Passage

Isaiah 12.2

Book: Isaiah · ASV

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. And in that day thou shalt say, I will give thanks unto thee, O Jehovah; for though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away and thou comfortest me."

"2. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Jehovah, even Jehovah, is my strength and song; and he is become my salvation."

"3. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. 4. And in that day shall ye say, Give thanks unto Jehovah, call upon his name, declare his doings among the peoples, make mention that his name is exalted." (Isaiah 12:1-4, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. In that day you will say, “I will give thanks to you, Yahweh; for though you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you comfort me."

"2. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation.”"

"3. Therefore with joy you will draw water out of the wells of salvation. 4. In that day you will say, “Give thanks to Yahweh! Call on his name. Declare his doings among the peoples. Proclaim that his name is exalted!" (Isaiah 12:1-4, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me."

"2. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation."

"3. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. 4. And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. ^{call: or, proclaim}" (Isaiah 12:1-4, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. And thou hast said in that day: 'I thank thee, O Jehovah, Though Thou hast been angry with me, Turn back doth Thine anger, And Thou dost comfort me."

"2. Lo, God [is] my salvation, I trust, and fear not, For my strength and song [is] Jah Jehovah, And He is to me for salvation."

"3. And ye have drawn waters with joy Out of the fountains of salvation, 4. And ye have said in that day, Give ye praise to Jehovah, call in His name. Make known among the peoples His acts. Make mention that set on high is His name." (Isaiah 12:1-4, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Isaiah, prophetically placing the words in the mouth of the eschatological covenant community
Audience: the Judah / Jerusalem of Isaiah's own day, plus the future eschatological remnant who will sing this song
Location: Jerusalem (Isaiah's prophetic ministry); the song's setting is the eschatological "in that day"
Time period: Isaiah's ministry c. 740-680 BC; the song's referent extends to the messianic-eschatological consummation

Theological reading

Isaiah 12 is the closing song of the Isaianic Immanuel section (Isa 6-12), the response to the announcement of the virgin-born child (7:14), the wonderful-counselor king (9:6-7), and the shoot from Jesse's stump (11:1-10). The chapter is the doxological capstone of the entire opening movement. Verse 2 deploys yeshuʿah twice in a single line, God is my yeshuʿah... he is become my yeshuʿah, bookending the confession with the salvation-word in a way that echoes the Song at the Sea (Ex 15:2, "YHWH... is become my salvation"). The eschatological covenant community is being scripted to sing the yeshuʿah-confession in the new-Exodus key.

Verse 3 develops the image: "with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of yeshuʿah." The image is liturgical; Second Temple Jewish tradition associated this verse with the water-libation ritual on the seventh day of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles), making the cultural-historical backdrop to John 7:37-38: "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." Jesus is identifying Himself as the yeshuʿah-well of Isaiah 12. The Christological deployment is direct: the wells of salvation flow from the One whose very name Yeshua is the salvation-word.

Key words

H3444 - yeshuah, yeshuʿah (Strong's H3444). Deployed twice in v. 2 and once in v. 3; the load-bearing noun of the doxology.

Quoted in

Notes

Stub. Promote to rich hub when warranted.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.