The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught: The prophet as the servant explains that he is properly qualified to speak because it is God who has given him the instrument to proclaim a message. He sees himself as one who needs to receive instruction. He is given a tongue of those who are taught, meaning that he must first be a disciple before he can presume to teach others. (New Revised Standard Version has “teacher” instead those who are taught, but this is not recommended. A footnote in New Revised Standard Version gives the correct rendering.) The tongue is a poetic figure of speech for both the ability to speak and what should be said. The expression those who are taught may be rendered “disciples” or “pupils.” Translators may express it as a singular if required. New Jerusalem Bible has a singular, and succeeds in bringing out the meaning of the text while remaining fairly close to the Hebrew form by rendering the whole line as “Lord Yahweh has given me a disciple’s tongue.” Good News Translation and Bible en français courant drop the figure of the tongue in favor of what it stands for. Both translations also make clear why the servant has become a disciple. Bible en français courant has “The Lord God has taught me what I must say.” But various body parts are an essential element in this song, so translators should retain tongue if possible. Only where this figure would not be understood, Good News Translation and Bible en français courant might be useful models. For the Lord GOD (literally “my Master Yahweh”), see 3.15.

That I may know how to sustain with a word him that is weary: Two Hebrew infinitives begin this purpose clause, which is literally “in order to know, in order to sustain….” God has instructed his servant, so that he knows how to comfort those who are weary (see 40.1). This is the only place in the Old Testament where the Hebrew verb rendered sustain occurs, so its meaning is a little uncertain. BDB suggests “help” as its meaning, while the Septuagint has a different reading, adding the words “at the right time.” Revised English Bible may be following the Septuagint by rendering this line as “to console the weary with a timely word.” A general verb such as “help” can be used to render sustain. Good News Translation has “strengthen,” while Contemporary English Version and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch use “encourage.” Him that is weary is literally “a weary one,” which may be rendered “anyone who is weary/tired.” The weariness may be physical or emotional (“discouraged”). The wider context of these lines is that of the Israelite people in exile and their complaint that God seems to have abandoned them. So the weariness here is probably emotional rather than physical.

Morning by morning he wakens, he wakens my ear: These two parallel lines contain an interesting literary feature also found in many psalms, namely “step parallelism.” The second half of the statement repeats the verb of the first half, then adds to it to make the thought complete. Here, after the double expression Morning by morning, there is the verb wakens. This verb is then repeated and the object my ear is added. In this way the servant tells of the constant daily instruction he receives from God. The phrase wakens my ear is poetic; it means that God wakes him by speaking to him. The noun ear is a figure of speech for the servant’s readiness to hear. The repetition of the verb wakens places emphasis on it. Some versions omit the repetition of this verb and give a more flowing translation; for example, Good News Translation renders this line as “Every morning he makes me eager to hear,” and Bible en français courant has “Every morning he wakens me, he teaches me afresh.” These two versions omit the image of the ear, but translators should keep it if possible.

To hear as those who are taught states that when God speaks the servant listens just like any pupil does. By listening as a pupil, the servant will be able to learn the words that he is to pass on. This line could also simply be a way to stress that the servant is eager to listen to Yahweh, morning after morning. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates the last three lines of this verse as follows: “Every morning he awakens me with the desire to hear him. Keenly I listen to what he has to tell me.” The repeated expression those who are taught is an important one in the verse and should not be treated as a scribal mistake as some do. The repetition emphasizes that the servant speaks like a disciple because he listens like a disciple.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• My Master Yahweh has given me the tongue of a pupil,
so that I know how to help any who are weary.
Morning by morning he wakes me up,
he wakes my ear, so that I listen as a pupil does.

• My Lord Yahweh has made me able to speak like a pupil does,
so that I know how to help anyone who is distressed.
Each morning he rouses me,
he rouses my hearing, so that I listen [to him] like a pupil does.

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 .