Yesaya 45:9

The Lord Gives a Warning

45:9 One who argues with his creator is in grave danger, ¹ 

one who is like a mere ²  shard among the other shards on the ground!

The clay should not say to the potter, ³ 

“What in the world ⁴  are you doing?

Your work lacks skill!” ⁵ 

Yesaya 49:23

49:23 Kings will be your children’s ⁶  guardians;

their princesses will nurse your children. ⁷ 

With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you

and they will lick the dirt on ⁸  your feet.

Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;

those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.

Yesaya 57:13

57:13 When you cry out for help, let your idols ⁹  help you!

The wind blows them all away, ¹⁰ 

a breeze carries them away. ¹¹ 

But the one who looks to me for help ¹²  will inherit the land

and will have access to ¹³  my holy mountain.”

Yesaya 66:2

66:2 My hand made them; ¹⁴ 

that is how they came to be,” ¹⁵  says the Lord.

I show special favor ¹⁶  to the humble and contrite,

who respect what I have to say. ¹⁷ 

[45:9]  ¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who argues with the one who formed him.”

[45:9]  ² tn The words “one who is like a mere” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and clarification.

[45:9]  ³ tn Heb “Should the clay say to the one who forms it?” The rhetorical question anticipates a reply, “Of course not!”

[45:9]  ⁴ tn The words “in the world” are supplied in the translation to approximate in English idiom the force of the sarcastic question.

[45:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “your work, there are no hands for it,” i.e., “your work looks like something made by a person who has no hands.”

[49:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).

[49:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.

[49:23]  ⁸ tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”

[57:13]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text has קִבּוּצַיִךְ (qibbutsayikh, “your gatherings”), an otherwise unattested noun from the verbal root קָבַץ (qavats, “gather”). Perhaps this alludes to their religious assemblies and by metonymy to their rituals. Since idolatry is a prominent theme in the context, some understand this as a reference to a collection of idols. The second half of the verse also favors this view.

[57:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all of them a wind lifts up.”

[57:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a breath takes [them] away.”

[57:13]  ¹² tn Or “seeks refuge in me.” “Seeking refuge” is a metonymy for “being loyal to.”

[57:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “possess, own.” The point seems to be that he will have free access to God’s presence, as if God’s temple mount were his personal possession.

[66:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “all these.” The phrase refers to the heavens and earth, mentioned in the previous verse.

[66:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and all these were.” Some prefer to emend וַיִּהְיוּ (vayyihyu, “and they were”) to וְלִי הָיוּ (vÿli hayu, “and to me they were”), i.e., “and they belong to me.”

[66:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and to this one I look” (KJV and NASB both similar).

[66:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “to the humble and the lowly in spirit and the one who trembles at my words.”