Isaiah 43:13

גַּם־מִיּוֹם אֲנִי הוּא וְאֵין מִיָּדִי מַצִּיל אֶפְעַל וּמִי יְשִׁיבֶנָּה׃

Accented text:

גַּם־מִיּוֹם֙ אֲנִי֣ ה֔וּא וְאֵ֥ין מִיָּדִי֭ מַצִּי֑ל אֶפְעַ֖ל וּמִ֥י יְשִׁיבֶֽנָּה׃

13 And from the day I am he. There is no one who can snatch (anything) out of my hand. I will act, and who can reverse it?

גַּם־מִיּוֹם אֲנִי הוּא And from the day I am he. גַּם "and also" can have the idea of "moreover." What is meant by מִיּוֹם "from the day"? The מִן is temporal, but what "day" is meant? When "that Day" is referred to, it often means the Last Day or the day of judgment for a nation. Here the opposite seems to be true: this is a reference to the day that was the Day, the first day, יוֹם אֶחָד (Genesis 1:5).

וְאֵין מִיָּדִי מַצִּיל There is no one who can snatch out of my hand. מַצִּיל is a hifil participle from נָצַל, "deliver, snatch away." The verb calls to mind a violent action, and the devil in all his violent rage against the God who damned him forever can never steal away anything from the hand of the Lord when the Lord holds on to it. Jesus says the same thing in John 10:28, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand." Jesus goes on in John 10:29-30 to show that this illustrates the unity of the Father and the Son.

אֶפְעַל וּמִי יְשִׁיבֶנָּה I will act, and who can reverse it? פעל is not a very common word in Biblical Hebrew; here the qal imperfect אֶפְעַל is the Lord's way of showing his work in his creation. Once he has done something, no one can יְשִׁיבֶנָּה "turn it back" (hifil imperfect).

13 ἔτι ἀπ' ἀρχῆς καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν μου ἐξαιρούμενος˙ ποιήσω, καὶ τίς ἀποστρέψει αὐτό;

13 et ab initio ego ipse et non est qui de manu mea eruat operabor et quis avertet illud

Isaiah 43:12

אָנֹכִי הִגַּדְתִּי וְהוֹשַׁעְתִּי וְהִשְׁמַעְתִּי וְאֵין בָּכֶם זָר וְאַתֶּם עֵדַי נְאֻם־יְהוָה וַאֲנִי־אֵל׃

Accented:

אָנֹכִ֞י הִגַּ֤דְתִּי וְהוֹשַׁ֙עְתִּי֙ וְהִשְׁמַ֔עְתִּי וְאֵ֥ין בָּכֶ֖ם זָר֑ וְאַתֶּ֥ם עֵדַ֛י נְאֻם־יְהוָה֭ וַֽאֲנִי־אֵֽל׃

12 I have declared and I have saved and I have made it known, and there is no other among you. "You are my witnesses," declares the LORD: "I am God."

אָנֹכִי הִגַּדְתִּי וְהוֹשַׁעְתִּי וְהִשְׁמַעְתִּי I have declared and I have saved and I have made it known, These three hifil perfects are all in the first person, so on the one hand God is emphasizing that he himself is the author and performer of his plan for our salvation, but on the other hand there is also an implicit support here for the doctrine of the Trinity. The Septuagint's use of the aorist simply calls the fact of God's words to our attention; the Vulgate had retained the perfect tense (-avi / -avi / feci).

וְאֵין בָּכֶם זָר and there is no other among you. זָר means "other, another" in the sense of a foreign, unauthorized or even illegal presence. The root can even mean "stinking" with Hamlet's reference to something rotten in Denmark. The Septuagint's ἀλλότριος "foreigner" brings out the flavor of this word, as does the Vulgate's alienus. The idea here is that there is a force at work, an illegal, unauthorized god among the people, but it's there as a creation of the mind of sinful man.

וְאַתֶּם עֵדַי נְאֻם־יְהוָה וַאֲנִי־אֵל "You are my witnesses," declares the LORD: "I am God." Once again, God calls mankind onto the witness stand to declare what the heavenly declare: God is God, and there is no other God. Here the only Mp reference in the verse is that וְאַתֶּם עֵדַי "you are my witnesses" occurs twice: cf. Isaiah 44:8.

Septuagint:
12 ἀνήγγειλα καὶ ἔσωσα, ὠνείδισα καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἐν ὑμῖν ἀλλότριος˙ ὑμεῖς ἐμοὶ μάρτυρες κἀγὼ μάρτυς, λέγει κύριος ὁ θεός.

Vulgate:
12 ego adnuntiavi et salvavi auditum feci et non fuit in vobis alienus vos testes mei dicit Dominus et ego Deus

Note that older versions of Bible Works have an incorrect accent on הִגַּ֤דְתִּי.

ISAIAH 43:11

אָנֹכִי אָנֹכִי יְהוָה וְאֵין מִבַּלְעָדַי מוֹשִׁיעַ׃

Accented:

אָנֹכִּ֥י אָנֹכִּ֖י יְהוָ֑ה וְאֵ֥ין מִבַּלְעָדַי֭ מוֹשִֽׁיעַ׃

11 I, I am the LORD, and beside Me there is no savior.

אָנֹכִי אָנֹכִי יְהוָה I, I am the LORD, The repetition is for emphasis. The Mp note gives us a valuable reference here, that the phrase אָנֹכִי אָנֹכִי occurs three times: Isaiah 43:11; 43:25 and 51:12. Notice that there is a second note about the same phrase, but this only appeals to אָנֹכִי יְהוָה, which occurs twelve times (Ex 4:11; 20:2; 20:5; Dt 5:6; 5:9; Ps 81:11; Is 43:11; 44:24; 51:15; Hos 12:10; 13:4 and perhaps Judges 5:3). In a nominal clause like this, the predicate (יְהוָה) normally has the principal emphasis or stress, but the repetition of the subject calls our attention to God as the speaker and the focus of our attention falls on the pronoun "I."

וְאֵין מִבַּלְעָדַי מוֹשִׁיעַ and beside Me there is no savior. Here each syllable is dripping with significance. The choice of words and the word order call our attention to the seriousness and truth of the statement. There is NO -- apart from me -- savior. מִבַּלְעָדַי is the preposition בִּלְעֲדֵי "apart from, except for." מוֹשִׁיעַ is a hifil participle from יָשַׁע, "deliver, save" (LXX σῴζων).

11 ἐγὼ ὁ θεός, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν πάρεξ ἐμοῦ σῴζων.

11 ego sum ego sum Dominus et non est absque me salvator

Revelation 3:1-6, Sardis (Part 2)

REVELATION 3:4

4 ἀλλὰ ἔχεις ὀλίγα ὀνόματα ἐν Σάρδεσιν ἃ οὐκ ἐμόλυναν τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτῶν, καὶ περιπατήσουσιν μετ' ἐμοῦ ἐν λευκοῖς, ὅτι ἄξιοί εἰσιν.

4 However you have a few names [people] in Sardis who have not defiled their clothes. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

ἀλλὰ ἔχεις ὀλίγα ὀνόματα ἐν Σάρδεσιν, However you have a few names [people] in Sardis. The ἀλλὰ snaps our attention to a contrast: There were some who were undefiled. The unusual expression "a few names" (ὀλίγα ὀνόματα) reminds us that God looks at us as individuals and calls us each by name (John 10:3).

ἃ οὐκ ἐμόλυναν τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτῶν, who have not defiled their clothes. The phrase ἐμόλυναν τὰ ἱμάτια "defiled the clothes" is the LXX expression from Genesis 37:31, when Joseph's brothers immolated Joseph's special coat in the blood

καὶ περιπατήσουσιν μετ' ἐμοῦ ἐν λευκοῖς, They will walk with me in white, περιπατήσουσιν future indicative 3 pl περιπατέω. Once again, "white" refers to the purity of the forgiven believer with the status of justified in the blood of Christ.

ὅτι ἄξιοί εἰσιν. for they are worthy. ἄξιος, "worthy," also means "deserving" and "straight." To be worthy means to be right in line with God's will, unbent, unmarred. But the "worthy" in Sardis are also ὀλίγα, "few."




REVELATION 3:5

5 ὁ νικῶν οὕτως περιβαλεῖται ἐν ἱματίοις λευκοῖς, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐξαλείψω τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς βίβλου τῆς ζωῆς, καὶ ὁμολογήσω τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐνώπιον τοῦ πατρός μου καὶ ἐνώπιον τῶν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ.

5 He who overcomes this way will be dressed in white. I will never wipe out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and before his angels.

ὁ νικῶν οὕτως περιβαλεῖται ἐν ἱματίοις λευκοῖς, He who overcomes this way will be dressed in white. Yet again we have a reference to "white" ἐν ἱματίοις λευκοῖς; and the one in white is the one who is περιβαλεῖται, fut mid ind περιβάλλω "dressed" that way -- it is something given to him by God. And this is the one who ὁ νικῶν, "who has overcome" or "who is victorious" (present participle, attributive). The victory is Christ. The victory is from and by and through Christ.

καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐξαλείψω τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς βίβλου τῆς ζωῆς, I will never wipe out his name from the book of life, οὐ μὴ with a future means "never ever," ἐξαλείψω fut. ind ἐξαλείϕω "wipe away, remove." Like a teacher writing "save" on a blackboard, the name written there will remain. More than that, our Master has thrown away his eraser. More than that, he has varnished over the name on the board: it cannot be erased.

