1tn Or “righteousness” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “justice”; NLT “hope for deliverance.” 2tn Heb “the excavation of the hole.” 3sn The “rock” and “quarry” refer here to Abraham and Sarah, the progenitors of the nation. 4sn Although Abraham and Sarah are distant ancestors of the people the prophet is addressing, they are spoken of as the immediate parents. 5tn Heb “one”; NLT “was alone”; TEV “was childless.” 6tn “Bless” may here carry the sense of “endue with potency, reproductive power.” See Gen 1:28. 7tn Heb “and I made him numerous.” 8tn Heb “found in” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). 9tn Or “certainly.” 10tn Heb “instruction [or “a law”] will go out from me.” 11tn Heb “and my justice for a light to the nations I will cause to rest.” 12tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”] is near.” 13tn Heb “my deliverance goes forth.” 14tn Heb “and my arms will judge [on behalf of] nations.” 15tn Or “islands” (NIV); TEV “Distant lands.” 16tn Heb “for my arm” (so NIV, NRSV). 17tn Heb “will be torn in pieces.” The perfect indicates the certitude of the event, from the Lord’s rhetorical perspective. 18tn Heb “my deliverance.” The same Hebrew word can also be translated “salvation” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); cf. CEV “victory.” 19tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”].” 20tn Heb “will not be shattered [or “dismayed”].” 21tn Heb “people (who have) my law in their heart.” 22tn Heb “my vindication”; many English versions “my righteousness”; NRSV, TEV “my deliverance”; CEV “my victory.” 23tn The arm of the Lord is a symbol of divine military power. Here it is personified and told to arouse itself from sleep and prepare for action. 24tn Heb “Are you not the one who smashed?” The feminine singular forms agree grammatically with the feminine noun “arm.” The Hebrew text has ַהמַּחְצֶבֶת (hammakhtsevet), from the verbal root חָצַב (khatsav, “hew, chop”). The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has, probably correctly, המחצת, from the verbal root מָחַץ (makhats, “smash”) which is used in Job 26:12 to describe God’s victory over “the Proud One.” 25tn This title (רַהַב, rahav, “proud one”) is sometimes translated as a proper name: “Rahab” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). It is used here of a symbolic sea monster, known elsewhere in the Bible and in Ugaritic myth as Leviathan. This sea creature symbolizes the forces of chaos that seek to destroy the created order. In the Bible “the Proud One” opposes God’s creative work, but is defeated (see Job 26:12; Ps 89:10). Here the title refers to Pharaoh’s Egyptian army that opposed Israel at the Red Sea (see v. 10, and note also Isa 30:7 and Ps 87:4, where the title is used of Egypt). 26tn The words “did you not” are understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line). The rhetorical questions here and in v. 10 expect the answer, “Yes, you certainly did!” 27tn Hebrew תַּנִּין (tannin) is another name for the symbolic sea monster. See the note at 27:1. In this context the sea creature represents Egypt. See the note on the title “Proud One” earlier in this verse. 28tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “Are you not the one who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made…?” 29tn Heb “the redeemed” (so ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); KJV “the ransomed.” 30tn Heb “[will be] on their head[s].” “Joy” may be likened here to a crown (cf. 2 Sam 1:10). The statement may also be an ironic twist on the idiom “earth/dust on the head” (cf. 2 Sam 1:2; 13:19; 15:32; Job 2:12), referring to a mourning practice. 31tn Heb “overtake” (so NIV); NASB “they will obtain.” 32tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee.” 33tc The plural suffix should probably be emended to the second masculine singular (which is used in v. 13). The final mem (ם) is probably dittographic; note the mem at the beginning of the next word. 34tn Heb “Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, and of the son of man who [as] grass is given up?” The feminine singular forms should probably be emended to the masculine singular (see v. 13). They have probably been influenced by the construction אַתְּ־הִיא (’at-hi’) in vv. 9-10. 35tn Heb “and that you forget.” 36tn Or “the heavens” (also in v. 16). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context. 37tn Heb “and that you tremble constantly all the day.” 38tn The question anticipates the answer, “Ready to disappear!” See v. 14. 39tn Heb “who is stooped over” (under a burden). 40tn Heb “the pit” (so KJV); ASV, NAB “die and go down into the pit”; NASB, NIV “dungeon”; NCV “prison.” 41tn Heb “he will not lack his bread.” 