Yesaya 42:22-25

42:22 But these people are looted and plundered;

all of them are trapped in pits ¹ 

and held captive ²  in prisons.

They were carried away as loot with no one to rescue them;

they were carried away as plunder, and no one says, “Bring that back!” ³ 

42:23 Who among you will pay attention to this?

Who will listen attentively in the future? ⁴ 

42:24 Who handed Jacob over to the robber?

Who handed Israel over to the looters? ⁵ 

Was it not the Lord, against whom we sinned?

They refused to follow his commands;

they disobeyed his law. ⁶ 

42:25 So he poured out his fierce anger on them,

along with the devastation ⁷  of war.

Its flames encircled them, but they did not realize it; ⁸ 

it burned against them, but they did notice. ⁹ 

Yesaya 42:9

42:9 Look, my earlier predictive oracles have come to pass; ¹⁰ 

now I announce new events.

Before they begin to occur,

I reveal them to you.” ¹¹ 

Yesaya 43:9

43:9 All nations gather together,

the peoples assemble.

Who among them announced this?

Who predicted earlier events for us? ¹² 

Let them produce their witnesses to testify they were right;

let them listen and affirm, ‘It is true.’

Yesaya 48:3-5

48:3 “I announced events beforehand, ¹³ 

I issued the decrees and made the predictions; ¹⁴ 

suddenly I acted and they came to pass.

48:4 I did this ¹⁵  because I know how stubborn you are.

Your neck muscles are like iron

and your forehead like bronze. ¹⁶ 

48:5 I announced them to you beforehand;

before they happened, I predicted them for you,

so you could never say,

‘My image did these things,

my idol, my cast image, decreed them.’

[42:22]  ¹ tc The Hebrew text has בַּחוּרִים (bakhurim, “young men”), but the text should be emended to בְּהוֹרִים (bÿhorim, “in holes”).

[42:22]  ² tn Heb “and made to be hidden”; NAB, NASB, NIV, TEV “hidden away in prisons.”

[42:22]  ³ tn Heb “they became loot and there was no one rescuing, plunder and there was no one saying, ‘Bring back’.”

[42:23]  ⁴ tn The interrogative particle is understood in the second line by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[42:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “Who gave to the robber Jacob, and Israel to the looters?” In the first line the consonantal text (Kethib) has מְשׁוֹסֶה (mÿshoseh), a Polel participle from שָׁסָה (shasah, “plunder”). The marginal reading (Qere) is מְשִׁיסָּה (mÿshissah), a noun meaning “plunder.” In this case one could translate “Who handed Jacob over as plunder?”

[42:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “they were not willing in his ways to walk, and they did not listen to his law.”

[42:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “strength” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “fury”; NASB “fierceness”; NIV “violence.”

[42:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “and it blazed against him all around, but he did not know.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb “blazed” is the divine חֵמָה (khemah, “anger”) mentioned in the previous line.

[42:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “and it burned against him, but he did not set [it] upon [the] heart.”

[42:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the former things, look, they have come.”

[42:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “before they sprout up, I cause you to hear.” The pronoun “you” is plural, referring to the people of Israel. In this verse “the former things” are the Lord’s earlier predictive oracles which have come to pass, while “the new things” are predicted events that have not yet begun to take place. “The former things” are earlier events in Israel’s history which God announced beforehand, such as the Exodus (see 43:16-18). “The new things” are the predictions about the servant (42:1-7). and may also include Cyrus’ conquests (41:25-27).

[43:9]  ¹² tn Heb “and the former things was causing us to hear?”

[48:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “the former things beforehand I declared.”

[48:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and from my mouth they came forth and I caused them to be heard.”

[48:4]  ¹⁵ tn The words “I did this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text v. 4 is subordinated to v. 3.

[48:4]  ¹⁶ sn The image is that of a person who has tensed the muscles of the face and neck as a sign of resolute refusal.