Verse 8 begins a long sentence that will end with verse 10 (see Revised Standard Version). Like Good News Translation, most versions divide it into several shorter ones.

But you renders an emphatic expression in Hebrew. These opening words mark a change in the direction of God’s speech. He addressed the nations in verses 1-7, but now he speaks to Israel. In translation it is important to make the contrast clear. The pronoun you is singular in Hebrew. Throughout this subsection all the second person pronouns are singular, but they have a collective sense, referring to the people of Israel (see the introductory comments on this subsection [41.8-13]).

Israel, my servant and Jacob, whom I have chosen are parallel expressions. For the parallel use of the names Israel and Jacob, see the comments on 9.8 and 40.27. Good News Translation combines these names into “Israel,” but translators should try to keep both names here because of the parallelism (see the examples below). The term servant is used in various ways in Isaiah (see the comments on 20.3; 22.20; 37.35). Here God calls the nation of Israel as a whole my servant since he is its master. This term will feature extensively in later chapters. God also says Israel is the nation whom I have chosen because of its covenant relationship with him. In Hebrew this clause is literally “whom I have chosen you.” The Hebrew verb here ends with the suffix –tika, which is composed of the first person singular suffix (-ti) and the second person singular suffix (-ka). The suffix –tika also occurs on four verbs in verse 9 and three verbs in verse 10. It gives a sound rhythm to the text and helps to mark the text’s unity.

The offspring of Abraham, my friend is another description of Israel. This line is literally “seed of Abraham whom I love.” “Seed” is a metaphor for “descendants” (Good News Translation, New International Version, Revised English Bible; see the comments on 6.13). See 29.22 for an earlier reference to Abraham. All the translations consulted use the phrase my friend, but in some languages the literal expression “whom I love” may be more appropriate.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• “But you, Israel, you are my servant,
you are Jacob, whom I have chosen,
you are the descendants of Abraham, my friend.

• “But you, Israel, you are still my servant,
Jacob, you are still my chosen one,
the offspring of Abraham, my friend.

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 .