MT morphology, syntax, and theological meaning
אַל־תִּזְכְּרוּ רִאשֹׁנוֹת וְקַדְמֹנִיּוֹת אַל־תִּתְבֹּנָנוּ׃
“Don’t remember the former things, and don’t consider the things of old.” (WEB)
Syntax and morphology
- אַל + imperfect: A firm volitional prohibition rather than momentary hesitation.
- תִּזְכְּרוּ (zakar): Qal imperfect, second-person masculine plural: prohibits ritual or cognitive fixation on past deliverance.
- תִּתְבֹּנָנוּ (bin): Hithpolel imperfect, second-person masculine plural: concentrated reflection that encloses attention in the past.
Theological interpretation
After verses 16–17’s majestic recollection of the exodus, this prohibition creates a major paradox. The target is fixation that treats a past method as a rigid template limiting God, rather than forgetting divine history.
הִנְנִי עֹשֶׂה חֲדָשָׁה עַתָּה תִצְמָח הֲלוֹא תֵדָעוּהָ אָשִׂים בַּמִּדְבָּר דֶּרֶךְ בִּישִׁימוֹן נְהָרוֹת׃
“Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” (WEB)
Syntax and morphology
- הִנְנִי עֹשֶׂה (hinni oseh): Demonstrative + active participle: imminent and certain divine action, a future already beginning.
- עַתָּה תִצְמָח (attah titsmach): Temporal adverb + Qal imperfect: organic emergence like a plant sprouting from beneath the ground.
- הֲלוֹא תֵדָעוּהָ (halo teda'uha): A rhetorical question calling for spiritual insight and perception.
Theological interpretation
In exile’s bleak setting, sprouting imagery presents salvation as an irresistible organic beginning rather than mechanical assembly. Wilderness roads and desert rivers signify both return routes and life-giving cosmic re-creation.
תְּכַבְּדֵנִי חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה תַּנִּים וּבְנוֹת יַעֲנָה כִּי־נָתַתִּי בַמִּדְבָּר מַיִם נְהָרוֹת בִּישִׁימוֹן לְהַשְׁקוֹت עַמִּי בְחִירִי׃
“The animals of the field, the jackals and the ostriches, shall honor me, because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen” (WEB, verse 20).
Syntax and morphology
- תַּנִּים וּבְנוֹת יַעֲנָה: Jackals and ostriches: animals associated with judgment, ruins, and lament.
- תְּכַבְּדֵנִי (tekabbedeni): Piel imperfect + first-person suffix: a reversal in which marginal creatures become those offering praise.
- כִּי־נָתַתִּי... לְהַשְׁקוֹת: Causal ki and purpose infinitive: water sustains the people’s life.
Theological interpretation
Salvation extends beyond humanity. Creatures associated with ruined places in Isaiah 13:21 and 34:13 join praise as new-creation water restores life.
עַם־זוּ יָצַרְתִּי לִי תְּהִלָּתִי יְסַפֵּרוּ׃
“the people which I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise.” (WEB, verse 21)
Syntax and morphology
- עַם־זוּ (am-zu): Noun + shortened relative pronoun: the people whom I formed.
- יָצַרְתִּי (yatsarti): Qal perfect, first-person singular: purposeful formation like a potter shaping clay.
- תְּהִלָּתִי יְסַפֵּרוּ (tehillati yesapperu): Piel imperfect: publicly recounting and witnessing to divine grace among the nations.
Theological interpretation and contextual tension
The people’s telos is a priestly vocation of proclamation beyond survival. Verse 22’s accusation that Jacob has not called on God sharply contrasts divine creative purpose in verse 21 with actual communal failure.