Yesaya 44:7

44:7 Who is like me? Let him make his claim! ¹ 

Let him announce it and explain it to me –

since I established an ancient people – ² 

let them announce future events! ³ 

Yesaya 64:7

64:7 No one invokes ⁴  your name,

or makes an effort ⁵  to take hold of you.

For you have rejected us ⁶ 

and handed us over to our own sins. ⁷ 

Yesaya 65:1

The Lord Will Distinguish Between Sinners and the Godly

65:1 “I made myself available to those who did not ask for me; ⁸ 

I appeared to those who did not look for me. ⁹ 

I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’

to a nation that did not invoke ¹⁰  my name.

[44:7]  ¹ tn Heb “let him call” or “let him proclaim” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “Let him stand up and speak.”

[44:7]  ² tc The Hebrew text reads, “from (the time) I established an ancient people, and the coming things.” Various emendations have been proposed. One of the options assumes the reading מַשְׁמִיעִים מֵעוֹלָם אוֹתִיּוֹת (mashmi’im me’olam ’otiyyot); This literally reads “the ones causing to hear from antiquity coming things,” but more idiomatically would read “as for those who predict from antiquity what will happen” (cf. NAB, NEB, REB). The emendation directs the attention of the reader to those who claim to be able to predict the future, challenging them to actually do what they claim they can do. The MT presents Yahweh as an example to whom these alleged “predictors of the future” can compare themselves. Since the ancient versions are unanimous in their support of the MT, the emendations should be set aside.

[44:7]  ³ tn Heb and those things which are coming let them declare for themselves.”

[64:7]  ⁴ tn Or “calls out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “calls on.”

[64:7]  ⁵ tn Or “rouses himself”; NASB “arouses himself.”

[64:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “for you have hidden your face from us.”

[64:7]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and you caused us to melt in the hand of our sin.” The verb וַתְּמוּגֵנוּ (vattÿmugenu) is a Qal preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the root מוּג (mug, “melt”). However, elsewhere the Qal of this verb is intransitive. If the verbal root מוּג (mug) is retained here, the form should be emended to a Polel pattern (וַתְּמֹגְגֵנוּ, vattÿmogÿgenu). The translation assumes an emendation to וַתְּמַגְּנֵנוּ (vattÿmaggÿnenu, “and you handed us over”). This form is a Piel preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the verbal root מִגֵּן (miggen, “hand over, surrender”; see HALOT 545 s.v. מגן and BDB 171 s.v. מָגָן). The point is that God has abandoned them to their sinful ways and no longer seeks reconciliation.

[65:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “I allowed myself to be sought by those who did not ask.”

[65:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “I allowed myself to be found by those who did not seek.”

[65:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “call out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “call on.”