The "book of life" (τῆς βίβλου τῆς ζωῆς) is mentioned in Psalm 69:28 as something God's enemies should be blotted from, and in Philippians 4:3 Paul says that Clement, Syzygus and others have their names written in it. Apart from these passages, there is no other reference to it outside of Revelation, but here we have it six more times: 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12; 20:15 and 21:27. In the Fathers, we also have 1 Clement 53:4 (cf. Exodus 32), Hermas' Vision 1,3,2 "if they repent...they will be inscribed in the books (pl.) of life with the saints" and also Similitude 2:9, "The who does these things will not be deserted by God, but will be inscribed in the books of the living." All of these recall Exodus 32, where Moses and God have this dialogue: "'But now, please forgive their sin-- but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.' The LORD replied to Moses, 'Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book.'" (Exodus 32:32-33). The book of life or the book of the living is the place in God's heart where the names of all believers are known and recorded forever.

καὶ ὁμολογήσω τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐνώπιον τοῦ πατρός μου καὶ ἐνώπιον τῶν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ. but will acknowledge his name before my Father and before his angels. ὁμολογήσω is the future indicative of ὁμολογέω, "confess, declare; say plainly." Jesus will confess and clearly declare his saints, without missing any one, before God the Father and before the angels in heaven.




REVELATION 3:6

6 ὁ ἔχων οὖς ἀκουσάτω τί τὸ πνεῦμα λέγει ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις.

6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

This letter ends like most of the others with a call to hear, for those who have ears. Note that the message from Christ is not to be taken any differently than the word of God given by the Father directly to Moses or the inspired words of Christ--it is all the word of the Spirit of God, for there is no God except the One God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Unlike the other churches in Revelation, there is no warning about mixing with the Nicolaitans, nor is there any warning about coming persecutions. It's been suggested that the people of Sardis had gotten too lazy with their faith -- too sleepy -- to really mix with a heresy or be bothersome enough with their evangelism or their stand for Jesus to be persecuted.

How many congregations today suffer from the sleeping sickness of Sardis? When we get too comfortable, we are in grave danger of slipping away into oblivion. When we give up on reaching out with the gospel and only want to be fed with it, then we're hoarding it! We need to wake up!

Certainly there come times when we need to pull back and examine how we're using God's gifts -- but then it's time to get back into the spiritual fight and get the gospel of Jesus Christ into every tribe, nation and language. Because Jesus has forgiven our sins -- even our spiritual sleepiness -- we rejoice and thank God, and we put our thanks into practice in our lives. That's what Paul was talking about when he said: "Put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light" (Romans 13:12) and "Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and no not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature" (Romans 13:14). We keep watchful, because the enemy is at the gate. We spread the word of God to other people, firstly out of love for Christ and concern for the lost, but also because more and more watchful eyes will make for a stronger camp. We can watch out for one another as well as ourselves. And we do it for Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.

Revelation 3:1-6, Sardis (Part 1)

Sermon Exegesis for Reformation Sunday, October 31, 2010

PART I (Revelation 3:1-3)

REVELATION 3:1

3 Καὶ τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐν Σάρδεσιν ἐκκλησίας γράψον· Τάδε λέγει ὁ ἔχων τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοὺς ἑπτὰ ἀστέρας· Οἶδά σου τὰ ἔργα, ὅτι ὄνομα ἔχεις ὅτι ζῇς, καὶ νεκρὸς εἶ.

3 To the angel of the church in Sardis write: "He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, say: 'I know your deeds, that you have a name that is alive, but you are dead.

Καὶ τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐν Σάρδεσιν ἐκκλησίας γράψον· To the angel of the church in Sardis write: Sardis (Σάρδεις) was located on a steep peak at the crossing of five important roads. The slopes leading up to the city were so steep that the people fell to thinking that no army could ever conquer the city -- but two armies did. The first was led by Cyrus the Great just a few years before he conquered Persia and let the Jews return to Jerusalem. At that time Sardis was ruled by King Croesus, still famous for his wealth. Under Croesus, Sardis became the first place in the world to use gold rather than electrum or silver as its standard of money, although the Greek philosopher Solon warned him about trusting wealth when he told him "Call no man happy before his death." Sardis fell in 546 BC when Cyrus' men climbed up the steep slopes and found no guards posted. The same thing happened again in 214 BC for the same reasons. Notice that Jesus warns: "If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you."

Τάδε λέγει ὁ ἔχων τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοὺς ἑπτὰ ἀστέρας· "He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, say: ὁ ἔχων is a present attributive participle; "the one who has"  (See below for "seven spirits... seven stars").

Οἶδά σου τὰ ἔργα, ὅτι ὄνομα ἔχεις ὅτι ζῇς, καὶ νεκρὸς εἶ. 'I know your deeds, that you have a name that is alive, but you are dead. τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα τοῦ θεοῦ "the seven spirits of God" is a symbolic use of the number 7 as we have throughout the visions of revelation.

Use of ἑπτά "seven" as a symbol. In the visions, the number represents the holiness of God. The use of "six" in other places appears to represent a falling short of God's holiness, with the superlative number 666 at the end of chapter 13 representing the permanent, ultimate falling short of God's holiness; the number of the beast; sinful through and through.

The count of the Asian churches and their pastors is excluded (cf. 1:20) but the number may have some symbolic significance; seven churches chosen to represent the spiritual meaning of "seven" over against the mockery of "seven" brought forth by the devil.

I. The sevenfold spirit of God himself. Seven in this case seems to be a number standing for the holiness and perfection of God.

1:4 τῶν ἑπτὰ πνευμάτων ἃ ἐνώπιον τοῦ ϑρόνου αὐτοῦ "the seven spirits which are before [God's] throne.
3:1 τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα τοῦ ϑεοῦ "the seven spirits of God" ("held" by Jesus)
4:5 καὶ ἑπτὰ λαμπάδες πυρὸς "seven lamps burning" before the throne
4:5 τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα τοῦ ϑεοῦ, "seven spirits of God" seen by John in the vision
5:6 ἔχων κέρατα ἑπτὰ καὶ ὀϕϑαλμοὺς ἑπτά, οἵ εἰσιν τὰ [ἑπτὰ] πνεύματα τοῦ ϑεοῦ "seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God.

II. The seven seals

             5:1, 5:5, 6:1 σϕραγῖσιν ἑπτά "seven seals"


III. The seven angels. God has more than seven angels (Rev. 5:11) but seven are chosen to represent God's holiness in the judgment. They have seven bowls and seven trumpets: the message is holy and the action (the pouring of the bowls) is holy.

8:2, 8:6, 21:11 τοὺς ἑπτὰ ἀγγέλους οἳ ἐνώπιον τοῦ ϑεοῦ ἑστήκασιν "the seven angels who stand before God"

IV. The seven trumpets and bowls of the seven angels

8:2 ἑπτὰ σάλπιγγες. "seven trumpets" given to the seven angels (one each)
15:7; 17:1; 21;11 ἑπτὰ ϕιάλας χρυσᾶς "seven golden bowls" (one for each of the angels)

V. God's word is holy and powerful: a voice of seven thunders.

10:3, 10:4 ἐλάλησαν αἱ ἑπτὰ βρονταὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ϕωνάς. "the voices of the seven thunders spoke"

VI. The results of the judgment are holy, even when they appear to be horrible.

11:13 καὶ ἀπεκτάνϑησαν ἐν τῷ σεισμῷ ὀνόματα ἀνϑρώπων χιλιάδες ἑπτά "seven thousand names [people] were killed in the earthquake"
15:1; 15:6; 15:8; 16:1; 17:1 ἀγγέλους ἑπτὰ ἔχοντας πληγὰς ἑπτὰ τὰς ἐσχάτας,"seven angels having seven last plagues"

VII. The devil attempts to mock God's holiness with his own claim on seven crowns.

12:3 ἔχων κεϕαλὰς ἑπτὰ καὶ ... ἑπτὰ διαδήματα, (the red dragon) "having seven heads... and seven crowns"
13:1; 17:3 κεϕαλὰς ἑπτά, "seven heads" for the beast as well as the dragon.

Note: "the (κεϕαλὰς ἑπτά) seven heads are (ἑπτὰ ὄρη) seven hills on which the woman sits," and they are also "seven kings" (βασιλεῖς ἑπτά ) (17:9-10, 11). This identifies the woman's location with a place known for seven hills.

The seven hills of Rome are: Quirinal and Viminal to the north, Esquiline and Caelian to the east, Aventine to the south, Capitoline to the west between the city and the Field of Mars (the Vatican is across the Tiber beyond the Field), and the Palatine in the center.

REVELATION 3:2


2 γίνου γρηγορῶν, καὶ στήρισον τὰ λοιπὰ ἃ ἔμελλον ἀποθανεῖν, οὐ γὰρ εὕρηκά σου [τὰ] ἔργα πεπληρωμένα ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ μου·

2 Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die, for I have not found your deeds completed before my God.

γίνου γρηγορῶν Wake up! Present periphrastic participle (forms of γίνομαι can be used in periphrasis). Sleeping had often led to disaster in Sardis. Jesus uses this problem as an illustration for what has been happening in the congregation. Only a few are awake and watchful. The whole group is in danger of fading completely away -- they have become comfortable.

καὶ στήρισον τὰ λοιπὰ and strengthen the things that remain, στήρισον is an aorist imperative of στηρίζω, "strengthen, make firm." τὰ λοιπὰ is "the rest," as in the expression καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ "and the rest" or κ.τ.λ., the Greek equivalent of "etc." What are the "rest" of the matters? In context, they are whatever isn't already dead, as Jesus warned in verse 1. Their name in Sardis is already gone; it's time to salvage whatever they can. When the Hindenburg caught fire in New Jersey, a cameraman caught the name of the big ship going up in flames, and yet after that moment, people were still jumping from the cabin windows and escaping with broken ankles, etc. In Sardis, it was time to be sure of their souls even though everything else was about to be lost.

ἃ ἔμελλον ἀποθανεῖν, which were about to die, Here is a realm of heaven we are uncertain about, that some of our earthly deeds follow us in some way into heaven, where Jesus will credit us with certain acts ("you visited me in prison," etc.). In Sardis, it was these things that were already dying or "about to die" (ἔμελλον, imperfect indicative 3rd plural μέλλω, "be about to"). The infinitive ἀποθανεῖν "to die" is the necessary complement to the verb.

οὐ γὰρ εὕρηκά σου [τὰ] ἔργα πεπληρωμένα ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ μου· for I have not found your deeds completed before my God. εὕρηκά is the perfect "eureka!" of Archimedes; but Jesus has had no eureka about the deeds of Sardis.


REVELATION 3:3

3 μνημόνευε οὖν πῶς εἴληϕας καὶ ἤκουσας, καὶ τήρει, καὶ μετανόησον. ἐὰν οὖν μὴ γρηγορήσῃς, ἥξω ὡς κλέπτης, καὶ οὐ μὴ γνῷς ποίαν ὥραν ἥξω ἐπὶ σέ.

3 Remember therefore what you received and heard, and keep it, and repent. If, then, you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will certainly not know at what hour I will come to you.

μνημόνευε οὖν πῶς εἴληϕας καὶ ἤκουσας, καὶ τήρει, Remember therefore what you received and heard, and keep it. What the people of Sardis had received was the gospel. Is there a distinction to be made here between "received" (εἴληϕας, pf ind 2 sg, speaking to the congregation as an individual or a collective) and "heard" (ἤκουσας, aor act ind 2 sg)? The perfect indicates something done with lasting results, and the aorist points to a simple fact, but the word order suggests that the "receiving" was done first; the "hearing" was simply something done in the past. But before we get bogged down in the subtle difference between them, we should remember that μνημόνευε and τήρει are the actual words to which we pay attention here, they are both present imperatives: "Remember" and "keep." However the gospel came, remember it, and keep it, now that you have it.

καὶ μετανόησον. and repent. Luther said, "Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when he said "Repent" [Matthew 4:17], willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance" (95 Theses, Thesis #1). To repent is not really to "do penitence" (paenitentiam agite Mt. 4:17 Vg., or paeitentiam age Rev 3:3 Vg.) but to change the mind, μετανoέω. It is to do a 180 degree turn with my life, away from sin, stopped in my tracks by the Law of God, and being turned by the Gospel back to Christ and to a life of love, thanks and obedience to God's will. The fruits of repentance may be one thing for one believer and another for another believer. In some cases, there might be obvious fruits of repentance: returning a stolen item, making amends for a dead animal, repairing or paying for repairs to damaged property. In other cases, the fruits may not be as obvious. A pastor does not need to impose specific fruits of repentance on a penitent believer, but he may offer guidance as to what those fruits might be.

ἐὰν οὖν μὴ γρηγορήσῃς, ἥξω ὡς κλέπτης If, then, you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, ἐὰν with μὴ means "unless," and with a subjunctive (γρηγορήσῃς) in the protasis and a future (ἥξω) in the apodosis we have a future more vivid condition, the most common conditional sentence in Greek. It states the condition as possible, but the conclusion as positively certain in the future. The future more vivid os "frequently used in legal phraseology" (Basic Greek Syntax, Northwestern College Greek Department notes 1978 p. 24). The idea of Christ coming "like a thief" (ὡς κλέπτης) is a familiar one (1 Thess. 5:2; 5:4; 2 Peter 3:10; Rev. 3:3; 16:15 and for the expression cf. also Job 24:14).

καὶ οὐ μὴ γνῷς ποίαν ὥραν ἥξω ἐπὶ σέ. and you will certainly not know at what hour I will come to you. οὐ joined to μὴ here strengthens and intensifies the negative (Thayer, οὐ 5). When the Last Day comes, it will arrive unpredicted and unexpected, but we must not let it arrived unlooked for.

(to be continued)

Isaiah 43:10

אַתֶּם֚ עֵדַי֙ נְאֻם־יְהוָ֔ה וְעַבְדִּי֭ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בָּחָ֑רְתִּי לְמַ֣עַן תֵּ֠דְעוּ וְתַאֲמִ֙ינוּ לִ֤י וְתָבִ֙ינוּ֙ כִּֽי־אֲנִ֣י ה֔וּא לְפָנַי֙ לֹא־נ֣וֹצַר אֵ֔ל וְאַחֲרַי֭ לֹ֥א יִהְיֶֽה׃

10 "You are my witnesses," says the LORD, "and my servant, whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, and after me there will be none."

אַתֶּם עֵדַי נְאֻם־יְהוָה "You are my witnesses," says the LORD, We discussed עֵד "witness" in the previous verse; see 41:14 for comments on נְאֻם, "a solemn oracle." Mp: The word אַתֶּם "you" occurs four times at the beginning of a verse (Ex 5:11; 19:4; Deut. 29:9 and Isaiah 43:10). This (also an Mp note) is the only time אַתֶּם עֵדַי occurs, and perhaps there is some homiletical value to this note.

וְעַבְדִּי אֲשֶׁר בָּחָרְתִּי "and my servant, whom I have chosen, בָּחָרְתִּי is a qal perfect 1 sg from בָּחַר "choose." Billy Graham was very insistent that a choice must be made, a conscious reception of Christ into the heart for salvation to take place. But how can decision theology stand against the vast array of passages like this one that make God the one who does the choosing, not man? Ephesians 2:8-9 makes it clear that we are not saved because of our deeds or choice, but because of God's grace. Luther's words still ring like a bell: "I believe that I cannot by my own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, nor come to him."

The Syriac makes וְעַבְדִּי a plural, "my servants," but no other versions or Hebrew manuscripts support the reading.

לְמַעַן תֵּדְעוּ וְתַאֲמִינוּ לִי וְתָבִינוּ so that you may know and believe me and understand. The preposition לְמַעַן occurs primarily with the infinitive of purpose or (as here) an imperfect stating either purpose "in order that" or result "so that" (Hos. 8:4). Here it states purpose with the imperfect תֵּדְעוּ "so that you may know." וְתַאֲמִינוּ is a hifil imperfect from אמן, which means "confirm" or "believe" when followed by a lamed of the person believed (לִי, "me"). A third imperfect, וְתָבִינוּ "and understand" (from בִּן "discern between") brings the three verbs into a group; the theologians of a former century would have called this an example of scientia, assentia et fiducia (Pieper held this view). However, that seems to be stretching three verbs into a later dogmatic concept, and we should be careful to go the other way, drawing dogmatic concepts, where necessary, from Scriptural statements. The three elements of faith are expressed well enough elsewhere: this is more a kind of superlative, "you will certainly know, with a believing, understanding knowledge."

The supralinear accent above תֵּ֠דְעוּ is telisa gadol. It is a minor disjunctive accent and no exegetical implications occur with it here, although it causes some confusion in Isaiah 9:5 [Eng. 9:6] with "wonderful (,) counselor.

כִּי־אֲנִי הוּא that I am he. Note the munach connecting אֲנִ֣י with ה֔וּא. We can't help but that is an Old Testament "I Am" (LXX ἐγώ εἰμι) statement. Strictly speaking, אֲנִי emphasizes the subject (GK §135 and note, where four instances from Isaiah are noted).

לְפָנַי לֹא־נוֹצַר אֵל Before me no god was formed, There is an exegetical double meaning in לְפָנַי, since the idea in context is "before I existed," that is, before in the sense of time before, and yet everything that was created was created by God and only with his knowledge and power, and so לְפָנַי can retain its usual "before the face of" (ἔμπροσθεν) meaning as well. נוֹצַר is a nifal participle with the accent on the first syllable (נ֣וֹצַר) like a pe-nun verb although it should properly be pe-yod (GK §70a)

וְאַחֲרַי לֹא יִהְיֶה and after me there will be none." וְאַחֲרַי is an adverb with a 1st singular ending; it can be a reference to either place or of time, and here "time" appears to be implied, but cf. לְפָנַי above. The phrase לֹא יִהְיֶה has an absolute theological sense here: there is nothing at all apart from God; there can be nothing at all without him. Even chaos (תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ) was "לֹא יִהְיֶה" before the creation by God.

Student feedback: Will it help if I include these two translations in the verses? It would only take a click to drop them into the end of each verse.
__________
Septuagint: γένεσθέ μοι μάρτυρες, κἀγὼ μάρτυς, λέγει κύριος ὁ θεός, καὶ ὁ παῖς, ὃν ἐξελεξάμην, ἵνα γνῶτε καὶ πιστεύσητε καὶ συνῆτε ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι, ἔμπροσθέν μου οὐκ ἐγένετο ἄλλος θεὸς καὶ μετ' ἐμὲ οὐκ ἔσται˙

Vulgate: vos testes mei dicit Dominus et servus meus quem elegi ut sciatis et credatis mihi et intellegatis quia ego ipse sum ante me non est formatus deus et post me non erit

Isaiah 43:9

כָּֽל־הַגּוֹיׅ֞ם נִקְבְּצ֣וּ יַחְדָּ֗ו וְיֵאָסְפוּ֙ לְאֻמִּ֔ים מִי֚ בָהֶם֙ יַגִּ֣יד זֺ֔את וְרִאשֹׁנ֖וֹת יַשְׁמִיעֻנ֑וּ יִתְּנ֤וּ עֵֽדֵיהֶם֙ וְיִצְדָּ֔קוּ וְיִשְׁמְע֖וּ וְיֹאמְר֥וּ אֱמֶֽת׃

9 All the nations are gathered together and the peoples are assembled who among them can declare this and announce to us former things? Let them bring their witnesses that they may be innocent, and let them hear and say 'It is truth.'

