redemption—you could look it up in our archives
In the Book of Isaiah 48:17, the prophet Deutero- (Second) Isaiah refers to the LORD as the Redeemer of the descendants of Jacob. In Lost in Translation, an online column that can help readers connect with ideas expressed in the original languages of the Scriptures, Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps looks at the linguistic roots of the related word “redemption.” Redeemer originally was used to identify someone who pays a ransom, the price of buying back another person’s life. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews 9:15, in arguing that all of humanity has been held captive by sin, explains that Jesus’ death makes possible our redemption. New Lost in Translation entries are posted on Mondays, and past entries are archived on our website. Contact us if you’d like to receive Lost in Translation by email every week. The Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study The Letter to the Hebrews: An Explanation of the Mechanism of Our Salvation views humanity’s need for redemption as the key point underlying the Christian faith.

money is not involved in spiritual redemption
Our sins have been forgiven, but our spiritual debt has not—it has instead been paid by God. We still owe the debt, but we owe it to a different party and the terms for payback are different.

?  What examples of God as Redeemer appear in the Old Testament?
?  How does God function as a Redeemer in the New Testament?
?  What price has God paid to buy back human life?
?  What necessitates that all men and women be redeemed?
?  The terms of the Old Covenant describe the deal made between God and humanity. What did each side agree to, and what were the consequences for men and women who failed to keep their end of the bargain?
?  Why are there no apparent consequences if God fails to honor the covenant?
?  Explain how the terms of the debt humanity owes under the New Covenant are more favorable that the terms that governed the Old Covenant.

what about this sea monster called Rahab?
The Book of Isaiah 51:9 lauds the strong arm of the LORD and credits God with destroying a sea monster named Rahab. In ancient myths, sea monsters represent chaos, an idea reflected in the Old Testament association of the sea with death. Throughout Scripture, water is seen as a symbol of either life or of death. The sea, or salt water, commonly represents death, while fresh water is connected to the life-giving properties tied to the sacrament of Baptism. Ancient sea monsters were considered threatening to pagan gods. In asserting that the LORD is responsible for destroying Rahab, Deutero- (Second) Isaiah reinforces the idea that the God of the Hebrew patriarchs has power superior to that of any gods worshiped by pagans. The sea monster in the Book of Isaiah isn’t the same Rahab listed in the New Testament genealogy found in the first chapter in the Gospel According to Matthew. Visit our online glossary to learn more about the meaning of the name Rahab and the meanings of other proper nouns in Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption.

ex libris—three traditional functions of a prophet
In Introduction to the Prophets: Their Stories, Sayings, and Scrolls, the author, Thomas L. Leclerc, M.S. (Missionaries of La Salette), a professor of Scripture at Emmanuel College in Boston, Massachusetts, explains how Deutero- (Second) Isaiah exemplifies traditional functions of a prophet. According to Leclerc, these are: to anoint or reject kings, to authorize holy war, and to interpret tradition. At ex libris—main bookshelf, read an excerpt and learn more about Introduction to the Prophets: Their Stories, Sayings, and Scrolls and other works related to Bible study.

how is this relevant?
What difference does ancient prophecy make to Christians? How does Deutero- (Second) Isaiah’s reprisal of the three traditional functions of a prophet matter in the present day, and specifically, how does this matter to you as a Christian? Each lesson in the study book Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption contains commentaries designed to make it easier to reflect on ways that God’s Word applies to present-day Christians.

?  Read the Book of Isaiah 44:28, and 45:1 in which the LORD, speaking through the prophet, designates Cyrus of Persia as God’s own shepherd and anointed one. Which traditional function of a prophet is Deutero- (Second) Isaiah fulfilling when he delivers this message to the descendants of Jacob?
?  Read the Book of Isaiah 41:21–24, in which the prophet challenges the Babylonian idol-makers to defend their false gods. How does the prophet’s use of legal language associated with a trial suggest fulfillment of the traditional prophetic role associated with authorizing holy war?
?  Read the Book of Isaiah 48:17, in which the prophet identifies the LORD as the Redeemer of Israel, and the vocabulary box “Redeemer” on page 57 in Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption. What might be significant about the role of redeemer traditionally belonging to a person’s kin?
?  How does the prophet’s understanding of God as Redeemer of the descendants of Jacob reinterpret their traditional understanding about a redeemer?
?  In what ways has Jesus harnessed the functions of a prophet to incorporate a Christian understanding about kingship, war, and interpretation of tradition?

evaluating interpretations of Scripture
Lately we’ve been getting a lot of questions about what we think concerning outside commentaries on various biblical texts that aren’t directly referenced in this Bible study. We’re happy to address questions about anything in the study book, on the videos, or on the online study pages that accompany Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption. We don’t, however, want to take responsibility for things written or said about Scripture in other places. We can suggest a few guidelines that might help our readers evaluate such material on their own.

