Yesaya 44:3-5

44:3 For I will pour water on the parched ground ¹ 

and cause streams to flow ²  on the dry land.

I will pour my spirit on your offspring

and my blessing on your children.

44:4 They will sprout up like a tree in the grass, ³ 

like poplars beside channels of water.

44:5 One will say, ‘I belong to the Lord,’

and another will use ⁴  the name ‘Jacob.’

One will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’

and use the name ‘Israel.’” ⁵ 

Yesaya 49:21-23

49:21 Then you will think to yourself, ⁶ 

‘Who bore these children for me?

I was bereaved and barren,

dismissed and divorced. ⁷ 

Who raised these children?

Look, I was left all alone;

where did these children come from?’”

49:22 This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“Look I will raise my hand to the nations;

I will raise my signal flag to the peoples.

They will bring your sons in their arms

and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

49:23 Kings will be your children’s ⁸  guardians;

their princesses will nurse your children. ⁹ 

With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you

and they will lick the dirt on ¹⁰  your feet.

Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;

those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.

Yesaya 54:1

Zion Will Be Secure

54:1 “Shout for joy, O barren one who has not given birth!

Give a joyful shout and cry out, you who have not been in labor!

For the children of the desolate one are more numerous

than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.

Yesaya 60:4

60:4 Look all around you! ¹¹ 

They all gather and come to you –

your sons come from far away

and your daughters are escorted by guardians.

Yesaya 66:7-9

66:7 Before she goes into labor, she gives birth!

Before her contractions begin, she delivers a boy!

66:8 Who has ever heard of such a thing?

Who has ever seen this?

Can a country ¹²  be brought forth in one day?

Can a nation be born in a single moment?

Yet as soon as Zion goes into labor she gives birth to sons!

66:9 “Do I bring a baby to the birth opening and then not deliver it?”

asks the Lord.

“Or do I bring a baby to the point of delivery and then hold it back?”

asks your God. ¹³ 

[44:3]  ¹ tn Heb “the thirsty.” Parallelism suggests that dry ground is in view (see “dry land” in the next line.)

[44:3]  ² tn Heb “and streams”; KJV “floods.” The verb “cause…to flow” is supplied in the second line for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[44:4]  ³ tn The Hebrew term בֵין (ven) is usually taken as a preposition, in which case one might translate, “among the grass.” But בֵין is probably the name of a tree (cf. C. R. North, Second Isaiah, 133). If one alters the preposition bet (בְּ) to kaf (כְּ), one can then read, “like a binu-tree.” (The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a supports this reading.) This forms a nice parallel to “like poplars” in the next line. חָצִיר (khatsir) is functioning as an adverbial accusative of location.

[44:5]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text has a Qal verb form, “and another will call by the name of Jacob.” With support from Symmachus (an ancient Greek textual witness), some read the Niphal, “and another will be called by the name of Jacob.”

[44:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “and by the name of Israel he will title.” Some, with support from several ancient versions, prefer to change the Piel (active) verb form to a Pual (passive), “and he will be titled by the name of Israel.”

[49:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “and you will say in your heart.”

[49:21]  ⁷ tn Or “exiled and thrust away”; NIV “exiled and rejected.”

[49:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).

[49:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.

[49:23]  ¹⁰ tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”

[60:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Lift up around your eyes and see!”

[66:8]  ¹² tn Heb “land,” but here אֶרֶץ (’erets) stands metonymically for an organized nation (see the following line).

[66:9]  ¹³ sn The rhetorical questions expect the answer, “Of course not!”