Amsal 11:8

11:8 The righteous person is delivered ¹  out of trouble,

and the wicked turns up in his stead. ² 

Yesaya 43:3-4

43:3 For I am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, ³  your deliverer.

I have handed over Egypt as a ransom price,

Ethiopia and Seba ⁴  in place of you.

43:4 Since you are precious and special in my sight, ⁵ 

and I love you,

I will hand over people in place of you,

nations in place of your life.

Yesaya 53:4-5

53:4 But he lifted up our illnesses,

he carried our pain; ⁶ 

even though we thought he was being punished,

attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done. ⁷ 

53:5 He was wounded because of ⁸  our rebellious deeds,

crushed because of our sins;

he endured punishment that made us well; ⁹ 

because of his wounds we have been healed. ¹⁰ 

Yesaya 55:8-9

55:8 “Indeed, ¹¹  my plans ¹²  are not like ¹³  your plans,

and my deeds ¹⁴  are not like ¹⁵  your deeds,

55:9 for just as the sky ¹⁶  is higher than the earth,

so my deeds ¹⁷  are superior to ¹⁸  your deeds

and my plans ¹⁹  superior to your plans.

Yesaya 55:1

The Lord Gives an Invitation

55:1 “Hey, ²⁰  all who are thirsty, come to the water!

You who have no money, come!

Buy and eat!

Come! Buy wine and milk

without money and without cost! ²¹ 

Pengkhotbah 3:18

3:18 I also thought to myself, “It is ²²  for the sake of people, ²³ 

so God can clearly ²⁴  show ²⁵  them that they are like animals.

[11:8]  ¹ tn The verb is the Niphal perfect from the first root חָלַץ (khalats), meaning “to draw off; to withdraw,” and hence “to be delivered.”

[11:8]  sn The verse is not concerned with the problem of evil and the suffering of the righteous; it is only concerned with the principle of divine justice.

[11:8]  ² tn The verb is masculine singular, so the subject cannot be “trouble.” The trouble from which the righteous escape will come on the wicked – but the Hebrew text literally says that the wicked “comes [= arrives; turns up; shows up] in the place of the righteous.” Cf. NASB “the wicked takes his place”; NRSV “the wicked get into it instead”; NIV “it comes on the wicked instead.”

[43:3]  ³ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[43:3]  ⁴ sn Seba is not the same as Sheba in southern Arabia; cf. Gen 1:10; 1 Chr 1:9.

[43:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “Since you are precious in my eyes and you are honored.”

[53:4]  ⁶ sn Illness and pain stand by metonymy (or perhaps as metaphors) for sin and its effects, as vv. 11-12 make clear.

[53:4]  ⁷ tn The words “for something he had done” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The group now realizes he suffered because of his identification with them, not simply because he was a special target of divine anger.

[53:5]  ⁸ tn The preposition מִן (min) has a causal sense (translated “because of”) here and in the following clause.

[53:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “the punishment of our peace [was] on him.” שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “peace”) is here a genitive of result, i.e., “punishment that resulted in our peace.”

[53:5]  ¹⁰ sn Continuing to utilize the imagery of physical illness, the group acknowledges that the servant’s willingness to carry their illnesses (v. 4) resulted in their being healed. Healing is a metaphor for forgiveness here.

[55:8]  ¹¹ tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV).

[55:8]  ¹² tn Or “thoughts” (so many English versions).

[55:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “are not.” “Like” is interpretive, but v. 9 indicates that a comparison is in view.

[55:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “ways” (so many English versions).

[55:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “are not.” “Like” is interpretive, but v. 9 indicates that a comparison is in view.

[55:9]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[55:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “ways” (so many English versions).

[55:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “are higher than.”

[55:9]  ¹⁹ tn Or “thoughts” (so many English versions).

[55:1]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) was used in funeral laments and is often prefixed to judgment oracles for rhetorical effect. But here it appears to be a simple interjection, designed to grab the audience’s attention. Perhaps there is a note of sorrow or pity. See BDB 223 s.v.

[55:1]  ²¹ sn The statement is an oxymoron. Its ironic quality adds to its rhetorical impact. The statement reminds one of the norm (one must normally buy commodities) as it expresses the astounding offer. One might paraphrase the statement: “Come and take freely what you normally have to pay for.”

[3:18]  ²² tn The phrase “it is” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[3:18]  ²³ tn Heb “the sons of man.” The phrase עַל־דִּבְרַת בְּנֵי הָאָדָם (’al-divrat bÿne ha’adam) is handled variously: (1) introduction to the direct discourse: “I said to myself concerning the sons of men” (NASB), (2) direct discourse: “I thought, ‘As for men, God tests them’” (NIV), (3) indirect discourse: “I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of men” (KJV), and (4) causal conjunction: “I said, ‘[It is] for the sake of the sons of men.” Since the phrase “sons of men” is contrasted with “animals” the translation “humans” has been adopted.

[3:18]  ²⁴ tn The meaning of לְבָרָם (lÿvaram, preposition + Qal infinitive construct from בָּרַר, barar, + 3rd person masculine plural suffix) is debated because the root has a broad range of meanings: (1) “to test; to prove; to sift; to sort out” (e.g., Dan 11:35; 12:10); (2) “to choose; to select” (e.g., 1 Chr 7:40; 9:22; 16:41; Neh 5:18); (3) “to purge out; to purify” (e.g., Ezek 20:38; Zeph 3:9; Job 33:3); and (4) “to cleanse; to polish” (Isa 49:2; 52:11); see HALOT 163 s.v. בָּרַר; BDB 141 s.v. בָּרַר. The meanings “to prove” (Qal), as well as “to cleanse; to polish” (Qal), “to keep clean” (Niphal), and “to cleanse” (Hiphil) might suggest the meaning “to make clear” (M. A. Eaton, Ecclesiastes [TOTC], 85-86). The meaning “to make clear; to prove” is well attested in postbiblical Mishnaic Hebrew (Jastrow 197-98 s.v. בָּרַר). For example, “they make the fact as clear (bright) as a new garment” (b. Ketubbot 46a) and “the claimant must offer clear evidence” (b. Sanhedrin 23b). The point would be that God allows human injustice to exist in the world in order to make it clear to mankind that they are essentially no better than the beasts. On the other hand, the LXX adopts the nuance “to judge,” while Targum and Vulgate take the nuance “to purge; to purify.” BDB 141 s.v. בָּרַר 4 suggests “to test, prove,” while HALOT 163 s.v. בָּרַר 2 prefers “to select, choose.”

[3:18]  ²⁵ tn The two infinitives לְבָרָם (lÿvaram, “to make it clear to them”) and וְלִרְאוֹת (vÿlir’ot, “and to show”) function as a verbal hendiadys (the two verbs are associated with one another to communicate a single idea). The first verb functions adverbially and the second retains its full verbal force: “to clearly show them.”