Yesaya 45:12

45:12 I made the earth,

I created the people who live ¹  on it.

It was me – my hands ²  stretched out the sky, ³ 

I give orders to all the heavenly lights. ⁴ 

Yesaya 45:18

45:18 For this is what the Lord says,

the one who created the sky –

he is the true God, ⁵ 

the one who formed the earth and made it;

he established it,

he did not create it without order, ⁶ 

he formed it to be inhabited –

“I am the Lord, I have no peer.

Yesaya 49:8

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 ⁷  and make you a covenant mediator for people, ⁸ 

to rebuild ⁹  the land ¹⁰ 

and to reassign the desolate property.

Yesaya 51:16

Zion’s Time to Celebrate

51:16 I commission you ¹¹  as my spokesman; ¹² 

I cover you with the palm of my hand, ¹³ 

to establish ¹⁴  the sky and to found the earth,

to say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’” ¹⁵ 

[45:12]  ¹ tn The words “who live” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[45:12]  ² tn Heb “I, even my hands”; NASB “I stretched out…with My hands”; NRSV “it was my hands that stretched out.” The same construction occurs at the beginning of v. 13.

[45:12]  ³ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[45:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “and to all their host I commanded.” See the notes at 40:26.

[45:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “he [is] the God.” The article here indicates uniqueness.

[45:18]  ⁶ tn Or “unformed.” Gen 1:2 describes the world as “unformed” (תֹהוּ, tohu) prior to God’s creative work, but God then formed the world and made it fit for habitation.

[49:8]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn The Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “arise”) is probably used here in the sense of “rebuild.”

[49:8]  ¹⁰ tn The “land” probably stands by metonymy for the ruins within it.

[51:16]  ¹¹ tn The addressee (second masculine singular, as in vv. 13, 15) in this verse is unclear. The exiles are addressed in the immediately preceding verses (note the critical tone of vv. 12-13 and the reference to the exiles in v. 14). However, it seems unlikely that they are addressed in v. 16, for the addressee appears to be commissioned to tell Zion, who here represents the restored exiles, “you are my people.” The addressee is distinct from the exiles. The language of v. 16a is reminiscent of 49:2 and 50:4, where the Lord’s special servant says he is God’s spokesman and effective instrument. Perhaps the Lord, having spoken to the exiles in vv. 1-15, now responds to this servant, who spoke just prior to this in 50:4-11.

[51:16]  ¹² tn Heb “I place my words in your mouth.”

[51:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “with the shadow of my hand.”

[51:16]  ¹⁴ tc The Hebrew text has לִנְטֹעַ (lintoa’, “to plant”). Several scholars prefer to emend this form to לִנְטֹת (lintot) from נָטָה (natah, “to stretch out”); see v. 13, as well as 40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; cf. NAB, NCV, NRSV. However, since the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, LXX (and Aquila and Symmachus), and Vulgate support the MT reading, there is no need to emend the form. The interpretation is clear enough: Yahweh fixed the sky in its place.

[51:16]  ¹⁵ tn The infinitives in v. 16b are most naturally understood as indicating the purpose of the divine actions described in v. 16a. The relationship of the third infinitive to the commission is clear enough – the Lord has made the addressee (his special servant?) his spokesman so that the latter might speak encouraging words to those in Zion. But how do the first two infinitives relate? The text seems to indicate that the Lord has commissioned the addressee so that the latter might create the universe! Perhaps creation imagery is employed metaphorically here to refer to the transformation that Jerusalem will experience (see 65:17-18).