Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live: This verse begins with three imperatives that correspond with those of the previous subsection. Incline your ear is a common biblical idiom for listening carefully to something spoken (see the comments on 37.17). Like “Hearken diligently to me” in verse 2, it has the sense of obeying God here. Come to me repeats the call in verse 1. Hear renders the same Hebrew verb translated “Hearken” in verse 2. It is synonymous in meaning with Incline your ear. In translation these three imperatives may be rearranged if necessary; for example, it may be better to begin with “Come and listen carefully; hear what I have to say….” Good News Translation combines Incline your ear and hear into “Listen now,” but it repeats “come to me” to reflect the emphasis in the Hebrew text.

That your soul may live is the purpose for obeying God. If God’s people obey him, they will live. The Hebrew expression for your soul (which has the word nephesh) is translated “yourselves” in verse 2. Here it may be rendered simply “you” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). In this context the verb live means the people will live longer or have a better quality of life. Possible models for this line are “that you may have abundant life” and “that you may live longer [or, more happily].”

And I will make with you an everlasting covenant defines what it means to live. For everlasting covenant, see the comments on 24.5. The everlasting covenant was first made with Noah (Gen 9.8-17), then extended to Abraham (Gen 17) and the patriarchs, and then to the Davidic family (2 Sam 7.8-16; 23.5). Now God will make it with the nation of Israel. It is not a covenant between equal partners, since God takes the initiative to establish it.

My steadfast, sure love for David is literally “steadfast loves of David.” The Hebrew noun for “steadfast love” refers to the special love expressed in covenant relationships (see the comments on 16.5). This whole line could mean “the covenant love shown by David,” but it more likely means “the covenant love God showed toward King David and his dynasty.” The plural form of “steadfast loves” refers to the numerous times God showed his love within the covenant relationship.

There are different ways of expressing the relationship between the last two lines of this verse. By simply using a comma between the two lines, Revised Standard Version‘s rendering suggests that the LORD’s everlasting covenant with the people is based on his love for David (also New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Other versions express the relationship more fully; for example, Revised English Bible has “I shall make an everlasting covenant with you to love you faithfully as I loved David.” Good News Translation says “I will make a lasting covenant with you and give you the blessings I promised to David.” Bible en français courant is similar with “I commit myself for ever, says the Lord, to grant you the benefits that I had assured to David.” New Jerusalem Bible translates “I shall make an everlasting covenant with you in fulfillment of the favours promised to David.” All these renderings are possible interpretations, so they are valid models.

However, God’s covenant promise here does not mean that David’s descendants will return to power after the exile. The versions that simply use a comma to separate the last two lines could be understood to hint at this. But the covenant here is made with the entire nation of Israel, not just David’s descendants. In this sense Second Isaiah is different from other prophets who expected a return of the Davidic king (see, for example, Jer 33.17; Ezek 34.23; Zech 12.7-8). The reference to King David means the covenant made with the returning exiles will be equal to the eternal covenant the LORD made with David.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• “Come to me, listen closely;
hear what I have to say so that you may live.
I will make an eternal covenant with you
and show you the same covenant love I showed to David.

• “Listen closely and come to me;
hear me so that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you
and show you my [steadfast] love because of my love for David.

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 .