כָּל־הַגּוֹיִם נִקְבְּצוּ יַחְדָּו וְיֵאָסְפוּ לְאֻמִּים All the nations are gathered together and the peoples are assembled, נִקְבְּצוּ is a nifal perfect (3rd pl) from קָבַץ, "gather" (cp. kibbutz). The adverb יַחְדָּו is from יַ֫חַד, "a unitedness." וְיֵאָסְפוּ is a nifal imperfect (the Aleppo Codex marks this form as a hapax legomenon because it's the only time the form isn't waw-consecutive) from אָסַף "gather collect." The nifal is passive here: "assembled." The term אֻמִּים is parallel to גּוֹיִם; these are heathen nations gathered together to defend themselves against God's accusation.

We saw the doubled accent garshayim earlier in 43:1, but it can't hurt to be reminded that the garshayim accenting הַגּוֹיׅ֞ם has the same value as an ordinary geresh but the word הַגּוֹיִם is stressed on the ultima and it does not have a conjunctive accent preceding.

מִי בָהֶם יַגִּיד זֹאת וְרִאשֹׁנוֹת יַשְׁמִיעֻנוּ who among them can declare this and announce to us former things? יַגִּיד hifil imperfect from נָגַד "be conspicuous," in the hifil "declare, tell." זֹאת "this" is feminine because it refers to the "former things" (note the fem. pl. ending with וְרִאשֹׁנוֹת). The adjective וְרִאשֹׁנוֹת (fem. pl) based on the root רוש "head" means "former things," although in another context can mean "chief, important things." (The Aleppo Codex also marks this form as hapax). יַשְׁמִיעֻנוּ, again hapax in Aleppo, is the hifil imperfect 3 m pl from שָׁמַע, "declare, announce." The hifil is often causative, so "cause to be heard" is the way the stem works here.

יִתְּנוּ עֵדֵיהֶם Let them bring their witnesses. יִתְּנוּ is a qal imperfect (pe-nun verb נתן), and עֵדֵיהֶם is the plural construct (with 3rd plural suffix) of עֵד, "witness" (also an Aleppo hapax). Cp. the use of this word in Deut. 19:18-19: "The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against his brother, then do to him as he intended to do to his brother..."

וְיִצְדָּקוּ that they may be innocent. צָדֵק is a stative verb meaning to "be just; be righteous." It is frequently a courtroom term (as it is here), referring to an acquittal or legal declaration of innocence. It's the Hebrew term for δικαιόω, "to declare just; justify." Romans 3 paints the full breadth of this concept in crass and unforgettable terms. Even if an individual committed a crime, a judge's declaration of innocence means that there will be no lawful and right punishment. This is the unfair judgment of God on sinful mankind: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and [yet!] are justified (δικαιούμενοι) freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:23-24). Notice how perfectly Isaiah's jussive term is in the qal. The stative verb still means to "be just, be righteous," and here the nations are commanded to do this for themselves. "Be righteous, if you can!" But the whole world, Jew and Gentile alike, stands condemned without Christ.
וְיִשְׁמְעוּ וְיֹאמְרוּ אֱמֶת and let them hear and say 'It is truth.' וְיִשְׁמְעוּ qal jussive (imperfect form, but jussive in these courtroom commands) "let them hear." The Mp note here in BHS (the first after five non-BHS notes in Aleppo!) tells us that this form occurs twice (cf. Josh. 7:9, but the same form in pause occurs in Jer. 6:10). וְיֹאמְרוּ is another qal jussive, "let them say." The Mp note here says that וְיֹאמְרוּ is a form that occurs 9 times without dagesh forte (Mm 1233: Dt 32:7; Isaiah 14:10; 43:9; Jer 16:19; Jonah 2:17; Psalm 35:27; 70:5; Job 38:35 and 1 Chron. 16:31).

אֱמֶת is "truth," and in a courtroom setting there is no call for any other translation. This is a call for true testimony, but the only truth that can be declared before God to these questions is "God, have mercy on me, a sinner" (Luke 18:13).

Gothic Ghosts in Galatians

Timothy Smith, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, New Ulm, MN

ABOUT WULFILA AND THE GOTHIC BIBLE

St. Wulfila (Ulfilas, c. 310-383) was a Gothic-born pastor whose parents were enslaved by the Goths from their home in Asia Minor. Wulfila was an Arian Christian who converted many Goths to that form of Christianity, setting the stage for religious as well as political strife in the Western Mediterranean. Perhaps Wulfila's greatest accomplishment was a nearly complete translation of the Bible into Gothic, an early Germanic language with primitive connections to Anglo-Saxon and German. It is the earliest known translation of the Bible into any Germanic language. Wulfila translated the entire Bible into Gothic except 1-2 Kings (he is reputed to have feared that the Goths would have gotten too many unpleasant ideas from the bloody accounts of the kings).

GOTHIC "GHOSTS"

Of his work, only the New Testament and a portion of Nehemiah remain intact, through several manuscripts. However, the New Testament contains many quotations of Old Testament texts. Some are paraphrases but many are outright quotations. Since Wulfila did his work alone, I believe it should be acceptable to conclude that these Old Testament quotations in the New Testament would accurately reflect Wulfila's understanding of the Old Testament text in his translation. I call such passages “Gothic Ghosts,” remnant quotations of Scripture in the Gothic Language from the missing pages of Wulfila’s translation. For the purposes of Old Testament textual criticism they should be permitted to stand,after careful analysis, as as representations of the text of the Old Testament known to Wulfila in the fourth century AD.

Mere allusions to texts will be noted, but only the actual quotations should be allowed as Old Testament passages, although in some cases it would appear that portions of an alluded text might be useful for critical Old Testament evaluation, since the idea of a text would be present.

Fourteen Old Testament passages are quoted in ten verses of Galatians (some OT phrases occur more than once—the NT quote of one of them validly covers all if no variations occur in most or all manuscripts of the OT passages). Of these 14, nine would be useful in the applications of Lower Textual Criticism based on manuscript evidence. However, because of the condition of the Gothic manuscripts, only four of these are actually available. [*] But three of the four would be useful in OT criticism due to variants to the Hebrew text.
__________
[*] Galatians 3:8 (which touches Gen. 12:3; 18:18 and 22:18) is not extant in Gothic, but no variants are present in BHS in those verses. Neither is 3:10 (= Deut. 27:26), 3:11 (Heb. 2:4), 3:12 (Lev. 18:5), 3:13 (Deuteronomy 21:23), or, unfortunately, 3:16 (Gen. 12:7, 13:15 and 27:4).

Two Gothic codices are useful here:

     Goth A Codex Ambrosianus A
     Goth B Codex Ambrosianus B

The text is generally from Streitberg's 1919 Gothic Bible.

1. GENESIS 15:6 (Galatians 3:6) (No variant in BHS)

וְהֶאֱמִן בַּיהוָה וַיַּחְשְׁבֶהָ לּוֹ צְדָקָה

Galatians 3:6 καθὼς ᾽Αβραὰμ ἐπίστευσεν τῷ θεῷ, καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην.

(1 Clement 10:6, ἐπίστευσεν δὲ Ἀβραὰμ τῷ θεῷ, καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην.)

Goth[a]     swaswe jah Abraham galaubida guda….

This phrase, “Abraham believed God” is consistent in both the Greek of Galatians and the Gothic (1 Clement is presented here for future reference to the application of the Apostolic Fathers in textual criticism). Swaswe is the adverb “just as, even as,” and so is not part of the quotation. Jah is “and.” Galabida is the preterite indicative 3rd singular of galaubjan, “believe.”
PRETERITE (Past tense)

     Indicative     Subjunctive      Indic.         Subjunctive
      singular          singular         plural             plural
1st   galabida      galabidedjau  galabidedum  galabidedeima
2nd  galabides    galabidedeis  galabideduþ    galabideideiþ
3rd  galabida      galabidedi     galabidedun    galabidedeina


2. GENESIS 21:10 (Galatians 4:30) (Variant in BHS)

וַתֹּאמֶר לְאַבְרָהָם גָּרֵשׁ הָאָמָה הַזֹּאת וְאֶת־בְּנָהּ  כִּי לֹא יִירַשׁ בֶּן־הָאָמָה הַזֹּאת עִם־בְּנִי עִם־יִצְחָק׃

Gen. 21:10 (and she said to Abraham) ‘Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.’”

Galatians 4:30

30 ἀλλὰ τί λέγει ἡ γραϕή; ῎Εκβαλε τὴν παιδίσκην καὶ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῆς, οὐ γὰρ μὴ κληρονομήσει ὁ υἱὸς τῆς παιδίσκης μετὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς ἐλευθέρας.

30 Goth[b] akei hva qiþiþ þata gamelido? uswairp þizai þiujai jah þamma sunau izos; unte ni nimiþ arbi sunus þiujos miþ sunau frijaizos.

Gal. 4:30 “But what does the Scripture say? ‘Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.’” 

The underlined jah in the Gothic text appears to agree with Paul’s Greek of Galatians 4:30, and also with the MT of Genesis 21:10 over against the variant of the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Targum Jonathan, which omit the waw (‘and’) from the passage.

