For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen: Although God called Cyrus so that he was successful in battle and accumulated wealth, he primarily did it to benefit Israel. For the parallel phrases my servant Jacob and Israel my chosen, see the comments on 41.8.

I call you by your name, I surname you: For I call you by your name, see the previous verse. I surname you adds emphasis to this clause. The Hebrew verb rendered surname has the sense of giving a title in this context (compare 44.5). Yahweh gives Cyrus a title of honor, not a new family name. The text does not say what the title is. For I surname you, New International Version has “[I] bestow on you a title of honor” (similarly Revised English Bible). Good News Translation says “I have given you great honor,” and Bible en français courant translates “And I give you this honor.” Since I call you by your name and I surname you are the main clauses in this verse, some languages may prefer to begin with them (see the second example below). Good News Translation does this with I call you by your name, translating it “I appoint you” at the beginning of the verse.

Though you do not know me: Yahweh has honored Cyrus even though Cyrus does not know him. Most versions use present tense here, but Revised English Bible and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh use the perfect tense, saying “though you have not known me,” which fits this context well. Cyrus did not know Yahweh up to this point, but he will know Yahweh has called him once he defeats other nations and gains wealth (verse 3). New International Version translates “though you do not acknowledge me,” which implies worship, but this reads too much into the statement here (see the comments on 41.25).

Translation examples for this verse are:

• For the benefit of my servant Jacob and Israel my chosen one,
I have called you personally and given you a title of honor,
though you have not known me.

• I have called you personally to serve me and given you a title of honor
for the benefit of my servant Jacob and my chosen one Israel.
I have done this even though you do not know me.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .