Yesaya 40:26

40:26 Look up at the sky! ¹ 

Who created all these heavenly lights? ² 

He is the one who leads out their ranks; ³ 

he calls them all by name.

Because of his absolute power and awesome strength,

not one of them is missing.

Yesaya 42:16

42:16 I will lead the blind along an unfamiliar way; ⁴ 

I will guide them down paths they have never traveled. ⁵ 

I will turn the darkness in front of them into light,

and level out the rough ground. ⁶ 

This is what I will do for them.

I will not abandon them.

Yesaya 48:16

48:16 Approach me! Listen to this!

From the very first I have not spoken in secret;

when it happens, ⁷  I am there.”

So now, the sovereign Lord has sent me, accompanied by his spirit. ⁸ 

Yesaya 63:11

63:11 His people remembered the ancient times. ⁹ 

Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea,

along with the shepherd of ¹⁰  his flock?

Where is the one who placed his holy Spirit among them, ¹¹ 

[40:26]  ¹ tn Heb “Lift on high your eyes and see.”

[40:26]  ² tn The words “heavenly lights” are supplied in the translation for clarification. See the following lines.

[40:26]  ³ tn Heb “the one who brings out by number their host.” The stars are here likened to a huge army that the Lord leads out. Perhaps the next line pictures God calling roll. If so, the final line may be indicating that none of them dares “go AWOL.” (“AWOL” is a military acronym for “absent without leave.”)

[42:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “a way they do not know” (so NASB); NRSV “a road they do not know.”

[42:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “in paths they do not know I will make them walk.”

[42:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the rough ground into a level place.”

[48:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “from the time of its occurring.”

[48:16]  ⁸ sn The speaker here is not identified specifically, but he is probably Cyrus, the Lord’s “ally” mentioned in vv. 14-15.

[63:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he remembered the days of antiquity, Moses, his people.” The syntax of the statement is unclear. The translation assumes that “his people” is the subject of the verb “remembered.” If original, “Moses” is in apposition to “the days of antiquity,” more precisely identifying the time period referred to. However, the syntactical awkwardness suggests that “Moses” may have been an early marginal note (perhaps identifying “the shepherd of his flock” two lines later) that has worked its way into the text.

[63:11]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text has a plural form, which if retained and taken as a numerical plural, would probably refer to Moses, Aaron, and the Israelite tribal leaders at the time of the Exodus. Most prefer to emend the form to the singular (רָעָה, ra’ah) and understand this as a reference just to Moses.

[63:11]  ¹¹ sn See the note at v. 10.