Catholics not only are encouraged to read the Bible, the Church also encourages us to think about Scripture and to come up with our own thoughts about what God is saying to us individually in our own time. There are, however, two caveats: 1) Whatever interpretation we land on for a particular passage in the Bible can’t contradict anything else in Scripture, and 2) It also can’t disagree with Church teaching. This is a tall order, but it’s not impossible to adhere to these stipulations.

If the interpretation you want to evaluate carries an imprimatur, that’s helpful information. An imprimatur guarantees that a Catholic bishop has read and approved the work. It means that if you choose to accept interpretations in the work, you won’t be running afoul of Church teaching. It means that the work isn’t heretical. It’s important to note that an imprimatur doesn’t mean that you’re required to accept the work as Church teaching. You may choose to agree with the work or not. But if you choose to agree, you don’t need to worry about the possibility that you’re being led astray. All Turning to God’s Word Bible studies have been granted an imprimatur. You can choose to accept what we’ve presented, but you also can choose not to.

Commentary that doesn’t carry an imprimatur may or may not be in line with Church teaching, so if you’re attracted to an opinion that you find outside of Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption, you have a responsibility to determine for yourself that it doesn’t contradict anything else in Scripture or anything that the Church teaches. This applies to outside commentary in books or on the Internet, and also to your own personal ideas about what a passage might mean.

read the Catechism—when in doubt
The very best Catholic interpretations of Scripture can be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which also conveniently explains established Church teaching. You can use the Catechism to help determine whether some bit of commentary is in line with other passages in Scripture or not, and whether the commentary reflects Church teaching. Following is an example from a recent question we received about why God chose circumcision as the sign of the Old Covenant.

• • The first thing to do is see if the key concept is defined in the glossary of the Catechism. A great many things that we question will not be found there, but in this case, the word circumcision is. While the glossary of the Catechism doesn’t carry the full weight of a magisterial document (the paragraphs in the Catechism do), it nevertheless will direct you to related paragraphs in the Catechism proper, and definitions in the glossary can serve as a guide to what the editors of the Catechism were thinking—in this case, about circumcision.
  • The next thing to do is to check out the index of the Catechism and read all of the paragraphs related to the key concept you’re concerned about. The index is far more comprehensive than the glossary, but even the index doesn’t always list everything we have questions about. In the case of circumcision, however, it lists two paragraphs. Each paragraph listed included a key word or phrase to help you decide whether it’s likely to be related to what you’re specifically looking for. Paragraph 527 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church is about Jesus’ circumcision, so that might not be incredibly helpful in relation to the Old Covenant, but it’s a good idea to read it anyway. Paragraph 1150 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church is about circumcision in the Old Covenant, which seems more promising.
  • Finally, there’s one more place where you might find paragraphs in the Catechism related to the Scripture that’s the basis for whatever commentary you’re trying to decide about. There’s a large section of Index of Citations in the back of the book. You can determine whether any of the passages you’re interested in are cited anywhere in the Catechism, and if so, you can read those paragraphs to see if they support the viewpoint you’re examining. Although the  Catechism is based on a truly remarkable amount of Scripture, you can’t count of the editors of the Catechism to have included every verse in the Bible.
  • What might it mean if the biblical text that you’re interested in doesn’t appear in the Index of Citations? While this isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, if something isn’t in the Scripture citations, that’s usually a fairly strong clue that the editors of the Catechism didn’t feel it was closely related enough to Church teaching to merit including.

