Yesaya 44:1-2

The Lord Will Renew Israel

44:1 “Now, listen, Jacob my servant,

Israel whom I have chosen!”

44:2 This is what the Lord, the one who made you, says –

the one who formed you in the womb and helps you:

“Don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob,

Jeshurun, ¹  whom I have chosen!

Yesaya 49:1-2

Ideal Israel Delivers the Exiles

49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! ² 

Pay attention, you people who live far away!

The Lord summoned me from birth; ³ 

he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. ⁴ 

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 ⁵  arrow,

he hid me in his quiver. ⁶ 

Yesaya 63:9

63:9 Through all that they suffered, he suffered too. ⁷ 

The messenger sent from his very presence ⁸  delivered them.

In his love and mercy he protected ⁹  them;

he lifted them up and carried them throughout ancient times. ¹⁰ 

[44:2]  ¹ sn Jeshurun is a poetic name for Israel; it occurs here and in Deut 32:15; 33:5, 26.

[49:1]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “called me from the womb.”

[49:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”

[49:2]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps, “polished” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NASB “a select arrow.”

[49:2]  ⁶ 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.

[63:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “in all their distress, there was distress to him” (reading לוֹ [lo] with the margin/Qere).

[63:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “the messenger [or “angel”] of his face”; NIV “the angel of his presence.”

[63:9]  sn This may refer to the “angel of God” mentioned in Exod 14:19, who in turn may be identical to the divine “presence” (literally, “face”) referred to in Exod 33:14-15 and Deut 4:37. Here in Isa 63 this messenger may be equated with God’s “holy Spirit” (see vv. 10-11) and “the Spirit of the Lord” (v. 14). See also Ps 139:7, where God’s “Spirit” seems to be equated with his “presence” (literally, “face”) in the synonymous parallelistic structure.

[63:9]  ⁹ tn Or “redeemed” (KJV, NAB, NIV), or “delivered.”

[63:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all the days of antiquity”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “days of old.”