Yesaya 33:17

33:17 You will see a king in his splendor; ¹ 

you will see a wide land. ² 

Yesaya 49:3

49:3 He said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, through whom I will reveal my splendor.” ³ 

Yesaya 53:1

53:1 Who would have believed ⁴  what we ⁵  just heard? ⁶ 

When ⁷  was the Lord’s power ⁸  revealed through him?

Yesaya 60:1

Zion’s Future Splendor

60:1 “Arise! Shine! For your light arrives!

The splendor ⁹  of the Lord shines on you!

[33:17]  ¹ tn Heb “your eyes will see a king in his beauty”; NIV, NRSV “the king.”

[33:17]  ² tn Heb “a land of distances,” i.e., an extensive land.

[49:3]  ³ 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.

[53:1]  ⁴ tn The perfect has a hypothetical force in this rhetorical question. For another example, see Gen 21:7.

[53:1]  ⁵ sn The speaker shifts here from God to an unidentified group (note the first person plural pronouns throughout vv. 1-6). The content of the speech suggests that the prophet speaks here as representative of the sinful nation Israel. The group acknowledges its sin and recognizes that the servant suffered on their behalf.

[53:1]  ⁶ tn The first half of v. 1 is traditionally translated, “Who has believed our report?” or “Who has believed our message?” as if the group speaking is lamenting that no one will believe what they have to say. But that doesn’t seem to be the point in this context. Here the group speaking does not cast itself in the role of a preacher or evangelist. No, they are repentant sinners, who finally see the light. The phrase “our report” can mean (1) the report which we deliver, or (2) the report which was delivered to us. The latter fits better here, where the report is most naturally taken as the announcement that has just been made in 52:13-15.

[53:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “to whom” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[53:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “the arm of the Lord.” The “arm of the Lord” is a metaphor of military power; it pictures the Lord as a warrior who bares his arm, takes up his weapon, and crushes his enemies (cf. 51:9-10; 63:5-6). But Israel had not seen the Lord’s military power at work in the servant.

[60:1]  ⁹ tn Or “glory” (so most English versions).