# Isaiah 53:11



## Eyedoc84 (Dec 23, 2022)

KJV: “By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many”
Tanakh: “My righteous servant makes the many righteous”
NLT: “And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous”

Is there any justification from the Hebrew for the NLT to say that justification will simply be made “possible”?


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## arapahoepark (Dec 23, 2022)

I know little Hebrew but interlinears do not have any words associated with "possible" at this verse.


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## iainduguid (Dec 23, 2022)

The Hiphil of _tsadaq_ normally means to justify, vindicate, acquit or similar. So there is plenty of warrant for the traditional translation, represented here by KJV and Tanakh, but also by most modern translations as well. Frankly, I can't see how you get "will make it possible for many to be counted righteous" out of a Hiphil verb. To get such a construction in Hebrew, I suspect you would need to say something like "through his work many will be able to be counted righteous", which would require the addition of the verb _yakal_ to an infinitive Hiphil of _tsadaq_. But there are no text critical issues that affect the standard reading.


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## Eyedoc84 (Dec 23, 2022)

I see the senior translator for Isaiah is a Wesleyan, so maybe this is an intrusion of his theology? This verse was an “aha” moment for me when coming to a reformed view of the atonement. I was surprised when I saw the NLT here.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Polanus1561 (Dec 23, 2022)

Another reason for the CSB over NLT for a dynamic translation


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## Charles Johnson (Dec 23, 2022)

Polanus1561 said:


> Another reason for the CSB over NLT for a dynamic translation


I would take most things over the NLT, including the Vulgate.


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## iainduguid (Dec 23, 2022)

Eyedoc84 said:


> I see the senior translator for Isaiah is a Wesleyan, so maybe this is an intrusion of his theology? This verse was an “aha” moment for me when coming to a reformed view of the atonement. I was surprised when I saw the NLT here.


I must say I had the same thought when I saw the translation. But if you are referring to John Oswalt, he adopts a much more conventional translation in his NICOT commentary, "He will make many to be righteous". So it doesn't seem to be coming from him, though given his expertise in Isaiah, it is surprising that such a translation would slip past him. Nor does it come from the original Living Bible. From my own experience in translations, it's possible that the final editors changed some things due to their own preferences, but it's a bit of a mystery.


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