3. LEVITICUS 19:18 (Galatians 5:14)

לֹא־תִקֹּם וְלֹא־תִטֹּר אֶת־בְּנֵי עַמֶּךָ וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ  אֲנִי יְהוָה׃

LXX Lev. 19:18 καὶ οὐκ ἐκδικᾶταί σου ἡ χείρ, καὶ οὐ μηνιεῖς τοῖς υἱοῖς τοῦ λαοῦ σου καὶ ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν˙ ἐγώ εἰμι κύριος.

Galatians 5:14 ὁ γὰρ πᾶς νόμος ἐν ἑνὶ λόγῳ πεπλήρωται, ἐν τῷ ᾽Αγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν.

Didache 1:2 (δεύτερον τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν), 2:7 (οὓς δὲ ἀγαπήσεις ὑπὲρ τὴν ψυχήν σου.).

Goth[b] unte all witoþ in izwis in ainamma waurda usfulljada, in þamma: frijos nehvundjan þeinana swe þuk silban.

BHS presents three variants to Leviticus 19:18. Galatians 5:14 only quotes “Love your neighbor as yourself” (᾽Αγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν). This portion of the quotation does not make contact with any of the three variants mentioned in BHS for the verse (all of them pertain to “Do not seek revenge…”). However, the Gothic joins the NT and other versions in agreement with the MT, which is a valuable and notable observation.

4. ISAIAH 54:1 (Galatians 4:27) (Variant in BHS)

רָנִּי עֲקָרָה לֹא יָלָדָה פִּצְחִי רִנָּה וְצַהֲלִי לֹא־חָלָה כִּי־רַבִּים בְּנֵי־שׁוֹמֵמָה מִבְּנֵי בְעוּלָה אָמַר יְהוָה׃

LXX: 54:1  Εὐφράνθητι, στεῖρα ἡ οὐ τίκτουσα, ῥῆξον καὶ βόησον, ἡ οὐκ ὠδίνουσα, ὅτι πολλὰ τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἐρήμου μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ἐχούσης τὸν ἄνδρα, εἶπεν γὰρ κύριος.

Sing, O Barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the Lord.

Gal. 4:27 γέγραπται γάρ, Εὐϕράνθητι, στεῖρα ἡ οὐ τίκτουσα· ῥῆξον καὶ βόησον, ἡ οὐκ ὠδίνουσα· ὅτι πολλὰ τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἐρήμου μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ἐχούσης τὸν ἄνδρα.

2 Clement 2:1 (Εὐφράνθητι, στεῖρα ἡ οὐ τίκτουσα, ῥῆξον καὶ βόησον, ἡ οὐκ ὠδίνουσα, ὅτι πολλὰ τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἐρήμου μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ἐχούσης τὸν ἄνδρα.)

The Septuagint has a variant reading here: following βόησον, L adds καὶ τέρπου, “and be merry,” pres mid imv from τέρπω (not in NT).

Goth[b] gameliþ ist auk: sifai stairo so unbairandei, tarmei jah hropei so ni fitandei, un(t)e managa barna þizos auþjons mais þau þizos aigandeins aban.

A brief analysis of this passage:

gameliþ (Pret. indic 3rd sg, gameljan “Written”) ist auk: sifai (“rejoice” sifan) stairo (‘sterile woman’) so unbairandei (present participle) tarmei (“break through, burst”) jah hropei (“crys out,” hropjan) so ni (‘she who,’ demonstrative; fem nom sg + not) fitandei (‘were-- in labor,’ fitan), un(t)e (conj. for, because) managa (more) barna (children; barn, cp. Gaelic bairn) þizos (“than she,” demonstr. pron: fem. gen. sg.: so, þizos, þizai, þo) auþjons (‘desert, barren,’ auþs) mais (“than,” adverb of comparison) þau (“better,” conj. after comparison) þizos (“than she”) aigandeins (“who has” aih) aban (“a husband”).

The presence of tarmei jah hropei in the Gothic text supports the MT reading of Isaiah 54:1 (burst into song and shout for joy) over against the LXX, which drops the first phrase.

Isaiah 43:8

הוֹצִ֥יא עַם־עִוֵּר֭ וְעֵינַ֣יִם יֵ֑שׁ וְחֵרְשִׁי֭ם וְאָזְנַ֣יִם לָֽמוֹ׃

8 Bring out the blind that have eyes and the deaf that have ears.

הוֹצִיא עַם־עִוֵּר וְעֵינַיִם יֵשׁ Bring out the blind that have eyes. הוֹצִיא hifil imperative (יָצָא), although the form should really be הֺוצֵא (note the apparatus and references to the two Qumran Isaiah scrolls). The Vulgate has the present imperative 2nd sg. educ (educere). The particle יֵשׁ is a substantive here to be treated like a form of "to be" or a relative pronoun. עִוֵּר can be a person blind in one or both eyes; here it is an entire people (עַם). Mp: הוֹצִיא occurs twice at the beginning of a verse (cf. Jer 51:10).

וְחֵרְשִׁים וְאָזְנַיִם לָמוֹ׃ and the deaf that have ears. לָמוֹ begins with a lamed of advantage. These are people who have the organs for sight and sound but who refuse to look or listen.

Verse 9 will continue this thought.

Isaiah 43:7

כֺּ֚ל הַנִּקְרָא֣ בִשְׁמִ֔י וְלִכְבוֹדִ֖י בְּרָאתִ֑יו יְצַרְתִּ֖יו אַף־עֲשִׂיתִּֽיו׃

7 All who are called by my name and whom I have created for my glory. I formed him; I made him.'

כֹּל הַנִּקְרָא בִשְׁמִי All who are called by my name. הַנִּקְרָא is a nifal participle; the participle is usually built on the perfect form (נִקְטָל from נִקְטַל) whereas the imperfect (יִקָּטֵל) and infinitive (הִקָּטֺל) are built on the shortened imperative (הִקָּטֵל). The nifal here is passive, and the form הַנִּקְרָא֣ is connected to בִשְׁמִ֔י with munach showing a grammatical connection almost as strong as a construct-genitive state. On the doctrine of being called, see comments below.

וְלִכְבוֹדִי בְּרָאתִיו and whom I have created. "Whom" is required by context; Gesenius explains this as a phenomenon of sentences beginning with participles: "Almost as a rule the participial construction beginning a sentence... is continued by means of a finite verb with or without waw, before which the English [translation] requires us to supply the relative pronoun implied in the participle" (GK §116x, he lists more than twenty examples). The finite verb here is בְּרָאתִיו, qal perfect 1 sg בָּרָא "create." The verb בָּרָא is sometimes mistakenly thought to imply "creation ex nilio" by virtue of the root word, but this is not so. A prophet can be told to בָּרָא a signpost (Ezekiel 21:19), and God can be shown as the one who can בָּרָא trees in the wilderness by natural means. In Genesis 1, the Lord creates (בָּרָא) out of nothing because the Bible tells us he made everything from nothing and because of the context of "In the beginning," before which there was nothing but God himself.

וְלִכְבוֹדִי for my glory. This term sits between the three verbs, and stands at the center of everything God has done. God has done all of these things for the sake of magnifying his own deserving name; the very acts for which we thank and worship him.

יְצַרְתִּיו אַף־עֲשִׂיתִיו I formed him; I made him.' יְצַרְתִּיו qal perfect יָצַר "form, fashion." This is the word God uses to describe the particular and intimate creation of man: "The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground..." (Genesis 2:7). The conjunctive particle אַף "even" may have only as much force here as our semicolon. עֲשִׂיתִיו (qal perfect עָשָׂה) does not really say anything new about this creation, but the three words together form a kind of complete idea. The creation spoken of here reflects the language of the Genesis creation, but God is talking about the creation of faith, the call to become God's child through the rebirth of faith by the grace of God. He does this creation through his word, whether spoken, sung, read, recited, or administered in the sacrament.

The doctrine of election is one of the purest assurances of our forgiveness and our special place in God's plan. It only tells us one thing: That God planned all along (in eternity) that you would be his. The doctrine of election is like a birth certificate: It doesn't tell you anything about anybody else but you. But it tells you who you are, and who your parents are. It anchors you in the universe. The doctrine of election tells you who you are, and who your God and Savior is -- and it anchors you in heaven, forever. It doesn't tell you anything about other people's relationships with God, but it tells you everything you need to know about your own relationship with him: You are his own dear child, and he is your eternal Father.

He loves you. He has forgiven you. He is yours, and you are his.

Nifal Imperfect and Waw-Consecutive Imperfect

See comments on the qal imperfect. The waw-consecutive prefers shorter (jussive) forms, but the nifal has few if any of these. Note that aleph doesn't take a dagesh, so the patach for the waw is lengthened to qames.