42tn The addressee (second masculine singular, as in vv. 13, 15) in this verse is unclear. The exiles are addressed in the immediately preceding verses (note the critical tone of vv. 12-13 and the reference to the exiles in v. 14). However, it seems unlikely that they are addressed in v. 16, for the addressee appears to be commissioned to tell Zion, who here represents the restored exiles, “you are my people.” The addressee is distinct from the exiles. The language of v. 16a is reminiscent of 49:2 and 50:4, where the Lord’s special servant says he is God’s spokesman and effective instrument. Perhaps the Lord, having spoken to the exiles in vv. 1-15, now responds to this servant, who spoke just prior to this in 50:4-11. 43tn Heb “I place my words in your mouth.” 44tn Heb “with the shadow of my hand.” 45tc The Hebrew text has לִנְטֹעַ (lintoa’, “to plant”). Several scholars prefer to emend this form to לִנְטֹת (lintot) from נָטָה (natah, “to stretch out”); see v. 13, as well as 40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; cf. NAB, NCV, NRSV. However, since the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa, LXX (and Aquila and Symmachus), and Vulgate support the MT reading, there is no need to emend the form. The interpretation is clear enough: Yahweh fixed the sky in its place. 46tn The infinitives in v. 16b are most naturally understood as indicating the purpose of the divine actions described in v. 16a. The relationship of the third infinitive to the commission is clear enough – the Lord has made the addressee (his special servant?) his spokesman so that the latter might speak encouraging words to those in Zion. But how do the first two infinitives relate? The text seems to indicate that the Lord has commissioned the addressee so that the latter might create the universe! Perhaps creation imagery is employed metaphorically here to refer to the transformation that Jerusalem will experience (see 65:17-18). 47tn Heb “[you] who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his anger.” 48tn Heb “the goblet, the cup [that causes] staggering, you drank, you drained.” 49tc The Hebrew text has אֲנַחֲמֵךְ (’anakhamekh), a first person form, but the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa reads correctly יִנַחֲמֵךְ (yinakhamekh), a third person form. 50tn Heb “those who are full of the anger of the Lord, the shout [or “rebuke”] of your God.” 51tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay). 52tn Heb “the cup of [= that causes] staggering” (so ASV, NAB, NRSV); NASB “the cup of reeling.” 53tn Heb “the goblet of the cup of my anger.” 54tn That is, to make them drink it.
1tn Or “righteousness” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “justice”; NLT “hope for deliverance.”
2tn Heb “the excavation of the hole.”
3sn The “rock” and “quarry” refer here to Abraham and Sarah, the progenitors of the nation.
4sn Although Abraham and Sarah are distant ancestors of the people the prophet is addressing, they are spoken of as the immediate parents.
5tn Heb “one”; NLT “was alone”; TEV “was childless.”
6tn “Bless” may here carry the sense of “endue with potency, reproductive power.” See Gen 1:28.
7tn Heb “and I made him numerous.”
8tn Heb “found in” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
9tn Or “certainly.”
10tn Heb “instruction [or “a law”] will go out from me.”
11tn Heb “and my justice for a light to the nations I will cause to rest.”
12tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”] is near.”
13tn Heb “my deliverance goes forth.”
14tn Heb “and my arms will judge [on behalf of] nations.”
15tn Or “islands” (NIV); TEV “Distant lands.”
16tn Heb “for my arm” (so NIV, NRSV).
17tn Heb “will be torn in pieces.” The perfect indicates the certitude of the event, from the Lord’s rhetorical perspective.
18tn Heb “my deliverance.” The same Hebrew word can also be translated “salvation” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); cf. CEV “victory.”
19tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”].”
20tn Heb “will not be shattered [or “dismayed”].”
21tn Heb “people (who have) my law in their heart.”
22tn Heb “my vindication”; many English versions “my righteousness”; NRSV, TEV “my deliverance”; CEV “my victory.”
23tn The arm of the Lord is a symbol of divine military power. Here it is personified and told to arouse itself from sleep and prepare for action.
24tn Heb “Are you not the one who smashed?” The feminine singular forms agree grammatically with the feminine noun “arm.” The Hebrew text has ַהמַּחְצֶבֶת (hammakhtsevet), from the verbal root חָצַב (khatsav, “hew, chop”). The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has, probably correctly, המחצת, from the verbal root מָחַץ (makhats, “smash”) which is used in Job 26:12 to describe God’s victory over “the Proud One.”
