Mazmur 96:1-3

Psalm 96 ¹ 

96:1 Sing to the Lord a new song! ² 

Sing to the Lord, all the earth!

96:2 Sing to the Lord! Praise his name!

Announce every day how he delivers! ³ 

96:3 Tell the nations about his splendor!

Tell ⁴  all the nations about his amazing deeds!

Mazmur 96:10-13

96:10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!

The world is established, it cannot be moved.

He judges the nations fairly.”

96:11 Let the sky rejoice, and the earth be happy!

Let the sea and everything in it shout!

96:12 Let the fields and everything in them celebrate!

Then let the trees of the forest shout with joy

96:13 before the Lord, for he comes!

For he comes to judge the earth!

He judges the world fairly, ⁵ 

and the nations in accordance with his justice. ⁶ 

Mazmur 97:6-8

97:6 The sky declares his justice,

and all the nations see his splendor.

97:7 All who worship idols are ashamed,

those who boast about worthless idols.

All the gods bow down before him. ⁷ 

97:8 Zion hears and rejoices,

the towns ⁸  of Judah are happy,

because of your judgments, O Lord.

Mazmur 98:2-3

98:2 The Lord demonstrates his power to deliver; ⁹ 

in the sight of the nations he reveals his justice.

98:3 He remains loyal and faithful to the family of Israel. ¹⁰ 

All the ends of the earth see our God deliver us. ¹¹ 

Yesaya 42:1-4

The Lord Commissions His Special Servant

42:1 ¹² “Here is my servant whom I support,

my chosen one in whom I take pleasure.

I have placed my spirit on him;

he will make just decrees ¹³  for the nations. ¹⁴ 

42:2 He will not cry out or shout;

he will not publicize himself in the streets. ¹⁵ 

42:3 A crushed reed he will not break,

a dim wick he will not extinguish; ¹⁶ 

he will faithfully make just decrees. ¹⁷ 

42:4 He will not grow dim or be crushed ¹⁸ 

before establishing justice on the earth;

the coastlands ¹⁹  will wait in anticipation for his decrees.” ²⁰ 

Yesaya 42:10-12

42:10 Sing to the Lord a brand new song!

Praise him ²¹  from the horizon of the earth,

you who go down to the sea, and everything that lives in it, ²² 

you coastlands ²³  and those who live there!

42:11 Let the desert and its cities shout out,

the towns where the nomads of Kedar live!

Let the residents of Sela shout joyfully;

let them shout loudly from the mountaintops.

42:12 Let them give the Lord the honor he deserves; ²⁴ 

let them praise his deeds in the coastlands. ²⁵ 

Yesaya 45:21-25

45:21 Tell me! Present the evidence! ²⁶ 

Let them consult with one another!

Who predicted this in the past?

Who announced it beforehand?

Was it not I, the Lord?

I have no peer, there is no God but me,

a God who vindicates and delivers; ²⁷ 

there is none but me.

45:22 Turn to me so you can be delivered, ²⁸ 

all you who live in the earth’s remote regions!

For I am God, and I have no peer.

45:23 I solemnly make this oath ²⁹  –

what I say is true and reliable: ³⁰ 

‘Surely every knee will bow to me,

every tongue will solemnly affirm; ³¹ 

45:24 they will say about me,

“Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.”’” ³² 

All who are angry at him will cower before him. ³³ 

45:25 All the descendants of Israel will be vindicated by the Lord

and will boast in him. ³⁴ 

Yesaya 62:1-2

The Lord Takes Delight in Zion

62:1 “For the sake of Zion I will not be silent;

for the sake of Jerusalem ³⁵  I will not be quiet,

until her vindication shines brightly ³⁶ 

and her deliverance burns like a torch.”

62:2 Nations will see your vindication,

and all kings your splendor.

You will be called by a new name

that the Lord himself will give you. ³⁷ 

[96:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 96. The psalmist summons everyone to praise the Lord, the sovereign creator of the world who preserves and promotes justice in the earth.

