Yesaya 45:14

The Lord is the Nations’ Only Hope

45:14 This is what the Lord says:

“The profit ¹  of Egypt and the revenue ²  of Ethiopia,

along with the Sabeans, those tall men,

will be brought to you ³  and become yours.

They will walk behind you, coming along in chains. ⁴ 

They will bow down to you

and pray to you: ⁵ 

‘Truly God is with ⁶  you; he has no peer; ⁷ 

there is no other God!’”

Yesaya 49:12

49:12 Look, they come from far away!

Look, some come from the north and west,

and others from the land of Sinim! ⁸ 

Yesaya 49:23

49:23 Kings will be your children’s ⁹  guardians;

their princesses will nurse your children. ¹⁰ 

With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you

and they will lick the dirt on ¹¹  your feet.

Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;

those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.

Yesaya 55:5

55:5 Look, you will summon nations ¹²  you did not previously know;

nations ¹³  that did not previously know you will run to you,

because of the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, ¹⁴ 

for he bestows honor on you.

[45:14]  ¹ tn Heb “labor,” which stands metonymically for the fruits of labor, either “monetary profit,” or “products.”

[45:14]  ² tn Or perhaps, “merchandise” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “the gain of Ethiopia”; CEV “the treasures of Ethiopia.”

[45:14]  ³ tn Heb “they will pass over to you”; NASB, NIV “will come over to you”; CEV “will belong to you.”

[45:14]  ⁴ sn Restored Israel is depicted here in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion as an imperial power that receives riches and slaves as tribute.

[45:14]  ⁵ sn Israel’s vassals are portrayed as so intimidated and awed that they treat Israel as an intermediary to God or sub-deity.

[45:14]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps, “among.” Cf. KJV, ASV “Surely God is in thee.”

[45:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “there is no other” (so NIV, NRSV). The same phrase occurs at the end of v. 18, in v. 21, and at the end of v. 22.

[49:12]  ⁸ tc The MT reads “Sinim” here; the Dead Sea Scrolls read “Syene,” a location in Egypt associated with modern Aswan. A number of recent translations adopt this reading: “Syene” (NAB, NRSV); “Aswan” (NIV); “Egypt” (NLT).

[49:12]  sn The precise location of the land of Sinim is uncertain, but since the north and west are mentioned in the previous line, it was a probably located in the distant east or south.

[49:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).

[49:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.

[49:23]  ¹¹ tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”

[55:5]  ¹² tn Heb “a nation,” but the singular is collective here, as the plural verbs in the next line indicate (note that both “know” and “run” are third plural forms).

[55:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “a nation,” but the singular is collective here, as the plural verbs that follow indicate.

[55:5]  ¹⁴ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.