2tn Heb “called me from the womb.”

3tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”

4tn Or perhaps, “polished” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NASB “a select arrow.”

5sn The figurative language emphasizes the servant’s importance as the Lord’s effective instrument. The servant’s mouth, which stands metonymically for his words, is compared to a sharp sword because he will be an effective spokesman on God’s behalf (see 50:4). The Lord holds his hand on the servant, ready to draw and use him at the appropriate time. The servant is like a sharpened arrow reserved in a quiver for just the right moment.

6sn This verse identifies the servant as Israel. This seems to refer to the exiled nation (cf. 41:8-9; 44:1-2, 21; 45:4; 48:20), but in vv. 5-6 this servant says he has been commissioned to reconcile Israel to God, so he must be distinct from the exiled nation. This servant is an ideal “Israel” who, like Moses of old, mediates a covenant for the nation (see v. 8), leads them out of bondage (v. 9a), and carries out God’s original plan for Israel by positively impacting the pagan nations (see v. 6b). By living according to God’s law, Israel was to be a model of God’s standards of justice to the surrounding nations (Deut 4:6-8). The sinful nation failed, but the servant, the ideal “Israel,” will succeed by establishing justice throughout the earth.

7tn Or “said” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “I replied.”

8tn Heb “for nothing and emptiness.” Synonyms are combined to emphasize the common idea.

9tn Heb “But my justice is with the Lord, and my reward [or “wage”] with my God.”

10tn Heb “from the womb” (so KJV, NASB).

11tn The words “he did this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct of purpose is subordinated to the previous statement.

12tn The vav (ו) + imperfect is translated here as a result clause; one might interpret it as indicating purpose, “and so I might be honored.”

13tn Heb “and my God is [perhaps, “having been”] my strength.” The disjunctive structure (vav [ו] + subject + verb) is interpreted here as indicating a causal circumstantial clause.

14tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”

15sn The question is purely rhetorical; it does not imply that the servant was dissatisfied with his commission or that he minimized the restoration of Israel.

16tn See the note at 42:6.

17tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”

18tn Heb “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

19sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

20tc The Hebrew text reads literally “to [one who] despises life.” It is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a לבזוי, which should be vocalized as a passive participle, לִבְזוּי (livzuy, “to the one despised with respect to life” [נֶפֶשׁ is a genitive of specification]). The consonantal sequence וי was probably misread as ה in the MT tradition. The contextual argument favors the 1QIsa^a reading. As J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:294) points out, the three terse phrases “convey a picture of lowliness, worthlessness, and helplessness.”

21tn MT’s Piel participle (“to the one who rejects”) does not fit contextually. The form should be revocalized as a Pual, “to the one rejected.”

22tn Parallelism (see “rulers,” “kings,” “princes”) suggests that the singular גּוֹי (goy) be emended to a plural or understood in a collective sense (see 55:5).

23tn For this sense of קוּם (qum), see Gen 19:1; 23:7; 33:10; Lev 19:32; 1 Sam 20:41; 25:41; 1 Kgs 2:19; Job 29:8.

24tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצָר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצָר (yatsar, “form”).

25tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (b˙rit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. Here עָם (’am, “people”) appears to refer to Israel. See the note at 42:6.

26tn The Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “arise”) is probably used here in the sense of “rebuild.”

27tn The “land” probably stands by metonymy for the ruins within it.

28tn Heb “to say.” In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct is subordinated to what precedes.

29tn Heb “in darkness” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “the prisoners of darkness.”

30tn Heb “show yourselves” (so ASV, NAB, NASB).

31tn Heb “and the heat and the sun will not strike them.” In Isa 35:7, its only other occurrence in the OT, שָׁרָב (sharav) stands parallel to “parched ground” and in contrast to “pool.” In later Hebrew and Aramaic it refers to “dry heat, heat of the sun” (Jastrow 1627 s.v.). Here it likely has this nuance and forms a hendiadys with “sun.”

32tc The MT reads “Sinim” here; the Dead Sea Scrolls read “Syene,” a location in Egypt associated with modern Aswan. A number of recent translations adopt this reading: “Syene” (NAB, NRSV); “Aswan” (NIV); “Egypt” (NLT).

sn The precise location of the land of Sinim is uncertain, but since the north and west are mentioned in the previous line, it was a probably located in the distant east or south.

33tn Or “O heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

34tn Heb “his” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

35tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

36tn Heb “her suckling”; NASB “her nursing child.”

37tn Heb “so as not to have compassion on the son of her womb?”

38tn Heb “these” (so ASV, NASB).

39sn The argument of v. 15 seems to develop as follows: The Lord has an innate attachment to Zion, just like a mother does for her infant child. But even if mothers were to suddenly abandon their children, the Lord would never forsake Zion. In other words, the Lord’s attachment to Zion is like a mother’s attachment to her infant child, but even stronger.

40tn Heb “you.” Here the pronoun is put by metonymy for the person’s name.

41tn Heb “Lift up around your eyes and see.”

42tn Heb “Indeed your ruins and your desolate places, and the land of your destruction.” This statement is abruptly terminated in the Hebrew text and left incomplete.

43tn Heb “me.” The singular is collective.

44tn Heb “draw near to me so I can dwell.”

45tn Heb “and you will say in your heart.”

46tn Or “exiled and thrust away”; NIV “exiled and rejected.”

47tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).

48tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.

49tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”

50tc The Hebrew text has צָדִיק (tsadiq, “a righteous [one]”), but this makes no sense in the parallelism. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a reads correctly עריץ (“violent [one], tyrant”; see v. 25).

51sn Verse 26a depicts siege warfare and bloody defeat. The besieged enemy will be so starved they will their own flesh. The bloodstained bodies lying on the blood-soaked battle site will look as if they collapsed in drunkenness.

52tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).

53tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

54tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.” See 1:24.