Yesaya 58:8-9

58:8 Then your light will shine like the sunrise; ¹ 

your restoration will quickly arrive; ² 

your godly behavior ³  will go before you,

and the Lord’s splendor will be your rear guard. ⁴ 

58:9 Then you will call out, and the Lord will respond;

you will cry out, and he will reply, ‘Here I am.’

You must ⁵  remove the burdensome yoke from among you

and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully.

Yesaya 58:12

58:12 Your perpetual ruins will be rebuilt; ⁶ 

you will reestablish the ancient foundations.

You will be called, ‘The one who repairs broken walls,

the one who makes the streets inhabitable again.’ ⁷ 

Yesaya 58:14

58:14 Then you will find joy in your relationship to the Lord, ⁸ 

and I will give you great prosperity, ⁹ 

and cause crops to grow on the land I gave to your ancestor Jacob.” ¹⁰ 

Know for certain that the Lord has spoken. ¹¹ 

[58:8]  ¹ tn Heb “will burst out like the dawn.”

[58:8]  sn Light here symbolizes God’s favor and restored blessing, as the immediately following context makes clear.

[58:8]  ² tn Heb “prosper”; KJV “spring forth speedily.”

[58:8]  ³ tn Or “righteousness.” Their godly behavior will be on display for all to see.

[58:8]  ⁴ sn The nation will experience God’s protective presence.

[58:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “if you.” In the Hebrew text vv. 9b-10 are one long conditional sentence. The protasis (“if” clauses appear in vv. 9b-10a), with the apodosis (“then” clause) appearing in v. 10b.

[58:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they will build from you ancient ruins.”

[58:12]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text has “the one who restores paths for dwelling.” The idea of “paths to dwell in” is not a common notion. Some have proposed emending נְתִיבוֹת (nÿtivot, “paths”) to נְתִיצוֹת (nÿtitsot, “ruins”), a passive participle from נָתַץ (natats, “tear down”; see HALOT 732 s.v. *נְתִיצָה), because tighter parallelism with the preceding line is achieved. However, none of the textual sources support this emendation. The line may mean that paths must be repaired in order to dwell in the land.

[58:14]  ⁸ tn For a parallel use of the phrase “find joy in” (Hitpael of עָנַג [’anag] followed by the preposition עַל [’al]), see Ps 37:4.

[58:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “and I will cause you to ride upon the heights of the land.” The statement seems to be an allusion to Deut 32:13, where it is associated, as here, with God’s abundant provision of food.

[58:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and I will cause you to eat the inheritance of Jacob your father.” The Hebrew term נַחֲלָה (nakhalah) likely stands by metonymy for the crops that grow on Jacob’s “inheritance” (i.e., the land he inherited as a result of God’s promise).

[58:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” The introductory כִּי (ki) may be asseverative (as reflected in the translation) or causal/explanatory, explaining why the preceding promise will become reality (because it is guaranteed by the divine word).