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Isaiah

About this book
Chapter 12

1 At that time you will say: “I praise you, O Lord, for even though you were angry with me, your anger subsided, and you consoled me. 2 Look, God is my deliverer! I will trust in him and not fear. For the Lord gives me strength and protects me; he has become my deliverer.” 3 Joyfully you will draw water from the springs of deliverance.⁠ 4 At that time you will say: “Praise the Lord! Ask him for help! Publicize his mighty acts among the nations. Make it known that he is unique. 5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done magnificent things; let this be known throughout the earth. 6 Cry out and shout for joy, O citizens of Zion, for the Holy One of Israel acts mightily among you!”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 12:3 and John 7:37 and Jonathan Isaiah 12:3

Hebrew Bible · New Testament · Targum

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Summary

In John, Jesus refers to himself as a source of water for the thirsty. This may reference an Aramaic tradition also found in Targum Isaiah, where the water of deliverance is interpreted as receiving new teaching with gladness.

Passages

Isaiah 12:3

Hebrew Bible
2 Look, God is my deliverer! I will trust in him and not fear. For the Lord gives me strength and protects me; he has become my deliverer.” 3 Joyfully you will draw water from the springs of deliverance. 4 At that time you will say: “Praise the Lord! Ask him for help! Publicize his mighty acts among the nations. Make it known that he is unique.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

John 7:37

New Testament
36 What did he mean by saying, ‘You will look for me but will not find me, and where I am you cannot come’?” 37 On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and 38 let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus was not yet glorified.)
90–110 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in John

Jonathan Isaiah 12:3

Targum
2 In the word of God is my salvation; I trust and will not be shaken, because my strength and my praise is the fear of the LORD; He has spoken by His word, and He has become my salvation.” 3 And you will receive a new teaching with joy from the chosen of the righteous. 4 And at that time you will say, “Praise before the LORD, pray in His name, declare His deeds among the peoples, remember that His name is powerful.
200–300 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jonathan Isaiah

References

“... The first part of the Book of Isaiah concludes with a jubilant hymn of thanksgiving, written in a very different style from what has gone before, but picking up ‘on that day’ (vv. 1, 4) from chapter 11 (v. 10, 11) and ‘your anger turned away’ (v. 1) from the refrain repeated five times in chapters 5, 9 and 10. The chapter is in the haftarah read in synagogues on the last day of Passover (10:32–12:6). Verses 1–3 are recited at the beginning of the weekly Havdalah service at home marking the end of the Sabbath (ADPB 608–611), and verse 3 is cited in the Talmud in relation to the joy experienced during the water libation ritual on the last day of the Feast of Sukkot (bSukkah 48b, 50b). Jewish interpreters understand the ‘water’ drawn from the wells of salvation as ‘new teaching’ (Tg; cf. Rashi) implying that, when the Messiah comes, some of the laws will become obsolete (RA 669). [...] The Church Fathers, following the Septuagint ‘God is my saviour’ (MT ‘my salvation’ v. 2) and ‘the wells of the saviour’ (MT ‘salvation’), interpreted the ‘wells’ in verse 3 as the Holy Spirit described by Jesus as ‘rivers of living water that flow from the heart’ (John 7:37–39) or the evangelical teaching of Christ ‘springing up to eternal life’ (John 4:13–14; cf. Ps 68:26) (Jerome, Eusebius). ...”
John F. A. Sawyer, Isaiah Through the Centuries (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell, 2017), 102.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Isaiah 12:3 and John 7:37 and Jonathan Isaiah 12:3

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