25tn This title (רַהַב, rahav, “proud one”) is sometimes translated as a proper name: “Rahab” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). It is used here of a symbolic sea monster, known elsewhere in the Bible and in Ugaritic myth as Leviathan. This sea creature symbolizes the forces of chaos that seek to destroy the created order. In the Bible “the Proud One” opposes God’s creative work, but is defeated (see Job 26:12; Ps 89:10). Here the title refers to Pharaoh’s Egyptian army that opposed Israel at the Red Sea (see v. 10, and note also Isa 30:7 and Ps 87:4, where the title is used of Egypt).
26tn The words “did you not” are understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line). The rhetorical questions here and in v. 10 expect the answer, “Yes, you certainly did!”
27tn Hebrew תַּנִּין (tannin) is another name for the symbolic sea monster. See the note at 27:1. In this context the sea creature represents Egypt. See the note on the title “Proud One” earlier in this verse.
28tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “Are you not the one who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made…?”
29tn Heb “the redeemed” (so ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); KJV “the ransomed.”
30tn Heb “[will be] on their head[s].” “Joy” may be likened here to a crown (cf. 2 Sam 1:10). The statement may also be an ironic twist on the idiom “earth/dust on the head” (cf. 2 Sam 1:2; 13:19; 15:32; Job 2:12), referring to a mourning practice.
31tn Heb “overtake” (so NIV); NASB “they will obtain.”
32tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee.”
33tc The plural suffix should probably be emended to the second masculine singular (which is used in v. 13). The final mem (ם) is probably dittographic; note the mem at the beginning of the next word.
34tn Heb “Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, and of the son of man who [as] grass is given up?” The feminine singular forms should probably be emended to the masculine singular (see v. 13). They have probably been influenced by the construction אַתְּ־הִיא (’at-hi’) in vv. 9-10.
35tn Heb “and that you forget.”
36tn Or “the heavens” (also in v. 16). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
37tn Heb “and that you tremble constantly all the day.”
38tn The question anticipates the answer, “Ready to disappear!” See v. 14.
39tn Heb “who is stooped over” (under a burden).
40tn Heb “the pit” (so KJV); ASV, NAB “die and go down into the pit”; NASB, NIV “dungeon”; NCV “prison.”
41tn Heb “he will not lack his bread.”
42tn The addressee (second masculine singular, as in vv. 13, 15) in this verse is unclear. The exiles are addressed in the immediately preceding verses (note the critical tone of vv. 12-13 and the reference to the exiles in v. 14). However, it seems unlikely that they are addressed in v. 16, for the addressee appears to be commissioned to tell Zion, who here represents the restored exiles, “you are my people.” The addressee is distinct from the exiles. The language of v. 16a is reminiscent of 49:2 and 50:4, where the Lord’s special servant says he is God’s spokesman and effective instrument. Perhaps the Lord, having spoken to the exiles in vv. 1-15, now responds to this servant, who spoke just prior to this in 50:4-11.
43tn Heb “I place my words in your mouth.”
44tn Heb “with the shadow of my hand.”
45tc The Hebrew text has לִנְטֹעַ (lintoa’, “to plant”). Several scholars prefer to emend this form to לִנְטֹת (lintot) from נָטָה (natah, “to stretch out”); see v. 13, as well as 40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; cf. NAB, NCV, NRSV. However, since the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa, LXX (and Aquila and Symmachus), and Vulgate support the MT reading, there is no need to emend the form. The interpretation is clear enough: Yahweh fixed the sky in its place.
46tn The infinitives in v. 16b are most naturally understood as indicating the purpose of the divine actions described in v. 16a. The relationship of the third infinitive to the commission is clear enough – the Lord has made the addressee (his special servant?) his spokesman so that the latter might speak encouraging words to those in Zion. But how do the first two infinitives relate? The text seems to indicate that the Lord has commissioned the addressee so that the latter might create the universe! Perhaps creation imagery is employed metaphorically here to refer to the transformation that Jerusalem will experience (see 65:17-18).
47tn Heb “[you] who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his anger.”
48tn Heb “the goblet, the cup [that causes] staggering, you drank, you drained.”
49tc The Hebrew text has אֲנַחֲמֵךְ (’anakhamekh), a first person form, but the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa reads correctly יִנַחֲמֵךְ (yinakhamekh), a third person form.
50tn Heb “those who are full of the anger of the Lord, the shout [or “rebuke”] of your God.”
51tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
52tn Heb “the cup of [= that causes] staggering” (so ASV, NAB, NRSV); NASB “the cup of reeling.”
53tn Heb “the goblet of the cup of my anger.”
54tn That is, to make them drink it.