Yesaya 40:6

40:6 A voice says, “Cry out!”

Another asks, ¹  “What should I cry out?”

The first voice responds: ²  “All people are like grass, ³ 

and all their promises ⁴  are like the flowers in the field.

Yesaya 41:4

41:4 Who acts and carries out decrees? ⁵ 

Who ⁶  summons the successive generations from the beginning?

I, the Lord, am present at the very beginning,

and at the very end – I am the one. ⁷ 

Yesaya 57:1

57:1 The godly ⁸  perish,

but no one cares. ⁹ 

Honest people disappear, ¹⁰ 

when no one ¹¹  minds ¹² 

that the godly ¹³  disappear ¹⁴  because of ¹⁵  evil. ¹⁶ 

[40:6]  ¹ tn Heb “and he says.” Apparently a second “voice” responds to the command of the first “voice.”

[40:6]  ² tn The words “the first voice responds” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The first voice tells the second one what to declare.

[40:6]  ³ tn Heb “all flesh is grass.” The point of the metaphor is explained in v. 7.

[40:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “and all his loyalty.” The antecedent of the third masculine suffix is בָּשָׂר (basar, “flesh”), which refers collectively to mankind. The LXX, apparently understanding the antecedent as “grass,” reads “glory,” but חֶסֶד (khesed) rarely, if ever, has this nuance. The normal meaning of חֶסֶד (“faithfulness, loyalty, devotion”) fits very well in the argument. Human beings and their faithfulness (verbal expressions of faithfulness are specifically in view; cf. NRSV “constancy”) are short-lived and unreliable, in stark contrast to the decrees and promises of the eternal God.

[41:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “Who acts and accomplishes?”; NASB “Who has performed and accomplished it.”

[41:4]  ⁶ tn The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[41:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “I, the Lord, [am with] the first, and with the last ones I [am] he.”

[57:1]  ⁸ tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the just man”; TEV “Good people.”

[57:1]  ⁹ tn Or perhaps, “understands.” Heb “and there is no man who sets [it] upon [his] heart.”

[57:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Men of loyalty are taken away.” The Niphal of אָסַף (’asaf) here means “to die.”

[57:1]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew term בְּאֵין (bÿ’en) often has the nuance “when there is no.” See Prov 8:24; 11;14; 14:4; 15:22; 26:20; 29:18.

[57:1]  ¹² tn Or “realizes”; Heb “understands” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[57:1]  ¹³ tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the just man.”

[57:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “are taken away.” The Niphal of אָסַף (’asaf) here means “to die.”

[57:1]  ¹⁵ tn The term מִפְּנֵי (mippÿne, “from the face of”) often has a causal nuance. It also appears with the Niphal of אָסַף (’asaph, “gather”) in 2 Chr 12:5: אֲשֶׁר־נֶאֶסְפוּ אֶל־יְרוּשָׁלַם מִפְּנֵי שִׁישָׁק (’asher-ne’esphu ’el-yÿrushalam mippÿney shishaq, “who had gathered at Jerusalem because of [i.e., due to fear of] Shishak”).

[57:1]  ¹⁶ tn The translation assumes that this verse, in proverbial fashion, laments society’s apathy over the persecution of the godly. The second half of the verse observes that such apathy results in more widespread oppression. Since the next verse pictures the godly being taken to a place of rest, some interpret the second half of v. 1 in a more positive vein. According to proponents of this view, God removes the godly so that they might be spared suffering and calamity, a fact which the general populace fails to realize.