Nifal Imperfect

3 m sg      יִקָּטֵל
3 f sg       תִּקָּטֵל
2 m sg      תִּקָּטֵל
2 f sg      תִּקָּטְלִי
1 sg          אֶקָּטֵל

3 m pl       יִקָּטְלוּ
3 f pl    תִּקָּטַ֫לְנָה
2 m pl     תִּקָּטְלוּ
2 f pl   תִּקָּטַ֫לְנָה
1 pl           נִקָּטֵל

Nifal waw-consecutive imperfect

3 m sg       וַיִּקָּטֵל
3 f sg       וַתִּקָּטֵל
2 m sg      וַתִּקָּטֵל
2 f sg      וַתִּקָּטְלִי
1 sg          וָאֶקָּטֵל

3 m pl       וַיִּקָּטְלוּ
3 f pl      וַתִּקָּטַ֫לְנָה
2 m pl      וַתִּקָּטְלוּ
2 f pl      וַתִּקָּטַ֫לְנָה
1 pl             וַנִּקָּטֵל

Isaiah 43:6

אֹמַ֤ר לַצָּפוֹן֙ תֵּ֔נִי וּלְתֵימָ֖ן אַל־תִּכְלָ֑אִי הָבִ֤יאִי בָנַי֙ מֵרָח֔וֹק וּבְנוֹתַ֖י מִקְצֵ֥ה הָאָֽרֶץ׃

6 I will say to the north 'Give up' and to the south 'Stop holding back!' Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth.'

The two halves of the verse are evenly balanced by identical accent patterns: mahpak + pashta + zaqef // tipha (+ merka) + atnach/silluq. Mahpak normally only precedes pashta (according to Price, of more than 3,000 instances in the Pentateuch, it only precedes another accent twice). Merka, the left-pointing slash below the second-to-last word מִקְצֵ֥ה, normally comes as the ony conjunctive accent just before either silluq, tipha or the double accent legarmeh. In some circumstances, it can also serve a variety of other accent, replacing zarqa or munach.

אֹמַר לַצָּפוֹן תֵּנִי I will say to the north 'Give up' אֹמַר is the contracted form of אֺאמַר, qal imperfect 1 sg אָמַר "say" (GK §68g). צַפוֹן "north" is related to the word צָפַן "hidden, dark." The Theol. Workbook of the OT has an interesting article about צַפוֹן (p. 774-775) and its connection to Baal and Ugaritic (Ras Shamra) usage, but here the term just means "north." תֵּנִי qal imperative fem sg. נָתַן "give" after the pattern of קִטְלִי. A pe-nun verb should be תְּנִי in this form (Weingreen p. 259) but the zaqef has apparently pulled the form into pause.

וּלְתֵימָן אַל־תִּכְלָאִי and to the south 'Stop holding back!' תֵימָן "south" is taken from the term יָמִין "right hand" (cp. Benjamin, Gen. 35:18). In Levantine maps, east was "up" on a map, and therefore the right side was south. תִּכְלָאִי is the qal jussive 2nd fem sg of כָּלָא "withhold, hold back." The negative אַל with the jussive presents an immediate prohibition, "Stop it!" The verbs in these two clauses are feminine because the compass points are feminine in Hebrew. The directions do not need to be taken as their winds (the Septuagint has done this with βoρρᾷ, dat. Boρέας "north wind" and λιβί, dat. λίψ "south wind").

הָבִיאִי בָנַי מֵרָחוֹק וּבְנוֹתַי מִקְצֵה הָאָרֶץ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth.' הָבִיאִי hifil imv "bring." רָחוֹק is an adjective "far, distant," used here as a noun or an adjective for an implied noun, "the distant places." קָצֶה is the end or extremity of a thing, here the end of the earth. Gesenius points out the the juxtaposition of male and female from the same stem (here just literally sons and daughters, בָנַי and וּבְנוֹתַי) expresses an entirety (GK §122v).

Mp: הָבִיאִי occurs three times (Mm 1771: 2 Sam 13:10; Isaiah 16:3; 43:6). Also, the is the only time וּבְנוֹתַי occurs written plene.

The sons and daughters here are true believers being gathered from every direction. Is this a reference to scattered Jews, or to all believers, including Gentiles from every point of the compass? It must be the Gentiles. Although Isaiah begins with the Babylonian captivity, he is including all believers--otherwise we would have to disregard all the other comfort in the book.

Luke 18:1-8

Exegesis for Lutheran Chapel Radio Service: October 24th, 2010
This parable argues from the lesser to the greater: Here is a judge who doesn't care and yet gives justice because the asker tires him out; God, who absolutely cares, will certainly give justice and help when we ask, whether we're bothersome or not. The point is not about how to pray, or how often, but about the conviction and motivation for prayer: Our heavenly fathers loves us and will certainly hear us and answer us.

(Professor Mark Braun wrote a fine devotion on this text for the October 15th, 1992 edition of the Northwestern Lutheran).

LUKE 18:1

18 ῎Ελεγεν δὲ παραβολὴν αὐτοῖς πρὸς τὸ δεῖν πάντοτε προσεύχεσθαι αὐτοὺς καὶ μὴ ἐγκακεῖν,

18 He was telling them a parable to show that they should always pray and not get discouraged.

῎Ελεγεν δὲ παραβολὴν αὐτοῖς He was telling them a parable. The "He" is of course Jesus. We don't need to be at all ashamed of the Sunday school definition of παραβολὴν, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. The only time we bump heads with this definition is in one or two places where the story itself is not earthly, but heavenly, such as Luke 16:19-31 where we can question whether we have a parable at all. αὐτοῖς must point back to the disciples, mentioned in 17:22.

πρὸς τὸ δεῖν πάντοτε προσεύχεσθαι αὐτοὺς to show that they should always pray. τὸ δεῖν is an articularized infinitive, the article being used to make the substantive use of the infinitive more plain (Robertson, Shorter Grammar, p. 372). Here the verb "be necessary" becomes "the necessity." προσεύχεσθαι is the present middle (deponent) infinitive "to pray," complementary infinitive with the articularized substantive infinitive τὸ δεῖν answering the question, "necessity for what?"

καὶ μὴ ἐγκακεῖν and not get discouraged. ἐγκακεῖν is the present active infinitive of ἐγκακέω "become discouraged," and is another complementary infinitive exactly in like with the above.

Here Luke lays out the meaning of the parable before he records Jesus' actual words.


LUKE 18:2

2 λέγων, Κριτής τις ἦν ἔν τινι πόλει τὸν θεὸν μὴ ϕοβούμενος καὶ ἄνθρωπον μὴ ἐντρεπόμενος.

2 He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man.

λέγων, Κριτής τις ἦν ἔν τινι πόλει He said, "In a certain city there was a judge, τις and τινι bring us the unspecified "a certain...a certain." This is a story, and these details are unimportant. What is important is brought forward in the following clauses.

τὸν θεὸν μὴ ϕοβούμενος καὶ ἄνθρωπον μὴ ἐντρεπόμενος who did not fear God and did not respect man. Notice how τὸν θεὸν and ἄνθρωπον are brought forward for emphasis. This is a "neither...nor" statement. The article can serve both in the parallel structure, or the generic terms can stand one articularized and one anarthrous (God, nor "any" man); the meaning does not change. To fear (ϕοβούμενος, pr. midd. ptc.) is to honor and revere God in a believer, but in the case of this crass unbeliever it includes the terror and trembling over death, hell and torment that was absent from this undeserving judge. ἐντρεπόμενος is a passive participle of ἐντρέπω, which in the passive means "respect, regard" in addition to "be ashamed." Jesus doesn't condone such a man as judge, he merely described a scene where even as undesirable a man as this is in a position of authority, and we need to remember Romans 13, where we are commanded by God to respect the authorities who are over us, even when we have no respect or admiration for them.


LUKE 18:3

3 χήρα δὲ ἦν ἐν τῇ πόλει ἐκείνῃ καὶ ἤρχετο πρὸς αὐτὸν λέγουσα, ᾽Εκδίκησόν με ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀντιδίκου μου.

3 There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him saying, "Give me justice against my adversary."

χήρα δὲ ἦν ἐν τῇ πόλει ἐκείνῃ There was a widow in that city, The use of ἐκείνῃ seems to underscore the anonymity of the "definite" location. The care of widows (χήρα) was very much on the minds of the early church. Beside the places in Scripture like 1 Tim. 5:4-9, see also 1 Clem. 8:4; ISmyr 6:2; 13:1; IPol 4:1; Polycarp 4:3; 6:1; Barnabas 20:2; and throughout Hermas (Hv 2,4,3; Hm 8,10; Hs 1,8; 5,3,7) especially in the great chapter of Hermas: Hs 9,26,2 and 9,27,2.

καὶ ἤρχετο πρὸς αὐτὸν λέγουσα, and she kept coming to him saying, The imperfect ἤρχετο indicates continuous, repeated action in the narrative. This was clearly something she was doing over and over again -- something we should be unabashed about in our prayers.

᾽Εκδίκησόν με ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀντιδίκου μου. "Give me justice against my adversary." ᾽Εκδίκησόν (aorist imperative ἐκδικέω) means "to get justice, judge, avenge." Here she wants it specifically against her legal adversary, which is the basic meaning of ἀντίδικος. The ἀντίδικος was the either the prosecuting attorney (for the plaintiff) who argued against you, or, if you were plaintiff, he was the ἀντίδικος for the defense. Either way, he was your opponent in court. It is more than a curiosity that the Jews began using this term as a loanword, אַנְטִידִיקוֹס (Theol. Dict. of the New Testament, Vol. I, p. 373)? The Hebrew word שָׂטָן (Aram. סְטַן) had been serving just fine, but as it came to be used as the name of our spiritual accuser, the Satan, the Jews began to see it as a proper name and moved to the Greek loanword אַנְטִידִיקוֹס, which is just ἀντίδικος in Hebrew letters. We don't need to drag the devil into this parable, but we must also acknowledge that there is never a reason why we CAN'T insert the devil into this role in any of the troubles for which we pray and pray and pray to God. The devil should mentioned as often in our daily prayers as the word "evil" (Jesus said "evil One" originally) occurs in the Lord's Prayer. Let him be part of our daily requests for deliverance.