what if you don’t find a definitive answer to your question?
Determining whether to accept an interpretation of Scripture rarely is easy. It requires diligence and patience, and sometimes humility enough to let go of an idea that just isn’t working. The choice whether to agree with a particular interpretation or not is a personal one, but not without inherent dangers to our immortal souls. For that reason, it’s best to err on the side of caution. If you think something sounds a bit hinky, it well may be. As long as you’re not questioning the Catechism of the Catholic Church—which is a magisterial document and by definition never will be out of line with Church teaching—you can’t go wrong being skeptical. The very best advice we can give in such cases is to pray. Ask God to grant you wisdom and understanding. Then have faith to trust that God will answer your prayer—and have the patience to accept that this might not happen as soon as you would like or in the way that you’d choose. It’s always a distinct possibility that God won’t agree with you.

a comment about the video for this lesson
Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps’ video for Lesson 7, “Deutero-Isaiah Proclaims the End of the Exile,” drew the following positive comment from a regular participant in our Bible study groups.

comment: Wow. I have to say that Matthew really hit a home run with his commentary on these Isaiah lessons. I’ve formally studied the Book of Isaiah twice, and his insights made me feel as though I’d never studied it before. How does he do it? I especially liked what he said about redemption being paid by God, but that we need to pay God back. He said it better, but I hadn’t heard it put the way he said it. I also was blown away when he talked about how the Old Testament voice crying in the Book of Isaiah 40:3 isn’t in the desert wilderness but the path is, while when the same passage is quoted by Jesus’ cousin John (the Baptist) in the New Testament Gospel According to John 1:23 the punctuation there indicates it’s the voice that’s in the desert wilderness. [Editor’s Note: This study further examines the significance of that punctuation difference between the Old and New Testaments in Lesson 20 The Voice in the Wilderness.] I’d heard that the Return from Babylon could be seen as a parallel to the Exodus out of slavery in Egypt, but I’d never thought about it the way Matthew explained it.

the best Catholic commentary about Scripture
To find out more about how Church teaching is supported by Scripture passages in Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption, check out the Index of Citations in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Links (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition [RSVCE*]) to the primary Scripture passages in the lesson and relevant paragraphs in the Catechism are provided here. Not every passage in the biblical text for this Catholic Bible study is referenced in a Catechism paragraph, however including the following passages from this lesson: the Book of Isaiah 41:21–24, the Book of Isaiah 48:17–20, the Book of Isaiah 51:9–11, and the Book of Isaiah 55:6–11.

ways our glossary might prove helpful
In addition to providing extra information about geographical locations, our glossary also points out persons and places mentioned in the biblical text under multiple names or spellings. If you can remember a name but aren’t sure in which lesson it shows up, you can find it in the glossary, which lists every proper noun that appears in the primary biblical text for Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption.

to learn more, read more Scripture
It can be helpful to check out all of the cross references listed in Scripture, but looking them up is time-consuming. To make that part easier, we’ve compiled the cross references from the Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE)—the translation that we reprint in our study books. That list can be found at the top of every online study page accompanying this study, and it includes links to each of the cross references in the primary biblical text for Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption.

don’t forget about our indexes & extra online material
If you’re trying to locate information about a specific Scripture passage, you can look it up in the index at the back of the study book or sample lesson. If you want to find a particular commentary, you can look up its title in the topics index. To learn more about another book of the Bible for which there’s a Turning to God’s Word study, visit the online study directories to read the commentaries and watch any accompanying videos. Finally, if you have a question or would like to make a comment about any of our studies, you can use one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons to email our authors.

ex libris—Church documents & books about religious topics
Link to magisterial documents referred to in our Bible studies at ex libris—magisterial documents. This listing includes significant recent encyclicals as well as a number of historical Church documents. Recommended books related to Scripture study can be found at ex libris—main bookshelf.

wondering how to pronounce some of these words?
The following links are to readings from the New International Version (NIV) Bible. To listen, open one of the links and click on the audio icon above the printed text. Although not taken from the translations used in our study materials, the NIV readings provide an audio guide to pronunciation of words in this lesson’s primary biblical texts. A close online version of the translation of the Bible used in Catholic liturgy in the United States as well as an audio guide for daily Mass readings for the current month can be found on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

the Book of Isaiah 40:1–11 (NIV)
the Book of Isaiah 40:28–31 (NIV)
the Book of Isaiah 41:21–24 (NIV)
the Book of Isaiah 43:1–4 (NIV)
the Book of Isaiah 43:18–21 (NIV)
the Book of Isaiah 44:21—45:7 (NIV)
the Book of Isaiah 45:20–23 (NIV)
the Book of Isaiah 48:17–20 (NIV)
the Book of Isaiah 51:9–11 (NIV)
the Book of Isaiah 55:6–11 (NIV)

close with Bible-based prayer related to this lesson
Many of our Catholic study groups like to conclude their discussions with a prayer based on the scriptural focus of their lesson, and some participants include Scripture-specific prayer in their individual study. If you’re uncomfortable composing your own Bible-based prayers you can follow our four easy steps, or you can use the following  prayer based on this lesson’s biblical texts.

