Isaiah 42:6

אֲנִי יְהוָה קְרָאתִיךָ בְצֶדֶק וְאַחְזֵק בְּיָדֶךָ וְאֶצָּרְךָ וְאֶתֶּנְךָ לִבְרִית עָם לְאוֹר גּוֹיִם׃

6 I am the LORD, I called you in righteousness and I will take you by the hand. I have kept you and I have given you as a covenant of the people to be a light for the Gentiles.

אֲנִי יְהוָה קְרָאתִיךָ בְצֶדֶק וְאַחְזֵק בְּיָדֶךָ I am the LORD, I called you in righteousness and I will take you by the hand. The qal perfect קְרָאתִיךָ "called" is followed by the waw imperfect (not waw-consecutive) וְאַחְזֵק, "will take." Here the servant becomes the instrument of the Lord for the purpose of salvation. This is why he was called, taken up, kept and given: to save mankind from our sins. The בְ in בְצֶדֶק behaves just like the Greek ἐν here; the LXX agrees with its ἐν δικαιoσύνῃ; this is the dative of the sphere. God called his servant within the sphere of righteousness. It was in righteousness and only in righteousness, unadulterated by anything unrighteous at all. בְּיָדֶךָ "by the hand" (by your hand) tells us that the Lord will give his servant help, support and protection at all times, throughout all of his service.

Although the versions (Syriac, Targum, Vulgate) take וְאַחְזֵק as a waw-consecutive (וָאַחְזֵק), the Mp note "a hapax form" appears to guard the reading of the text as we have it, although no other form with these consonants ever occurs. The MT text here may also be supported by the following waw-imperfects which follow.

וְאֶצָּרְךָ וְאֶתֶּנְךָ לִבְרִית עָם I have kept you and I have given you as a covenant of the people, וְאֶצָּרְךָ qal waw-imperfect נָצַר "watch, guard, keep" (a synonym of שָׁמַר). The next verb וְאֶתֶּנְךָ is also a qal waw-imperfect (נָתַן). The "covenant" (בְרִית) is the servant himself; he will bring the people into the blessings of God the Father and give them salvation through himself, through his own person and work. This is what he already said he would do for the islands in verse 4. בְרִית is in a construct position even though not accented with munah; the familiar merka-tipha pairing groups the words together. The covenant of the people is not a covenant made up of people, but a covenant in place for the benefit of this people. But who is "this" people? The parallel phrase says it clearly:

לְאוֹר גּוֹיִם to be a light for the Gentiles. Rarely is עָם "people" used for anyone outside Israel, but here the גּוֹיִם "Gentiles" are included, and so we are not talking about physical Israel, not Israel the nation, but the spiritual Israel, made up of Israelites and גּוֹיִם alike who are believers: these are the true עָם of God. The Gospel is " the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile" (Romans 1:16).

An outstanding exegesis and application of this passage occurs in Acts 13 when Paul and Barnabas were confronted by the congregation in the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch. Paul said, "We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us: 'I have made you (σε, the same singular as in the pronominal suffix of וְאֶתֶּנְךָ) a light for the Gentiles (εἰς φῶς ἐθνῶν is לְאוֹר גּוֹיִם), that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth."

Some minor textual notes include the Mp note for וְאֶצָּרְךָ (occurs twice, cf. Isaiah 49:8) and the long note for עָם: "This word occurs 17 times, all accented with or connected directly to zaqef, atnach, sof pasuq and accents like them (i.e., the "king" accents, also including segolta, tipha and shalshelet). The reason for the reference to the accents is that they generally pull the form into pause, causing the vowel to become qames. The seventeen listed in Mm 2120 are Num 23:9 (pashta), 23:24 (pashta), Deut. 4:33 (telisa parvum before pashta); Judges 9:36 (munah before zaqef); 9:37 (pashta before zaqef); 2 Kings 13:7 (rebi); 15:10 (tipha); Isaiah 42:6 (tipha); Ezekiel 33:31 (garshayim); Joel 2:16 (garshayim); Psalm 18:44 (merka before dehi); 62:9 (rebi); 72:4 (rebi); Job 34:20 (munah before atnach); Prov 14:28 (merka before atnach); Esther 3:8 (rebi) and 1 Chron 17:21 (rebi). Finally, לְאוֹר occurs 13 times (the note is about the shewa): Job 3:9; 30:26; Isaiah 5:20; 42:6; 49:6; 51:4; 60:19 (twice); 60:20; Jer 13:16; 31:35 (twice) and Habakkuk 3:11.