h Cn Compare Gk Vg: Heb loved
i Heb my stringed instruments
38.1–22 Hezekiah becomes ill and God tells him he will die, but in response to Hezekiah’s prayer God grants him fifteen more years.
38.1 In those days, a vague temporal phrase found again in 39.1; though the date of Hezekiah’s illness is still disputed, the concerns of 38.6 and the connection with the Babylonian embassy in 39.1 suggest the period just prior to the revolt against Assyria (ca. 705–703 BCE).
38.3 For the content of this petition, cf. Ps 26.
38.8 Dial, steps or stairs on which the movement of the shadow of a nearby object was used to mark the passage of time.
38.9–20 This song, attributed to Hezekiah as a written votive offering celebrating his recovery, is a typical thanksgiving song used when presenting a thank offering for personal deliverance in the temple liturgy (see Ps 30).
38.10–16 These verses quote the earlier lament and petition of the psalmist.
38.17–20 Then the psalmist announces the deliverance for which he gives thanks. Death cannot praise you. If God had allowed Hezekiah to die, God would have lost a voice to sing God’s praises; because God cured him, Hezekiah will continue to sing to others of God’s faithfulness (see Pss 6.5; 30.9).
38.21–22 These verses would fit better between vv. 6 and 7 (see 2 Kings 20.7–8).
ISAIAH 39
Envoys from Babylon Welcomed
1At that time King Merodach-baladanson of Baladan of Babylon sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2Hezekiah welcomed them; he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. 3Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and said to him, “What did these men say? From where did they come to you?” Hezekiah answered, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” 4He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”
5Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: 6Days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your ancestors have stored up until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says the LORD. 7Some of your own sons who are born to you shall be taken away; they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 8Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.”
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39.1–8 Isaiah is disturbed by Hezekiah’s open reception of a delegation from the king of Babylon.
39.1 Merodach-baladan, a Chaldean king of Babylon, subjugated by Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria, who revolted against Sargon II and succeeded in ruling an independent Babylon for twelve years (721–709 BCE) before Sargon recaptured it. After Sargon’s death (705), Merodach-baladan again revolted and, though he soon lost Babylon (703), he remained a thorn in Assyria’s side for another ten years.
39.2 Hezekiah’s display of his treasure house and armory to these envoys suggests that the real motivation for this visit was an attempt to forge an anti-Assyrian alliance between Babylon and Judah.
39.3–4 Isaiah suspected such intrigue. The fact that Isaiah had to ask about the foreign envoys after their visit with the king suggests that the prophet had been intentionally kept in the dark about the diplomatic plans being hatched in the royal court (see 29.15; 30.1–2; 31.1).
39.5–7 The judgment appears to refer to the later events of 597 BCE (2 Kings 24.10–17).
ISAIAH 40
God’s People Are Comforted
1Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.
2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
double for all her sins.
3A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
6A voice says, “Cry out!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All people are grass,
their constancy is like the flower of the field.
7The grass withers, the flower fades,
when the breath of the LORD blows upon it;
surely the people are grass.
8The grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God will stand forever.
9Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good tidings;a
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,b
lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
10See, the Lord GOD comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead the mother sheep.
12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure,
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
13Who has directed the spirit of the LORD,
or as his counselor has instructed him?
14Whom did he consult for his enlightenment,
and who taught him the path of justice?
Who taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
15Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as dust on the scales;
see, he takes up the isles like fine dust.
16Lebanon would not provide fuel enough,
nor are its animals enough for a burnt offering.
17All the nations are as nothing before him;
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
18To whom then will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?
19An idol?—A workman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold,
and casts for it silver chains.
20As a gift one chooses mulberry woodc
—wood that will not rot—
then seeks out a skilled artisan
to set up an image that will not topple.
21Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to live in;
23who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
24Scarcely are they planted,
scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25To whom then will you compare me,
<
br /> or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
26Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.
27Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
30Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
31but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
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a Or O herald of good tidings to Zion
b Or O herald of good tidings to Jerusalem
c Meaning of Heb uncertain
40.1–55.13 Consolation of Judah. These chapters, which console the people of Judah with the promise of a joyous return to their homeland, presuppose the Babylonian exile and probably date from the period between 545 and 539 BCE. See Introduction.
40.1–11 God commissions the divine council to issue a message of consolation to the people of Israel, and the prophet, who overhears the voices of the council, clarifies the message.
40.1–2 Comfort, speak, cry. These imperatives are all plural, addressed to the angelic members of God’s royal council (see 6.8; 1 Kings 22.19–22). My people…your God, covenant language (Jer 31.33). Served her term. The period of punishment in exile is passed (see Jer 29.10). Double. See Ex 22.7.
