Isaiah 44:23-25

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Isaiah 44:23 tn Heb “acts”; NASB, NRSV “has done it”; NLT “has done this wondrous thing.”
2. Isaiah 44:23 tn Heb “lower regions.” This refers to Sheol and forms a merism with “sky” in the previous line. See Pss 63:9; 71:20.
3. Isaiah 44:23 tn Heb “O forest and all the trees in it”; NASB, NRSV “and every tree in it.”
4. Isaiah 44:23 tn Heb “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.
5. Isaiah 44:23 tn That is, by delivering Israel. Cf. NCV “showed his glory when he saved Israel”; TEV “has shown his greatness by saving his people Israel.”
6. Isaiah 44:24 tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
7. Isaiah 44:24 tn The consonantal text (Kethib) has “Who [was] with me?” The marginal reading (Qere) is “from with me,” i.e., “by myself.” See BDB 87 s.v. II אֵת 4.c.
8. Isaiah 44:25 tc The Hebrew text has בַּדִּים (baddim), perhaps meaning “empty talkers” (BDB 95 s.v. III בַּד). In the four other occurrences of this word (Job 11:3; Isa 16:6; Jer 48:30; 50:36) the context does not make the meaning of the term very clear. Its primary point appears to be that the words spoken are meaningless or false. In light of its parallelism with “omen readers,” some have proposed an emendation to בָּרִים (barim, “seers”). The Mesopotamian baru-priests were divination specialists who played an important role in court life. See R. Wilson, Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel, 93-98. Rather than supporting an emendation, J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:189, n. 79) suggests that Isaiah used בַּדִּים purposively as a derisive wordplay on the Akkadian word baru (in light of the close similarity of the d and r consonants).
9. Isaiah 44:25 tn Or “makes fools of” (NIV, NRSV); NAB and NASB both similar.
10. Isaiah 44:25 tn Heb “who turns back the wise” (so NRSV); NIV “overthrows the learning of the wise”; TEV “The words of the wise I refute.”
11. Isaiah 44:25 tn Heb “their knowledge” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).