Sunday, September 28, 2025

Isaiah 65:17

Isaiah 65:17-25 was one of the readings in a church service I attended back in the spring, and I noticed a small feature in verse 17:  "'For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.'" [ESV]

"Be remembered" and "come into mind" are parallel expressions, but this combination of passive voice and active voice provides a degree of emphasis or even a sense of totality.

I think there's a similar distinction in the Hebrew, although I'm still not very knowledgeable about the verb forms:
וְלֹא תִזָּכַרְנָה הָרִאשֹׁנוֹת וְלֹא תַעֲלֶינָה עַל־לֵֽב