Yesaya 54:4-9

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

Don’t be intimidated, ¹  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. ² 

54:5 For your husband is the one who made you –

the Lord who commands armies is his name.

He is your protector, ³  the Holy One of Israel. ⁴ 

He is called “God of the entire earth.”

54:6 “Indeed, the Lord will call you back

like a wife who has been abandoned and suffers from depression, ⁵ 

like a young wife when she has been rejected,” says your God.

54:7 “For a short time I abandoned ⁶  you,

but with great compassion I will gather you.

54:8 In a burst ⁷  of anger I rejected you ⁸  momentarily,

but with lasting devotion I will have compassion on you,”

says your protector, ⁹  the Lord.

54:9 “As far as I am concerned, this is like in Noah’s time, ¹⁰ 

when I vowed that the waters of Noah’s flood ¹¹  would never again cover the earth.

In the same way I have vowed that I will not be angry at you or shout at you.

[54:4]  ¹ tn Or “embarrassed”; NASB “humiliated…disgraced.”

[54:4]  ² 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.

[54:5]  ³ tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[54:5]  ⁴ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[54:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “like a woman abandoned and grieved in spirit.”

[54:7]  ⁶ tn Or “forsook” (NASB).

[54:8]  ⁷ tn According to BDB 1009 s.v. שֶׁטֶף the noun שֶׁצֶף here is an alternate form of שֶׁטֶף (shetef, “flood”). Some relate the word to an alleged Akkadian cognate meaning “strength.”

[54:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “I hid my face from you.”

[54:8]  ⁹ tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[54:9]  ¹⁰ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “For [or “indeed”] the waters of Noah [is] this to me.” כִּי־מֵי (ki-me, “for the waters of”) should be emended to כְּמֵי (kÿmey, “like the days of”), which is supported by the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a and all the ancient versions except LXX.

[54:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the waters of Noah” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).