Yesaya 9:17

9:17 So the sovereign master was not pleased ¹  with their young men,

he took no pity ²  on their orphans and widows;

for the whole nation was godless ³  and did wicked things, ⁴ 

every mouth was speaking disgraceful words. ⁵ 

Despite all this, his anger does not subside,

and his hand is ready to strike again. ⁶ 

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 65:1

The Lord Will Distinguish Between Sinners and the Godly

65:1 “I made myself available to those who did not ask for me; ¹¹ 

I appeared to those who did not look for me. ¹² 

I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’

to a nation that did not invoke ¹³  my name.

[9:17]  ¹ tn The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has לא יחמול (“he did not spare”) which is an obvious attempt to tighten the parallelism (note “he took no pity” in the next line). Instead of taking שָׂמַח (samakh) in one of its well attested senses (“rejoice over, be pleased with”), some propose, with support from Arabic, a rare homonymic root meaning “be merciful.”

[9:17]  ² tn The translation understands the prefixed verbs יִשְׂמַח (yismakh) and יְרַחֵם (yÿrakhem) as preterites without vav (ו) consecutive. (See v. 11 and the note on “he stirred up.”)

[9:17]  ³ tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “profaned”; NIV “ungodly.”

[9:17]  ⁴ tn מֵרַע (mera’) is a Hiphil participle from רָעַע (ra’a’, “be evil”). The intransitive Hiphil has an exhibitive force here, indicating that they exhibited outwardly the evidence of an inward condition by committing evil deeds.

[9:17]  ⁵ tn Or “foolishness” (NASB), here in a moral-ethical sense.

[9:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “in all this his anger is not turned, and still his hand is outstretched.”

[9:17]  sn See the note at 9:12.

[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.

[65:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I allowed myself to be sought by those who did not ask.”

[65:1]  ¹² tn Heb “I allowed myself to be found by those who did not seek.”

[65:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “call out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “call on.”