Yesaya 11:2-5
Konteks11:2 The Lord’s spirit will rest on him 1 –
a spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, 2
a spirit that provides the ability to execute plans, 3
a spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the Lord. 4
11:3 He will take delight in obeying the Lord. 5
He will not judge by mere appearances, 6
or make decisions on the basis of hearsay. 7
11:4 He will treat the poor fairly, 8
and make right decisions 9 for the downtrodden of the earth. 10
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, 11
and order the wicked to be executed. 12
11:5 Justice will be like a belt around his waist,
integrity will be like a belt around his hips. 13
Yesaya 42:1
Konteks42:1 14 “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 15 for the nations. 16
Yesaya 42:3
Konteks42:3 A crushed reed he will not break,
a dim wick he will not extinguish; 17
he will faithfully make just decrees. 18
Yesaya 49:1-3
Konteks49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! 19
Pay attention, you people who live far away!
The Lord summoned me from birth; 20
he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. 21
49:2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword,
he hid me in the hollow of his hand;
he made me like a sharpened 22 arrow,
he hid me in his quiver. 23
49:3 He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, through whom I will reveal my splendor.” 24
Yesaya 49:6-8
Konteks49:6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,
to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the remnant 25 of Israel? 26
I will make you a light to the nations, 27
so you can bring 28 my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”
49:7 This is what the Lord,
the protector 29 of Israel, their Holy One, 30 says
to the one who is despised 31 and rejected 32 by nations, 33
a servant of rulers:
“Kings will see and rise in respect, 34
princes will bow down,
because of the faithful Lord,
the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”
49:8 This is what the Lord says:
“At the time I decide to show my favor, I will respond to you;
in the day of deliverance I will help you;
I will protect you 35 and make you a covenant mediator for people, 36
and to reassign the desolate property.
Yesaya 55:4
Konteks55:4 Look, I made him a witness to nations, 39
a ruler and commander of nations.”
[11:2] 1 sn Like David (1 Sam 16:13), this king will be energized by the Lord’s spirit.
[11:2] 2 tn Heb “a spirit of wisdom and understanding.” The synonyms are joined here to emphasize the degree of wisdom he will possess. His wisdom will enable him to make just legal decisions (v. 3). A very similar phrase occurs in Eph 1:17.
[11:2] 3 tn Heb “a spirit of counsel [or “strategy”] and strength.” The construction is a hendiadys; the point is that he will have the strength/ability to execute the plans/strategies he devises. This ability will enable him to suppress oppressors and implement just policies (v. 4).
[11:2] 4 tn Heb “a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.” “Knowledge” is used here in its covenantal sense and refers to a recognition of God’s authority and a willingness to submit to it. See Jer 22:16. “Fear” here refers to a healthy respect for God’s authority which produces obedience. Taken together the two terms emphasize the single quality of loyalty to the Lord. This loyalty guarantees that he will make just legal decisions and implement just policies (vv. 4-5).
[11:3] 5 tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “and his smelling is in the fear of the Lord.” In Amos 5:21 the Hiphil of רוּחַ (ruakh, “smell”) carries the nuance of “smell with delight, get pleasure from.” There the Lord declares that he does not “smell with delight” (i.e., get pleasure from) Israel’s religious assemblies, which probably stand by metonymy for the incense offered during these festivals. In Isa 11:3 there is no sacrificial context to suggest such a use, but it is possible that “the fear of the Lord” is likened to incense. This coming king will get the same kind of delight from obeying (fearing) the Lord, as a deity does in the incense offered by worshipers. Some regard such an explanation as strained in this context, and prefer to omit this line from the text as a virtual dittograph of the preceding statement.
[11:3] 6 tn Heb “by what appears to his eyes”; KJV “after the sight of his eyes”; NIV “by what he sees with his eyes.”
[11:3] 7 tn Heb “by what is heard by his ears”; NRSV “by what his ears hear.”
[11:4] 8 tn Heb “with justice” (so NAB) or “with righteousness” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
[11:4] 9 tn Heb “make decisions with rectitude”; cf. ASV, NRSV “and decide with equity.”
[11:4] 10 tn Or “land” (NAB, NCV, CEV). It is uncertain if the passage is picturing universal dominion or focusing on the king’s rule over his covenant people. The reference to God’s “holy mountain” in v. 9 and the description of renewed Israelite conquests in v. 14 suggest the latter, though v. 10 seems to refer to a universal kingdom (see 2:2-4).
[11:4] 11 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and he will strike the earth with the scepter of his mouth.” Some have suggested that in this context אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) as an object of judgment seems too broad in scope. The parallelism is tighter if one emends the word to ץ(י)עָרִ (’arits, “potentate, tyrant”). The phrase “scepter of his mouth” refers to the royal (note “scepter”) decrees that he proclaims with his mouth. Because these decrees will have authority and power (see v. 2) behind them, they can be described as “striking” the tyrants down. Nevertheless, the MT reading may not need emending. Isaiah refers to the entire “earth” as the object of God’s judgment in several places without specifying the wicked as the object of the judgment (Isa 24:17-21; 26:9, 21; 28:22; cf. 13:11).
[11:4] 12 tn Heb “and by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.” The “breath of his lips” refers to his speech, specifically in this context his official decrees that the wicked oppressors be eliminated from his realm. See the preceding note.
[11:5] 13 tn Heb “Justice will be the belt [or “undergarment”] on his waist, integrity the belt [or “undergarment”] on his hips.” The point of the metaphor is uncertain. If a belt worn outside the robe is in view, then the point might be that justice/integrity will be readily visible or that these qualities will give support to his rule. If an undergarment is in view, then the idea might be that these characteristics support his rule or that they are basic to everything else.
[42:1] 14 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] 15 tn Heb “he will bring out justice” (cf. ASV, NASB, NRSV).
[42:1] 16 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.
[42:3] 17 sn The “crushed reed” and “dim wick” symbolize the weak and oppressed who are on the verge of extinction.
[42:3] 18 tn Heb “faithfully he will bring out justice” (cf. NASB, NRSV).
[49:1] 19 tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”
[49:1] sn The Lord’s special servant, introduced in chap. 42, speaks here of his commission.
[49:1] 20 tn Heb “called me from the womb.”
[49:1] 21 tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”
[49:2] 22 tn Or perhaps, “polished” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NASB “a select arrow.”
[49:2] 23 sn 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.
[49:3] 24 sn 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.
[49:6] 25 tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”
[49:6] 26 sn 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.
[49:6] 27 tn See the note at 42:6.
[49:6] 28 tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”
[49:7] 29 tn Heb “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
[49:7] 30 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
[49:7] 31 tc The Hebrew text reads literally “to [one who] despises life.” It is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa 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 1QIsaa reading. As J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:294) points out, the three terse phrases “convey a picture of lowliness, worthlessness, and helplessness.”
[49:7] 32 tn 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.”
[49:7] 33 tn 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).
[49:7] 34 tn 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.
[49:8] 35 tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצָר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצָר (yatsar, “form”).
[49:8] 36 tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (bÿrit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. Here עָם (’am, “people”) appears to refer to Israel. See the note at 42:6.
[49:8] 37 tn The Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “arise”) is probably used here in the sense of “rebuild.”
[49:8] 38 tn The “land” probably stands by metonymy for the ruins within it.
[55:4] 39 sn Ideally the Davidic king was to testify to the nations of God’s greatness (cf. Pss 18:50 HT [18:49 ET]; 22:28 HT [22:27 ET]). See J. H. Eaton, Kingship in the Psalms (SBT), 182-84.