40.3–5 Quoted in Lk 3.4–6 (cf. Mt 3.3; Mk 1.3; Jn 1.23). Way of the LORD, the highway God will use to come to his people; behind this imagery are the roads especially prepared by the Babylonians for the festive processionals of their gods. Desert. The road will extend across the desert from Babylon to Judah. The glory of the LORD will be seen when he returns to Judah on this road (vv. 9–10).
40.6–8 A voice from God’s council proclaims the eternal reliability of God’s word (55.10–11) in contrast to the transitoriness of human existence (see 1 Pet 1.24–25).
40.7 Breath, wind.
40.9 Jerusalem is called upon to be the herald to announce the good news of God’s return to the rest of the cities of Judah.
40.10–11 God is portrayed in the typology of a Jacob returning from Mesopotamia with his flock (the Judean exiles) as his wages (see Gen 31.1–33.14). This portrait reflects traditional royal imagery; the Babylonian king Hammurabi describes himself as “the beneficent shepherd” and asserts, “In my bosom I carried the peoples of the land of Sumer and Akkad” (Code of Hammurabi, Prologue).
40.12–31 The God who created all things is more than a match for Judah’s oppressors and their idols.
40.12–14 A series of rhetorical questions intended to show the incomparable power and wisdom of God.
40.15–17 Neither nature nor the nations can thwart the will of such a God; as obstacles to the accomplishment of God’s purpose, they are as insignificant as a few specks of fine dust on the scales are to a merchant when weighing produce.
40.18–20 God cannot be compared to idols made by human hands (see 42.17; 45.16, 20;46.1–2; Jer 10.1–16).
40.21–24 God, who created the world and its peoples, also controls their history (44.24–28).
40.24 He blows upon them, and they wither. See v. 7.
40.26 Far from being rival gods, the heavenly host (24.21) were created by God and are subject to him, appearing promptly at God’s call.
40.27–31 God is aware of his people’s situation and by his creative power the Lord will renew their strength if they wait on him (49.23; see Ps 103.5).
ISAIAH 41
Israel Assured of God’s Help
1Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.
2Who has roused a victor from the east,
summoned him to his service?
He delivers up nations to him,
and tramples kings under foot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
like driven stubble with his bow.
3He pursues them and passes on safely,
scarcely touching the path with his feet.
4Who has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
I, the LORD, am first,
and will be with the last.
5The coastlands have seen and are afraid,
the ends of the earth tremble;
they have drawn near and come.
6Each one helps the other,
saying to one another, “Take courage!”
7The artisan encourages the goldsmith,
and the one who smooths with the hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good”
and they fasten it with nails so that it cannot be moved.
8But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
9you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant,
I have chosen you and not cast you off”
10do not fear, for I am with you,
do not be afraid, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.
11Yes, all who are incensed against you
shall be ashamed and disgraced;
those who strive against you
shall be as nothing and shall perish.
12You shall seek those who contend with you,
but you shall not find them;
those who war against you
shall be as nothing at all.
13For I, the LORD your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Do not fear,
I will help you.”
14Do not fear, you worm Jacob,
you insecta Israel!
I will help you, says the LORD;
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15Now, I will make of you a threshing sledge,
sharp, new, and having teeth;
you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff.
16You shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them away,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
Then you shall rejoice in the LORD;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.
17When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the LORD will answer them,
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
18I will open rivers on the bare heights,b
and fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
19I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive;
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
20so that all may see and know,
all may consider and understand,
<
br /> that the hand of the LORD has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
The Futility of Idols
21Set forth your case, says the LORD;
bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
22Let them bring them, and tell us
what is to happen.
Tell us the former things, what they are,
so that we may consider them,
and that we may know their outcome;
or declare to us the things to come.
23Tell us what is to come hereafter,
that we may know that you are gods;
do good, or do harm,
that we may be afraid and terrified.
24You, indeed, are nothing
and your work is nothing at all;
whoever chooses you is an abomination.
25I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
from the rising of the sun he was summoned by name.c
He shall trampled on rulers as on mortar,
as the potter treads clay.
26Who declared it from the beginning, so that we might know,
and beforehand, so that we might say, “He is right”?
There was no one who declared it, none who proclaimed,
none who heard your words.
27I first have declared it to Zion,e
and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good tidings.
28But when I look there is no one;
among these there is no counselor
who, when I ask, gives an answer.
29No, they are all a delusion;
their works are nothing;
their images are empty wind.
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a Syr: Heb men of
b Or trails
c Cn Compare Q Ms Gk: MT and he shall call on my name
d Cn: Heb come
e Cn: Heb First to Zion—Behold, behold them
41.1–10 The nations are called upon to go to court with God to resolve the question of who actually controls history. The early victories of Cyrus of Persia, who was becoming a threat to Babylon, form the background to this oracle.
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