The connector For introduces this verse as the reason why God’s people can trust his promises. It is because he is their God, the almighty Creator whose name is “Yahweh of hosts.” For renders the common Hebrew conjunction, which is literally “And.” Like Good News Translation, many versions ignore it, suggesting that there is no special link between verses 14 and 15. But verse 15 obviously provides a justification for what precedes, so the connector For is correct. New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch also use it. Translators could even begin this verse with a phrase such as “All this is so, because.”
For I am the LORD your God, see the comments on 43.3.
Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar: See Jer 31.35, where the same description of God occurs. This line recalls verse 10 with its reference to the sea. It draws attention to God’s control over storms at sea and hence over the forces of chaos. The Hebrew verb translated stirs up is rather unusual since it can mean “to stir up” or “to be at rest” (see Job 26.12, where it is rendered “stilled”). The context here, with the mention of roaring waves, points to “causing a storm.” Its waves roar describes the sound of ocean waves pounding the shore. In cultures unfamiliar with the roaring of the waves of the sea, in a storm especially, a more general translation of this line is valid; for example, “who causes big storms at sea.”
For the LORD of hosts is his name, see the comments on 1.9 and 42.8; see also 47.4 and 48.2. Yahweh refers to himself in the third person by using the pronoun his, but such sudden pronoun changes are not unusual in Hebrew poetry. Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and Bible en français courant render this pronoun as “My/my.”
Translation examples for this verse are:
• All this is so, because I am Yahweh your God,
the one who causes the sea’s waves to roar.
Yahweh of hosts is my name.
• For I am Yahweh your God,
I am the one who arouses the waves of the sea and they roar.
Yahweh of hosts, that is my name.
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 .