23 Who among you will hear this?
Let him listen and obey in the future.
24 Who gave Jacob to the robber,[a]
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord?
Have we not sinned against him?
They were not willing to walk in his ways,
and they would not listen to his instruction.
25 So he poured out his furious anger
and the power of war on Jacob.
It surrounded him with fire, but he did not know it;
it burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 42:24 Lit to loot

23 Who among you will pay attention to this?
Who will listen attentively in the future?[a]
24 Who handed Jacob over to the robber?
Who handed Israel over to the looters?[b]
Was it not the Lord, against whom we sinned?
They refused to follow his commands;
they disobeyed his law.[c]
25 So he poured out his fierce anger on them,[d]
along with the devastation[e] of war.
Its flames encircled them,[f] but they did not realize it;[g]
it burned against them, but they did not take it to heart.[h]

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 42:23 tn The interrogative particle is understood in the second line by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
  2. Isaiah 42:24 tn Heb “Who gave to the robber Jacob, and Israel to the looters?” In the first line the consonantal text (Kethib) has מְשׁוֹסֶה (meshoseh), a Polel participle from שָׁסָה (shasah, “plunder”). The marginal reading (Qere) is מְשִׁיסָּה (meshissah), a noun meaning “plunder.” In this case one could translate “Who handed Jacob over as plunder?”
  3. Isaiah 42:24 tn Heb “they were not willing in his ways to walk, and they did not listen to his law.”
  4. Isaiah 42:25 tn The Hebrew third masculine singular pronoun, representing the nation, has been rendered as the third plural throughout this verse.
  5. Isaiah 42:25 tn Heb “strength” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “fury”; NASB “fierceness”; NIV “violence.”
  6. Isaiah 42:25 tn Heb “and it blazed against him all around.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb “blazed” is the divine חֵמָה (khemah, “anger”) mentioned in the previous line.
  7. Isaiah 42:25 sn It is not that he did not know about the war, but he did not attribute this to God’s wrath.
  8. Isaiah 42:25 tn Heb “but he did not set [it] upon [his] heart.” The Hebrew word “heart” also refers to the mind.