Yesaya 29:22

29:22 So this is what the Lord, the one who delivered Abraham, says to the family of Jacob: ¹ 

“Jacob will no longer be ashamed;

their faces will no longer show their embarrassment. ² 

Yesaya 54:4

54:4 Don’t be afraid, for you will not be put to shame!

Don’t be intimidated, ³  for you will not be humiliated!

You will forget about the shame you experienced in your youth;

you will no longer remember the disgrace of your abandonment. ⁴ 

Zefanya 3:16-17

3:16 On that day they will say ⁵  to Jerusalem,

“Don’t be afraid, Zion!

Your hands must not be paralyzed from panic! ⁶ 

3:17 The Lord your God is in your midst;

he is a warrior who can deliver.

He takes great delight in you; ⁷ 

he renews you by his love; ⁸ 

he shouts for joy over you.” ⁹ 

[29:22]  ¹ tn Heb “So this is what the Lord says to the house of Jacob, the one who ransomed Abraham.” The relative pronoun must refer back to “the Lord,” not to the immediately preceding “Jacob.” It is uncertain to what event in Abraham’s experience this refers. Perhaps the name “Abraham” stands here by metonymy for his descendants through Jacob. If so, the Exodus is in view.

[29:22]  ² tn Heb “and his face will no longer be pale.”

[54:4]  ³ tn Or “embarrassed”; NASB “humiliated…disgraced.”

[54:4]  ⁴ tn Another option is to translate, “the disgrace of our widowhood” (so NRSV). However, the following context (vv. 6-7) refers to Zion’s husband, the Lord, abandoning her, not dying. This suggests that an אַלְמָנָה (’almanah) was a woman who had lost her husband, whether by death or abandonment.

[3:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “it will be said.” The passive construction has been translated as active for stylistic reasons.

[3:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “your hands must not go limp.”

[3:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “he rejoices over you with joy.”

[3:17]  ⁸ tc The MT reads, “he is silent in his love,” but this makes no sense in light of the immediately preceding and following lines. Some take the Hiphil verb form as causative (see Job 11:3) rather than intransitive and translate, “he causes [you] to be silent by his love,” that is, “he soothes [you] by his love.” The present translation follows the LXX and assumes an original reading יְחַדֵּשׁ (yÿkhaddesh, “he renews”) with ellipsis of the object (“you”).

[3:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “he rejoices over you with a shout of joy.”