participle from the root שָׁלַם, shalam) occurs as a proper name, Meshullam. The Pual of שָׁלַם (“be complete”) is attested with the meaning “repaid, requited,” but that makes little sense here. BDB 1023 s.v. שָׁלַם relates the form to the denominative verb שָׁלַם (“be at peace”) and paraphrases “one in a covenant of peace” (J. N. Oswalt suggests “the covenanted one”; Isaiah [NICOT], 2:128, n. 59) Some emend the form to מֹשְׁלָם (moshÿlam, “their ruler”) or to מְשֻׁלָּחִי (mÿshullakhi, “my sent [or “commissioned”] one”), which fits nicely in the parallelism (note “my messenger” in the previous line). The translation above assumes an emendation to כְּמוֹ שֹׁלְמִי (kÿmo sholÿmi, “like my ally”). Isaiah uses כְּמוֹ in 30:22 and perhaps 51:5; for שֹׁלְמי (“my ally”) see Ps 7:5 HT (7:4 ET).
[42:19] 5 tn Heb “Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like my messenger I send? Who is blind like my commissioned one, blind like the servant of the Lord?” The point of the rhetorical questions is that no one is as blind/deaf as this servant. In this context the Lord’s “servant” is exiled Israel (cf. 41:8-9), which is spiritually blind and deaf and has failed to fulfill God’s purpose for it. This servant stands in contrast to the ideal “Israel” of the servant songs.
[44:2] 6 sn Jeshurun is a poetic name for Israel; it occurs here and in Deut 32:15; 33:5, 26.
[44:21] 7 tc The verb in the Hebrew text is a Niphal imperfect with a pronominal suffix. Although the Niphal ordinarily has the passive sense, it can have a reflexive nuance as well (see above translation). Some have suggested an emendation to a Qal form: “Do not forget me” (all the ancient versions, NEB, REB; see GKC 369 §117.x). “Do not forget me” would make a good parallel with “remember these things” in the first line. Since the MT is the harder reading and fits with Israel’s complaint that God had forgotten her (Isa 40:27), the MT reading should be retained (NASB, NKJV, NRSV, ESV). The passive has been rendered as an active in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style (so also NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT).
[45:4] 8 tn Or “know” (NCV, NRSV, TEV, NLT); NIV “acknowledge.”
[48:20] 9 tn Heb “to the end of the earth” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).
[48:20] 10 tn Heb “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.
[49:3] 11 sn This verse identifies the servant as Israel. This seems to refer to the exiled nation (cf. 41:8-9; 44:1-2, 21; 45:4; 48:20), but in vv. 5-6 this servant says he has been commissioned to reconcile Israel to God, so he must be distinct from the exiled nation. This servant is an ideal “Israel” who, like Moses of old, mediates a covenant for the nation (see v. 8), leads them out of bondage (v. 9a), and carries out God’s original plan for Israel by positively impacting the pagan nations (see v. 6b). By living according to God’s law, Israel was to be a model of God’s standards of justice to the surrounding nations (Deut 4:6-8). The sinful nation failed, but the servant, the ideal “Israel,” will succeed by establishing justice throughout the earth.
