Yesaya 44:23

44:23 Shout for joy, O sky, for the Lord intervenes; ¹ 

shout out, you subterranean regions ²  of the earth.

O mountains, give a joyful shout;

you too, O forest and all your trees! ³ 

For the Lord protects ⁴  Jacob;

he reveals his splendor through Israel. ⁵ 

Yesaya 55:7

55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle ⁶ 

and sinful people their plans. ⁷ 

They should return ⁸  to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, ⁹ 

and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. ¹⁰ 

Yesaya 58:13

58:13 You must ¹¹  observe the Sabbath ¹² 

rather than doing anything you please on my holy day. ¹³ 

You must look forward to the Sabbath ¹⁴ 

and treat the Lord’s holy day with respect. ¹⁵ 

You must treat it with respect by refraining from your normal activities,

and by refraining from your selfish pursuits and from making business deals. ¹⁶ 

Yesaya 61:1

The Lord Will Rejuvenate His People

61:1 The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me,

because the Lord has chosen ¹⁷  me. ¹⁸ 

He has commissioned ¹⁹  me to encourage ²⁰  the poor,

to help ²¹  the brokenhearted,

to decree the release of captives,

and the freeing of prisoners,

[44:23]  ¹ tn Heb “acts”; NASB, NRSV “has done it”; NLT “has done this wondrous thing.”

[44:23]  ² tn Heb “lower regions.” This refers to Sheol and forms a merism with “sky” in the previous line. See Pss 63:9; 71:20.

[44:23]  ³ tn Heb “O forest and all the trees in it”; NASB, NRSV “and every tree in it.”

[44:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.

[44:23]  ⁵ tn That is, by delivering Israel. Cf. NCV “showed his glory when he saved Israel”; TEV “has shown his greatness by saving his people Israel.”

[55:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “Let the wicked one abandon his way.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the man of evil his thoughts.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “let him return.” The singular is collective, meaning “let them.”

[55:7]  ⁹ tn The imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive after the jussive indicates purpose/result.

[55:7]  ¹⁰ sn The appeal and promise of vv. 6-7 echoes the language of Deut 4:25-31; 30:1-10; and 1 Kgs 8:46-53, all of which anticipate the exile and speak of the prerequisites for restoration.

[58:13]  ¹¹ tn Lit., “if you.” In the Hebrew text vv. 13-14 are one long conditional sentence. The protasis (“if” clauses appear in v. 13), with the apodosis (“then” clause) appearing in v. 14.

[58:13]  ¹² tn Heb “if you turn from the Sabbath your feet.”

[58:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “[from] doing your desires on my holy day.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a supplies the preposition מִן (min) on “doing.”

[58:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and call the Sabbath a pleasure”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “a delight.”

[58:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and [call] the holy [day] of the Lord honored.” On קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, “holy”) as indicating a time period, see BDB 872 s.v. 2.e (cf. also Neh 8:9-11).

[58:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and you honor it [by refraining] from accomplishing your ways, from finding your desire and speaking a word.” It is unlikely that the last phrase (“speaking a word”) is a prohibition against talking on the Sabbath; instead it probably refers to making transactions or plans (see Hos 10:4). Some see here a reference to idle talk (cf. 2 Sam 19:30).

[61:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “anointed,” i.e., designated to carry out an assigned task.

[61:1]  ¹⁸ sn The speaker is not identified, but he is distinct from the Lord and from Zion’s suffering people. He possesses the divine spirit, is God’s spokesman, and is sent to release prisoners from bondage. The evidence suggests he is the Lord’s special servant, described earlier in the servant songs (see 42:1-4, 7; 49:2, 9; 50:4; see also 51:16).

[61:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “sent” (NAB); NCV “has appointed me.”

[61:1]  ²⁰ tn Or “proclaim good news to.”

[61:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “to bind up [the wounds of].”