[96:1]  ² sn A new song is appropriate because the Lord is constantly intervening in the world as its just king. See also Pss 33:3; 40:3; 98:1.

[96:2]  ³ tn Heb “announce from day to day his deliverance.”

[96:3]  ⁴ tn The verb “tell” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[96:13]  ⁵ tn The verbal forms in v. 13 probably describe God’s typical, characteristic behavior, though they may depict in dramatic fashion the outworking of divine judgment or anticipate a future judgment of worldwide proportions, in which case they could be translated “will judge the world.”

[96:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the nations with his integrity.”

[97:7]  ⁷ tn The translation assumes that the prefixed verbal form in the first line is an imperfect (“are ashamed”) and that the ambiguous form in the third line is a perfect (“bow down”) because the psalmist appears to be describing the effect of the Lord’s mighty theophany on those who witness it (see vv. 5, 8). Another option is to take the prefixed form in the first line as a jussive (“let all who worship idols be ashamed”) and the ambiguous form in the third line as an imperative (“All you gods, bow down before him!”; cf. NIV).

[97:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “daughters.” The term “daughters” refers to the cities of Judah surrounding Zion (see Ps 48:11 and H. Haag, TDOT 2:336).

[98:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “makes known his deliverance.”

[98:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he remembers his loyal love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel.”

[98:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the deliverance of our God,” with “God” being a subjective genitive (= God delivers).

[42:1]  ¹² sn Verses 1-7 contain the first of Isaiah’s “servant songs,” which describe the ministry of a special, ideal servant who accomplishes God’s purposes for Israel and the nations. This song depicts the servant as a just king who brings justice to the earth and relief for the oppressed. The other songs appear in 49:1-13; 50:4-11; and 52:13-53:12.

[42:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “he will bring out justice” (cf. ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[42:1]  ¹⁴ sn Like the ideal king portrayed in Isa 11:1-9, the servant is energized by the divine spirit and establishes justice on the earth.

[42:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he will not cause his voice to be heard in the street.”

[42:3]  ¹⁶ sn The “crushed reed” and “dim wick” symbolize the weak and oppressed who are on the verge of extinction.

[42:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “faithfully he will bring out justice” (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[42:4]  ¹⁸ tn For rhetorical effect the terms used to describe the “crushed (רָצַץ, ratsats) reed” and “dim (כָּהָה, kahah) wick” in v. 3 are repeated here.

[42:4]  ¹⁹ tn Or “islands” (NIV); NLT “distant lands beyond the sea.”

[42:4]  ²⁰ tn Or “his law” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV) or “his instruction” (NLT).

[42:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “his praise.” The phrase stands parallel to “new song” in the previous line.

[42:10]  ²² tn Heb “and its fullness”; NASB, NIV “and all that is in it.”

[42:10]  ²³ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “distant coastlands.”

[42:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Let them ascribe to the Lord glory.”

[42:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and his praise in the coastlands [or “islands”] let them declare.”

[45:21]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Declare! Bring near!”; NASB “Declare and set forth your case.” See 41:21.

[45:21]  ²⁷ tn Or “a righteous God and deliverer”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “a righteous God and a Savior.”

[45:22]  ²⁸ tn The Niphal imperative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose after the preceding imperative. The Niphal probably has a tolerative sense, “allow yourselves to be delivered, accept help.”

[45:23]  ²⁹ tn Heb “I swear by myself”; KJV, NASB “have sworn.”

[45:23]  ³⁰ tn Heb “a word goes out from my mouth [in] truth and will not return.”

[45:23]  ³¹ tn Heb “swear” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “confess allegiance.”

[45:24]  ³² tn Heb “‘Yes, in the Lord,’ one says about me, ‘is deliverance and strength.’”

[45:24]  ³³ tn Heb “will come to him and be ashamed.”

[45:25]  ³⁴ tn Heb “In the Lord all the offspring of Israel will be vindicated and boast.”

[62:1]  ³⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[62:1]  ³⁶ tn Heb “goes forth like brightness.”

[62:2]  ³⁷ tn Heb “which the mouth of the Lord will designate.”