Lord God, help me turn from my sin, and get the devil off my back. Help me to lose weight, and keep the devil out of my fridge. Lord, help me to get hold of my temper, and stop the devil from lighting a fuse under me.


LUKE 18:4-5

4 καὶ οὐκ ἤθελεν ἐπὶ χρόνον, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα εἶπεν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, Εἰ καὶ τὸν θεὸν οὐ ϕοβοῦμαι οὐδὲ ἄνθρωπον ἐντρέπομαι, 5 διά γε τὸ παρέχειν μοι κόπον τὴν χήραν ταύτην ἐκδικήσω αὐτήν, ἵνα μὴ εἰς τέλος ἐρχομένη ὑπωπιάζῃ με.

4 For some time he was unwilling, but after this he said to himself, "Even though I don't respect God and don't respect men, 5 yet since this widow bothers me, I will give her justice, so that she will not wear me out in the end by her coming."

καὶ οὐκ ἤθελεν ἐπὶ χρόνον, For some time he was unwilling, ἐπί with the accusative of time extends the action over a longer period (BAG ἐπί 2b). ἤθελεν imf act ind ἐθέλω "wish, be willing." The imperfect is durative, extending the time of the action (Robertson, Shorter Grammar p. 300-301).

μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα εἶπεν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, Εἰ καὶ τὸν θεὸν οὐ ϕοβοῦμαι οὐδὲ ἄνθρωπον ἐντρέπομαι, but after this he said to himself, "Even though I don't respect God and don't respect men, The construction εἰ καὶ causes the statement to be one of indifference (Robertson, Large Grammar p. 1026f). The judge restates what we already know, but he himself doesn't disagree. He knows what he is. This point is evident but not relevant to the meaning of the parable.

διά γε τὸ παρέχειν μοι κόπον τὴν χήραν ταύτην ἐκδικήσω αὐτήν, yet since this widow bothers me, I will give her justice, διά with the accusative means "on account of." Another articularized infinitive gives the woman's actions as a thing unto themselves: τὸ παρέχειν "her causing (κόπον "trouble") for me (μοι)." Her troublemaking. He sees her pleas for justice as nothing but κόπον, "suffering." The judge is so corrupt that he wants people to keep their troubles to themselves and just pay him to do nothing at all. His only recourse to stopping "his" suffering is to give her the ἐκδικήσω for which she asks.

ἵνα μὴ εἰς τέλος ἐρχομένη ὑπωπιάζῃ με. so that she will not wear me out in the end by her coming." Here ἵνα is non-final, expressing purpose or intended result. εἰς τέλος is an idiom meaning "to the end," "in the end," or "finally." Cp. 2 Clement 19:3, "...so that we can be saved in the end." ὑπωπιάζῃ (pr. act. subjunctive, with ἵνα) means "to give a black eye; annoy."


LUKE 18:6

6 Εἶπεν δὲ ὁ κύριος, ᾽Ακούσατε τί ὁ κριτὴς τῆς ἀδικίας λέγει·

6 Then the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says."

Εἶπεν δὲ ὁ κύριος, ᾽Ακούσατε τί ὁ κριτὴς τῆς ἀδικίας λέγει· Then the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says." ᾽Ακούσατε aor imv, "listen!" Jesus doesn't want us to think about anything in the parable for a moment except what the guy actually said, and judge for ourselves how we should feel about prayer based on this righteous widow's persistent petitions to this deadbeat judge.


LUKE 18:7

7 ὁ δὲ θεὸς οὐ μὴ ποιήσῃ τὴν ἐκδίκησιν τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν αὐτοῦ τῶν βοώντων αὐτῷ ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός, καὶ μακροθυμεῖ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς;

7 now, won't God do justice for His elect who cry out to him day and night, and will he be slow to help them?

ὁ δὲ θεὸς οὐ μὴ ποιήσῃ τὴν ἐκδίκησιν τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν αὐτοῦ now, won't God do justice for His elect...? οὐ μὴ together like this anticipate a "yes" answer. If there was a question about what kind of ἐκδίκησιν "justice" the widow expected, arm-wrestling it out of a yawning judge who couldn't tear his eyes off the ball game long enough to do his job, then what kind of ἐκδίκησιν "justice" should we anticipate from Almighty God? The judge might give what's fair because he wanted to shut her up, but God? God will not only give what it fair, but what is completely unfair, because he loves us and does whatever must be done to bring the gospel of forgiveness into our hearts. He does this because he called us to faith and we are his -- that is what the pronoun with τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν αὐτοῦ "his elect" is so crucial. We are the one he himself called; he knew about our faith before hand, before the beginning of the world. And so he keeps on calling, shouting into the think crowds so that he might rescue us.

τῶν βοώντων αὐτῷ ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός, who cry out to him day and night, We his elect are also the ones who βοώντων (pr act ptc, "cry out") to him.

καὶ μακροθυμεῖ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς; and will he be slow to help them? This is an unusual use of μακροθυμεῖ "be patient." Here Jesus uses it to mean "delay, be slow." The force of the question begun above with ἵνα and the aorist subjunctive continues here with a mere present indicative, but the interrogative spell has not yet been broken, not until...


LUKE 18:8

8 λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ποιήσει τὴν ἐκδίκησιν αὐτῶν ἐν τάχει. πλὴν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐλθὼν ἆρα εὑρήσει τὴν πίστιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς;

8 I tell you that he will do justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"

λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ποιήσει τὴν ἐκδίκησιν αὐτῶν ἐν τάχει. I tell you that he will do justice for them quickly. Jesus' phrase λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι "I tell you that..." grabs our attention. The Lord is telling us the point now. ἐν τάχει is a dative prep. phrase (τάχoς, "speed") meaning "quickly," the dative of manner acting as an adverb. The Lord's "quick" may not be what we expect, but we should know that when the Lord thinks a think should take place, it will take place and not delay (Habakkuk 2:3; Hebrews 10:37).

πλὴν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐλθὼν However, when the Son of Man comes, In the New Testament, πλὴν "However" is uncommon outside Luke, with just a few instances in Matthew, Paul and once in Revelation. The participle ἐλθὼν is circumstantial temporal. Jesus' adoptive name for himself ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου is affectionately lifted from Ezekiel, and emphasizes both his humanity and divinity, and reminds us that Christ's human nature has been taken up by the divine and does not cease to exist. The one who comes again on the Last Day will not be God the Son with his flesh cast aside, but the same ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, Mary's son, as well as God's Son, in the same perfect eternal Deity.

ἆρα εὑρήσει τὴν πίστιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς; will He find faith on the earth?" ἆρα generally expects a "no" answer, but here it is illative. Buhls ("Notes on the Gospel of Luke") calls this last sentence "searching Law" (p. 49). The characteristic of the world in the Last Days will not be a swarming mass of the faithful, but a huddled remnant about to be destroyed but saved by the mercy of God. This is also the idea expressed by the strange concluding verses of Daniel, where terrible things come to the world in the end for "1,290 days," a figurative number given in a vision, but with a blessing promised to the one who waits for and reaches "1,335 days" (45 days, a month and a half) later -- another figurative expression. The terrors of the end times will not go on forever. God will put them to a halt, and even though he finds little τὴν πίστιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς "faith on the earth," he will bring about the end for the sake of his elect, and the doorway of the Last Judgment will swing wide open, and we will be called from our graves and from wherever our earthly remains are scattered and will be brought home to heaven with the Son of Man forever.

Notes:

     * Specific Law: Doubting whether or not we should bother to pray.

     * Specific Gospel: God certainly hears and answers our prayers.

Telic note (text color):

     1. "Always pray and not give up"

     2. "He will see that they get justice"

** Since the marks of the true church are wherever believers are gathered in Jesus' name around God's Word and the sacraments, we must remember that the "in Jesus' name" portion implies that Christians gather together for prayer as well as hearing the word and receiving the sacrament. We could make a wider application about corporate worship, but the limits of the Chapel Devotion time frame make this secondary application something for another time and for a more explicit text.

Isaiah 43:5

אַל־תִּירָ֖א כִּ֣י אִתְּךָ־אָ֑נִי מִמִּזְרָח֙ אָבִ֣יא זַרְעֶ֔ךָ וּמִֽמַּעֲרָ֖ב אֲקַבְּצֶֽךָּ׃

5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you I will bring your offspring from the east and I will gather you from the west.

אַל־תִּירָא כִּי אִתְּךָ־אָנִי Do not be afraid, for I am with you, See comments on 43:1 for אַל־תִּירָא "Do not be afraid." כִּי is causal here. The phrase כִּי אִתְּךָ־אָנִי is pointed כּֽי־אִתְּךָ֣ אָ֑נִי in the earliest editions of BH (1909, 1913).

מִמִּזְרָח אָבִיא זַרְעֶךָ I will bring your offspring from the east. מִזְרָח is the sunrise; here "east" with מִן of direction away from (GK §119z). אָבִיא is the hifil imperfect of בּוֹא, "come, go." In the hifil, "bring." Notice that here the object of בּוֹא is connected to the verb with munach. The "east" here undoubtedly includes Babylon in its thought, although we would unwise to exclude any place. The idea behind "east" and the upcoming "west" is that God will gather his people from wherever they are.

וּמִמַּעֲרָב אֲקַבְּצֶךָּ and I will gather you from the west. Like , the word מַעֲרָב "west" (sunset) is a four-letter root. A minor variant: the Second Rabbinic Bible (1524-1525) does not have the waw in וּמִמַּעֲרָב, but the Mp note ("This form occurs three times") discounts the variant. The three are Psalm 75:7; 107:3 and Isaiah 43:5. Hopefully you can see the modern qibbuts "gather" in אֲקַבְּצֶךָּ, piel imperfect 1st singular.

