Isaiah 45:9-11

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Isaiah 45:9 tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who argues with the one who formed him.”
2. Isaiah 45:9 tn The words “one who is like a mere” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and clarification.
3. Isaiah 45:9 tn Heb “Should the clay say to the one who forms it,…?” The rhetorical question anticipates a reply, “Of course not!”
4. Isaiah 45:9 tn The words “in the world” are supplied in the translation to approximate in English idiom the force of the sarcastic question.
5. Isaiah 45:9 tn Heb “your work, there are no hands for it,” i.e., “your work looks like something made by a person who has no hands.”
6. Isaiah 45:10 tn Heb “Woe [to] one who says” (NASB and NIV both similar); NCV “How terrible it will be.”
7. Isaiah 45:10 tn See the note at v. 9. This phrase occurs a second time later in this verse.
8. Isaiah 45:10 sn Verses 9-10 may allude to the exiles’ criticism that the Lord does not appear to know what he is doing.
9. Isaiah 45:11 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
10. Isaiah 45:11 tc The Hebrew text reads “the one who formed him, the coming things.” Among various suggestions, some have proposed an emendation of יֹצְרוֹ (yots^ero, “the one who formed him”) to יֹצֵר (yotser, “the one who forms”; the suffixed form in the Hebrew text may be influenced by vv. 9-10, where the same form appears twice) and takes “coming things” as the object of the participle (either objective genitive or accusative): “the one who brings the future into being.”
11. Isaiah 45:11 tn Heb “Ask me.” The rhetorical command sarcastically expresses the Lord’s disgust with those who question his ways.
12. Isaiah 45:11 tn Heb “Do you command me about…?” The rhetorical question sarcastically expresses the Lord’s disgust with those who question his ways.