Yesaya 12:2

12:2 Look, God is my deliverer! ¹ 

I will trust in him ²  and not fear.

For the Lord gives me strength and protects me; ³ 

he has become my deliverer.” ⁴ 

Yesaya 45:17-22

45:17 Israel will be delivered once and for all by the Lord; ⁵ 

you will never again be ashamed or humiliated. ⁶ 

45:18 For this is what the Lord says,

the one who created the sky –

he is the true God, ⁷ 

the one who formed the earth and made it;

he established it,

he did not create it without order, ⁸ 

he formed it to be inhabited –

“I am the Lord, I have no peer.

45:19 I have not spoken in secret,

in some hidden place. ⁹ 

I did not tell Jacob’s descendants,

‘Seek me in vain!’ ¹⁰ 

I am the Lord,

the one who speaks honestly,

who makes reliable announcements. ¹¹ 

45:20 Gather together and come!

Approach together, you refugees from the nations!

Those who carry wooden idols know nothing,

those who pray to a god that cannot deliver.

45:21 Tell me! Present the evidence! ¹² 

Let them consult with one another!

Who predicted this in the past?

Who announced it beforehand?

Was it not I, the Lord?

I have no peer, there is no God but me,

a God who vindicates and delivers; ¹³ 

there is none but me.

45:22 Turn to me so you can be delivered, ¹⁴ 

all you who live in the earth’s remote regions!

For I am God, and I have no peer.

[12:2]  ¹ tn Or “salvation” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[12:2]  ² tn The words “in him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[12:2]  ³ tc The Hebrew text has, “for my strength and protection [is] the Lord, the Lord (Heb “Yah, Yahweh).” The word יְהוָה (yehvah) is probably dittographic or explanatory here (note that the short form of the name [יָהּ, yah] precedes, and that the graphically similar וַיְהִי [vayÿhi] follows). Exod 15:2, the passage from which the words of v. 2b are taken, has only יָהּ. The word זִמְרָת (zimrat) is traditionally understood as meaning “song,” in which case one might translate, “for the Lord gives me strength and joy” (i.e., a reason to sing); note that in v. 5 the verb זָמַר (zamar, “sing”) appears. Many recent commentators, however, have argued that the noun is here instead a homonym, meaning “protection” or “strength.” See HALOT 274 s.v. III *זמר.

[12:2]  ⁴ tn Or “salvation” (so many English versions, e.g., KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “my savior.”

[45:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “Israel will be delivered by the Lord [with] a permanent deliverance.”

[45:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “you will not be ashamed and you will not be humiliated for ages of future time.”

[45:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “he [is] the God.” The article here indicates uniqueness.

[45:18]  ⁸ tn Or “unformed.” Gen 1:2 describes the world as “unformed” (תֹהוּ, tohu) prior to God’s creative work, but God then formed the world and made it fit for habitation.

[45:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “in a place of a land of darkness” (ASV similar); NASB “in some dark land.”

[45:19]  ¹⁰ tn “In vain” translates תֹהוּ (tohu), used here as an adverbial accusative: “for nothing.”

[45:19]  ¹¹ tn The translation above assumes that צֶדֶק (tsedeq) and מֵישָׁרִים (mesharim) are adverbial accusatives (see 33:15). If they are taken as direct objects, indicating the content of what is spoken, one might translate, “who proclaims deliverance, who announces justice.”

[45:21]  ¹² tn Heb “Declare! Bring near!”; NASB “Declare and set forth your case.” See 41:21.

[45:21]  ¹³ tn Or “a righteous God and deliverer”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “a righteous God and a Savior.”

[45:22]  ¹⁴ tn The Niphal imperative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose after the preceding imperative. The Niphal probably has a tolerative sense, “allow yourselves to be delivered, accept help.”