Yesaya 33:2

33:2 Lord, be merciful to us! We wait for you.

Give us strength each morning! ¹ 

Deliver us when distress comes. ² 

Yesaya 42:17

42:17 Those who trust in idols

will turn back and be utterly humiliated, ³ 

those who say to metal images, ‘You are our gods.’”

Yesaya 49:3

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

Israel, through whom I will reveal my splendor.” ⁴ 

Yesaya 56:12

56:12 Each one says, ⁵ 

‘Come on, I’ll get some wine!

Let’s guzzle some beer!

Tomorrow will be just like today!

We’ll have everything we want!’ ⁶ 

[33:2]  ¹ tn Heb “Be their arm each morning.” “Arm” is a symbol for strength. The mem suffixed to the noun has been traditionally understood as a third person suffix, but this is contrary to the context, where the people speak of themselves in the first person. The mem (מ) is probably enclitic with ellipsis of the pronoun, which can be supplied from the context. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:589, n. 1.

[33:2]  ² tn Heb “[Be] also our deliverance in the time of distress.”

[42:17]  ³ tn Heb “be ashamed with shame”; ASV, NASB “be utterly put to shame.”

[49:3]  ⁴ 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.

[56:12]  ⁵ tn The words “each one says” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[56:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “great, [in] abundance, very much,” i.e., “very great indeed.” See HALOT 452 s.v. יֶתֶר.