Qal waw-consecutive imperfect

You covered the waw-consecutive back in college and we have covered it in class noting that it is often a waw "continuative," carrying forward or continuing the action of the preceding verb. Some reminders:

1. The VC Imperfect is formed by waw pointed with patach and followed by dagesh forte.
2. Before the 1st singular it is -וָאֶ; since ﬡ will not allow dagesh forte, the patach is lengthened.
3. There can't be any intervening word or particle between a waw consecutive and its verb (they are attached as a single verb form).
4. When there is a shorter form of an imperfect (the jussive form), such as יְהִי for יִהְיֶה, the waw-consecutive will prefer the shortened form וַיְּהִי, which can only be waw-consecutive imperfect (i.e., there is no such thing as a waw-consecutive jussive).
5. Waw-consecutive imperfects that begin a new section, new chapter, or even a new book, do not really continue anything from the preceding but begin new: "Now it happened that..."

The full list of qal forms are:

3 m sg       וַיִּקְטֹל
3 f sg        וַתִּקְטֹל
2 m sg      וַתִּקְטֹל
2 f sg      וַתִּקְטְלִי
1 sg           וָאֶקְטֹל
3 m pl        וַיִּקְטְלוּ
3 f pl      וַתִּקְטֹ֫לְנָה
2 m pl       וַתִּקְטְלוּ
2 f pl      וַתִּקְטֹ֫לְנָה
1 pl               וַנִּקְטֹל

Isaiah 43:4

מֵאֲשֶׁ֨ר יָקַ֧רְתָּ בְעֵינַ֛י נִכְבַּ֖דְתָּ וַאֲנִי֣ אֲהַבְתִּי֑ךָ וְאֶתֵּ֤ן אָדָם֙ תַּחְתֶּ֔יךָ וּלְאֻמִּ֖ים תַּ֥חַת נַפְשֶֽׁךָ׃

4 Because you are precious and honored in my eyes, and I love you, I will give a man in return for you, and people in return for your life.

מֵאֲשֶׁר יָקַרְתָּ בְעֵינַי נִכְבַּדְתָּ Because you are precious and honored in my eyes, יָקַרְתָּ is a qal (stative) perfect, 2nd masc. singular "to be precious." It is also a hapax form, and although BHS does not have an Mp reference, the Aleppo Codex does:

Note that the other hapax note in the margin is for פָּקוֹחַ in Isaiah 42:20 in the column to the right.

וַאֲנִי אֲהַבְתִּיךָ and I love you, אֲהַבְתִּיךָ qal perfect 2 sg, with an unnecessary pronoun but וַאֲנִי is there fore emphasis: This isn't just something you pretend an idols says or feels; I--it's me!--I love you.

וְאֶתֵּן אָדָם תַּחְתֶּיךָ I will give a man in return for you, God's love is expressed for mankind most deeply in this: He gave אָדָם a man, his Son, in exchange for our sins. תַּחְתֶּיךָ is a preposition loaded with a 2nd masculine singular suffix, from תַּחַת "under, after, behind." Mp: וְאֶתֵּן occurs three times: Isaiah 43:4 and Jer 42:12 are identical, and Jer. 3:19 has the form in the construct state but with the same Mp note (וְאֶתֶּן־לָךְ).

וּלְאֻמִּים תַּחַת נַפְשֶׁךָ and people in return for your life. Here the plural וּלְאֻמִּים "people" shows that beyond the one man, Jesus, God has also given nations up to rescue those who trust in him. The sacrifice of Christ was all we needed, but sometimes armies or nations must fall to make way for message about Christ to penetrate to the hearts that need to hear it.

Any parent would give anything to ransom a child. The very thought of needing to ransom a child sends a chill down a parent's spine. What would a king give? A "king's ransom" might be the kind of thing that kings in the Bible offer from time to time: "Anything up to half the kingdom" (Esther 5:3; 7:2; Mark 6:23). God is building on the "Egypt and Cush" thought of verse 3 and expanding it. God brings down one nation to built up another for the benefit of his gospel.

What do you think God would give to ransom you? Half a kingdom? How about a whole kingdom? Or three kingdoms? God offers such things here, but what he actually gave to ransom us was something more precious than Egypt. He gave אָדָם "a man," his only Son, to ransom the world and to ransom you.

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 5:21,22 NIV).

Isaiah 43:3

כִּ֗י אֲנִי֙ יְהוָה֣ אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ קְד֥וֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל֭ מוֹשִׁיעֶ֑ךָ נָתַתִּ֚י כָפְרְךָ֙ מִצְרַ֔יִם כּ֥וּשׁ וּסְבָ֖א תַּחְתֶּֽיךָ׃

3 For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. For your ransom I have given Egypt; and Cush and Seba in your place.

כִּי אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ קְדוֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, Here we have two names of God standing side by side. Notice that both יְהוָה and קְדוֹשׁ are in the construct state, and so form the first half their respective pairs. יְהוָה֣ is joined with אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ by munach, a normal and common construct conjunctive accent, but another clue here is that the first title is parallel to the second, and although the vowels of יְהוָה naturally cannot be said to be a construct form (they are invented vowels in the qere perpetuum) קְדוֹשׁ clearly is in the construct state.

כִּ֗י occurs here at the beginning of the verse pointed with the strong disjunctive accent rebi to draw our attention to what is about to be said in much the same way that sela draws our attention to what was previously said in the Psalms and Habakkuk. This function of כִּי+rebi occurs in Isaiah in four places: 5:10; 8:4; 41:13 and 43:3. In Isaiah 60:20 it is joined to יְהוָה+rebi with munach, and once after an important disjunctive accent later in a verse (15:1). Perhaps this is a phenomenon to be explored in other books as well.

מוֹשִׁיעֶךָ your Savior. מוֹשִׁיעֶךָ is the hifil participle of יָשַׁע, a root that doesn't occur in the qal. The nifal is intransitive and means "be saved, set free" or "be rescued (from battle)" and even "be victorious" (Isaiah 33:16). In the hifil it is transitive and takes on the meaning "help, save, come to the aid of." The participle is simple "Savior." This is not the word Messiah, but rather the first element of the names Joshua and its Greek equivalent, Jesus.

נָתַתִּי כָפְרְךָ מִצְרַיִם For your ransom I have given Egypt; A כֹּפֶר is the price of a life, a ransom. The word in this form can also have other meanings, including pitch (the asphalt sealant for Noah's ark, Gen 6:14), henna (an orange dye, Song of Sol. 1:14; 4:13; 7:12), and even an unwalled village (1 Sam 6:18). But clearly here it means ransom since it stands parallel to תַּחְתֶּיךָ "in your place." The atonement of Jesus was the actual payment for our sins, not symbolic at all. How would Egypt be the ransom for Israel? Israel had been shrinking since Solomon's death and was about the disappear altogether under the Babylonians, and yet, God says, I the Lord who brought you out of Egypt will use that old superpower to pay the price to get Israel back onto the map. There are two ways in which this happened: (1) Cyrus and Chambyses captured Egypt, and when they did so they released Israel. Was it to make room for incoming Egyptian captives? Whatever the reason, Israel was permitted to return. (2) Egypt became an early Christian nation in three forms. Many Jews of Alexandria and lower (northern) Egypt converted to Christianity (Apollos was one such, Acts 18:24; cf also Acts 2:9-10). The Alexandrian church became an important part of the early spread of Christianity. Clement of Alexandria, Dionysius, Alexander, Athanasius and Cyril were all important church fathers from there, and some of the most important early witnesses to the New Testament come from there: Papyrus 52 in the earliest known copy of John's gospel, set to parchment within 30 years of John's death, and also Papyri such as 46, 66, 75, 45 and 47 all come from there, and some of the great codices like B (Vaticanus), ﬡ (Sinaiticus), A (Alexandrinus), C (Bezae Catabrigiensis) and two of the Gospels (Luke and John) in Codex Washingtoniensis, on display in the Smithsonian. In the same way, southern (upper) Egypt also played an important role in early Christianity. The Egyptian demotic language merged with Greek but retained some of its Egyptian flavor in Grammar, in many words, and even retaining some Egyptian letters and sounds that could not quite be duplicated in Greek (ϣ (sh),ϥ (f), ϧ (kh, x) , ϩ (h), ϫ (j), ϭ (g). Unlike most of the Alexandrian Christians, these Coptic Christians were not wiped out by Islamic incursions of the seventh and eighth centuries, but are still there today with their own church, their own ancient liturgies, their own hymns, and even their own pope. Although there are doctrinal issues from an ancient monophysite influence in the Coptic church, their very existence is a testimony to the truth of this passage.

כּוּשׁ וּסְבָא תַּחְתֶּיךָ and Cush and Seba in your place. סְבָא Seba here is not the same as "Sheba" with its famous Queen (2 Chron. 9:1), although both were in Africa. Seba occupied the area on both sides of the southern Red Sea, today's Yemen on the Arabian peninsula and the "horn" of Africa, Somalia and neighboring Djibouti. כּוּשׁ Cush is mentioned many times in the Bible (Esther 1:1, Psalm 87:4; Ezekiel 30:4, etc.). Although it's borders may have changed from time to time, Cush was essentially the high ground below southern Egypt, occupying most of modern Sudan. In Isaiah's time, the Cushites were about to become very influential in Egypt. In fact, several Cushites were soon going to become Pharaohs.