Lord, everlasting God, you alone made all things.
You are the Lord and there’s no other.
Those who seek you will find you near.
Grant us the grace to remember that you’ve called us by name
and that we belong to you.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ,
our Savior and Redeemer, in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen.  

Lesson 8 God’s Suffering Servant—the Book of Isaiah 42:1–9, the Book of Isaiah 49:1–6, the Book of Isaiah 50:4–11, and the Book of Isaiah 52:13—53:12
Lesson 6 Obadiah’s Oracles Against Edom—the Book of Obadiah 1:1–21

you also may like Volume I of our prophets study
Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume I: A Kingdom Divided examines the prophets in their historical context based on the First and Second Books of the Kings and writings of biblical prophets before the Babylonian Exile in 586 B.C. It builds on The United Kingdom of Israel: Saul, David & Solomon Foreshadow Christ the King, an in-depth look at the kingdoms ruled by Saul, David, and Solomon—with special emphasis on David as a type of Jesus. Click on the book’s cover to view a sample lesson.

start a Turning to God’s Word Bible study
Thank you for your interest in Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption. You can find information on this website about beginning a Turning to God’s Word Bible study at start a Bible study. Tami, Matthew, and I are available to answer your questions and address any of your concerns. Contact us if you’d like to start one of our studies or have your schedule listed with other TtGW study groups on our website. —Jennifer

*There are seven deuterocanonical books in the Old Testament—the Books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and First and Second Maccabees, as well as some passages in the Books of Esther and Daniel. Protestants usually refer to these works as “apocryphal,” a word that means “outside the (Protestant) canon” because they’re excluded from most Protestant Bibles. The word “deuterocanonical” means “second canon”; Catholics use that word to refer to any section of the Catholic Old Testament for which there are no extant, or existing, Hebrew manuscripts. All of the deuterocanonical books appear in the Septuagint, the earliest remaining versions of which date to the 1st century B.C. This Greek translation of the Old Testament was in common use by Jews at the time of Jesus—but the same books aren’t found in existing Hebrew manuscripts, which aren’t as old as the oldest version of the Septuagint. Learn more by reading How Do Catholic & Protestant Bibles Differ?

Turning to God’s Word printed Bible studies use the 2006 Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE) translation for all Scripture references except those to the Psalms, which are taken from The Abbey Psalms and Canticles, prepared by the Benedictine monks of Conception Abbey and published in 2020 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). All Scripture links for the online study pages of Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption are to the 1966 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE) translation. The New International Version (NIV) audio recordings follow the same chapter and verse numbering as the RSV Catholic translations, but the NIV translation doesn’t include the deuterocanonical books and passages.

The 1966 RSVCE uses archaic pronouns and verb forms such as “thee,” “thou,” “didst” in the Psalms and in direct quotations attributed to God. The 2006 RSV2CE replaces those with more accessible English. A handful of more significant translation changes in the RSV2CE include rendering almah as “virgin” in the Book of Isaiah 7:14 and restoring the term “begotten” in the Gospel According to John 3:16.

Numbering varies for some passages in this Bible study. Turning to God’s Word studies follow the numbering in the Revised Standard Version Catholic translations (RSVCE and RSV2CE). Discrepancies in the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) are noted in the Index of Scripture Citations in the study book and the online sample.

You can learn more about the Psalms by viewing a sample lesson from the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume I: Lauds & Vespers. The second part of that study, Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume II: Vigils, Day Prayer & Compline, is scheduled for publication in 2024. Some verse numbers may vary in different translations of the Psalms.

**The Book of Isaiah 55:10-11 (RSV2CE) reads: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I intend, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

***The Book of Isaiah 45:22–24, which appears to be listed as the Book of Isaiah 45:22–4 in the Catechism’s Index of Citations, is referenced in paragraph 201 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.