Isaiah 40:27

לָמָּה תֹאמַר יַעֲקֹב וּתְדַבֵּר יִשְׂרָאֵל נִסְתְּרָה דַרְכִּי מֵיְהוָה וּמֵאֱלֹהַי מִשְׁפָּטִי יַעֲבוֹר׃

27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: "Hidden is my way from the LORD; my God passes by my case"?

לָמָּה תֹאמַר יַעֲקֹב וּתְדַבֵּר יִשְׂרָאֵל Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel:  These simple words look ahead to the exile in, but notice that Isaiah carefully uses the names of the northern tribes -- the exile into Assyria was as real as the exile into Babylon.  Whichever place the believer found him- or herself, the question remains: "Why are you saying these things?"

An Mp note says that וּתְדַבֵּר (piel impf 2 ms sg) "occurs three times." The meaning of the note is that this form, which occurs as a waw-consecutive imperfect more than a dozen times, occurs this way with -וּ just three times: 1 Sam. 25:24; Isaiah 40:27 and Ezekiel 24:27.

נִסְתְּרָה דַרְכִּי מֵיְהוָה וּמֵאֱלֹהַי מִשְׁפָּטִי יַעֲבוֹר  "Hidden is my way from the LORD; my God passes by my case"? נִסְתְּרָה is the nifal perfect of סָתַר. The verb יַעֲבוֹר "passes by" is a qal imperfect. מִשְׁפָּטִי "my justice" is used in a nominal sense like "case." This is disregarded or passed by, and my way is hidden from (מִן) the Lord. The implications of that מִן of separation are frightening: Why am I separated and apart from my God? The answer to the question is not a flaw or a defect in God, but sin within us. For the exiles, it was not only the terrible national sins of idolatry, but also the individual sins of the people, not turning back to the Lord, that separated them from his love and his grace and his providence. And so the question: Has God forgotten us? But God knows the stars by name (verse 26); would we think that God can't see as far as Babylon or Assyria?

Another Mp note refers to a list of 16 places in which מִשְׁפָּטִי "my judgment" occurs (Is. 40:27; 49:4; 50:8; 51:4; Ezek. 39:21; Micah 7:9; Zeph. 3:8; Ps. 9:5; 17:2; 35:23; Job 27:2; 29:14; 34:5; 34:6; 40:8 and Lam. 3:59). The final Mp note defends the plene reading of יַעֲבוֹר which occurs seven times. There is no Mm list, but cf. Esther 1:19; 9:27; Job 14:5; Psalm 148:6; Isaiah 31:9; 40:27 and 41:3.