Yesaya 40:28

40:28 Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is an eternal God,

the creator of the whole earth. ¹ 

He does not get tired or weary;

there is no limit to his wisdom. ² 

Yesaya 41:22-23

41:22 “Let them produce evidence! Let them tell us what will happen!

Tell us about your earlier predictive oracles, ³ 

so we may examine them ⁴  and see how they were fulfilled. ⁵ 

Or decree for us some future events!

41:23 Predict how future events will turn out, ⁶ 

so we might know you are gods.

Yes, do something good or bad,

so we might be frightened and in awe. ⁷ 

Yesaya 64:4

64:4 Since ancient times no one has heard or perceived, ⁸ 

no eye has seen any God besides you,

who intervenes for those who wait for him.

[40:28]  ¹ tn Heb “the ends of the earth,” but this is a merism, where the earth’s extremities stand for its entirety, i.e., the extremities and everything in between them.

[40:28]  ² sn Exiled Israel’s complaint (v. 27) implies that God might be limited in some way. Perhaps he, like so many of the pagan gods, has died. Or perhaps his jurisdiction is limited to Judah and does not include Babylon. Maybe he is unable to devise an adequate plan to rescue his people, or is unable to execute it. But v. 28 affirms that he is not limited temporally or spatially nor is his power and wisdom restricted in any way. He can and will deliver his people, if they respond in hopeful faith (v. 31a).

[41:22]  ³ tn Heb “As for the former things, tell us what they are!”

[41:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “so we might set [them to] our heart.”

[41:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “and might know their outcome.”

[41:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “Declare the coming things, with respect to the end.”

[41:23]  ⁷ tc The translation assumes the Qere (וְנִרְאֶה [vÿnir’eh], from יָרֵא [yare’], “be afraid”).

[41:23]  tn Heb “so we might be frightened and afraid together.” On the meaning of the verb שָׁתָע (shata’), see the note at v. 10.

[64:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “from ancient times they have not heard, they have not listened.”