translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: ISA

label: NET translator note

text: Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.” sn The Lord’s special servant, introduced in chap. , speaks here of his commission.


text: Heb “called me from the womb.”


text: Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”


text: Or perhaps, “polished” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NASB “a select arrow.”


text: Or “said” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “I replied.”


text: Heb “for nothing and emptiness.” Synonyms are combined to emphasize the common idea.


text: Heb “But my justice is with the Lord, and my reward [or “wage”] with my God.”


text: Heb “from the womb” (so KJV, NASB).


text: The words “he did this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct of purpose is subordinated to the previous statement.


text: The vav ( ו ) + imperfect is translated here as a result clause; one might interpret it as indicating purpose, “and so I might be honored.”


text: Heb “and my God is [perhaps, “having been”] my strength.” The disjunctive structure ( vav [ ו ] + subject + verb) is interpreted here as indicating a causal circumstantial clause.


text: Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”


text: See the note at 42:6 .


text: Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”


text: Heb “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14 .


text: reading. As J. N. Oswalt ( Isaiah [NICOT], 2:294) points out, the three terse phrases “convey a picture of lowliness, worthlessness, and helplessness.”


text: MT’s Piel participle (“to the one who rejects”) does not fit contextually. The form should be revocalized as a Pual, “to the one rejected.”


text: Parallelism (see “rulers,” “kings,” “princes”) suggests that the singular גּוֹי ( goy ) be emended to a plural or understood in a collective sense (see 55:5 ).


text: For this sense of קוּם ( qum ), see Gen 19:1; 23:7; 33:10 ; Lev 19:32 ; 1 Sam 20:41; 25:41 ; 1 Kgs 2:19 ; Job 29:8 .


text: The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצָר ( natsar , “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצָר ( yatsar , “form”).


text: 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 .


text: The Hiphil of קוּם ( qum , “arise”) is probably used here in the sense of “rebuild.”


text: The “land” probably stands by metonymy for the ruins within it.


text: Heb “to say.” In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct is subordinated to what precedes.


text: Heb “in darkness” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “the prisoners of darkness.”


text: Heb “show yourselves” (so ASV, NAB, NASB).


text: Heb “and the heat and the sun will not strike them.” In Isa 35:7 , its only other occurrence in the OT, שָׁרָב ( sharav ) stands parallel to “parched ground” and in contrast to “pool.” In later Hebrew and Aramaic it refers to “dry heat, heat of the sun” (Jastrow 1627 s.v.). Here it likely has this nuance and forms a hendiadys with “sun.”


label: NET textual note

text: 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). 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.


text: Or “O heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם ( shamayim ) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.


text: Heb “his” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).


text: The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’ adonay ).


text: Heb “her suckling”; NASB “her nursing child.”


text: Heb “so as not to have compassion on the son of her womb?”


text: Heb “these” (so ASV, NASB).


text: Heb “you.” Here the pronoun is put by metonymy for the person’s name.


text: Heb “Lift up around your eyes and see.”


text: Heb “Indeed your ruins and your desolate places, and the land of your destruction.” This statement is abruptly terminated in the Hebrew text and left incomplete.


text: Heb “me.” The singular is collective.


text: Heb “draw near to me so I can dwell.”


text: Heb “and you will say in your heart.”


text: Or “exiled and thrust away”; NIV “exiled and rejected.”


text: Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22 b).


text: Heb “you.” See the preceding note.


text: Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”


text: reads correctly עריץ (“violent [one], tyrant”; see v. 25 ).


text: Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).


text: Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14 .


text: Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.” See 1:24 .