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[2] Surely, it is el who saves me; *
I will trust in him and not be afraid.
For Yahweh is my stronghold and my sure defense, *
and he will be my Savior.
[3] Therefore you shall draw water with rejoicing *
from the springs of salvation.
[4] And on that day you shall say, *
Give thanks to Yahweh and call upon his Name;
Make his deeds known among the peoples; *
see that they remember that his Name is exalted.
[5] Sing the praises of Yahweh, for he has done great things, *
and this is known in all the world.
[6] Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy, *
for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.
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Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
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This is the Response that will be read aloud in unison or sung by a cantor on the third Sunday of Advent, Year C, according to the lectionary for the Episcopal Church. This will follow the Old Testament reading from Zephaniah, who sang, “Yahweh elohayik is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love.” That pair will precede a reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, where he wrote: “The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything.” All will accompany the Gospel reading from Luke, where John the Baptist called out crowds of Jews coming to have their sins removed: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance.”
This song of thanks is translated from the Hebrew of Isaiah into English that misunderstands “el” and generalizes “Yahweh” as “the Lord.” I have restored these Hebrew words written. It is especially important to see why in verse four. There, Isaiah is shown to say, “call upon his Name” (with “Name” erroneously capitalized, to show the translator’s concept of the “Name” being divine), when they do not even give Yahweh the honor of stating what that “Name” is. In the Old Testament reading from Zephaniah, he wrote “Yahweh elohayik in your inward part,” with that translated as saying, “the Lord, your God, is in your midst.” That capitalizes “elohayik” as “your God,” is again wrong.
In the same way “el” is capitalized here as “God,” when the root is "elohim," the plural number, as "gods" [lower-case] is the truth. To make that capitalization [an error] is to do the same reduction of Yahweh by changing His name to “the Lord.” The “elohayik” is reference to the many divine servants of Yahweh, each possessed by His Spirit, all becoming extensions of Yahweh on the earth. Those servants are not “the God,” but each soul so enhanced Spiritually becomes one of the “gods,” made so by Yahweh. This makes one "el" be one such divinely elevated extension of Yahweh, one "el" of all the "elohim."
To prove that point, Isaiah was a Yahweh elohim, which means he was one “el” led by Yahweh’s Spirit, as one of many – before, during, after Isaiah’s time on earth. In verse two [unnumbered by the Episcopal Church, but I have graciously listed the verse numbers in brackets], Isaiah is singing of the certainty that his being an “el” of Yahweh is how he knows his soul has been “saved.” He then backs up that claim by singing, “Yahweh is my stronghold and my sure defense.”
When the verse shows him singing, “he will be my Savior” [another word not capitalized – Hebrew has no capital letters], “he” is that which made Isaiah an “el,” which is not Yahweh directly. It is the presence of a possessing soul within Isaiah, who we know as Jesus. That name means “Yah[weh] Will Save.” The soul of Jesus is the savior of all of Yahweh’s elohim, even if not known by that name.
In verse three this reference to Jesus can be seen in the “drawn water.” This is Isaiah prophesying what Jesus would tell the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus is the “spring of salvation,” as living waters that only need to be drawn once. The woman at the well knew the taxing labor of repeatedly having to go “draw water” from the well. As a woman, she was the one responsible for doing that work. Thus, Isaiah is singing of all Israelites being feminine, having to “draw water” themselves, each being responsible for doing the work necessary for salvation to come. By being filled with living waters, one will be “rejoicing,” just as the woman at the well said, “show me this water.”
In verse four the name of Jesus can again be seen, as to call upon “his name,” as “Yahweh,” the result is “Yahweh Will Save,” by that name. Isaiah says to “give thanks to Yahweh,” because without His grace delivered upon one’s soul, one’s soul has no lasting reasons to be happy. One drink of physical water soon after demands another. Being filled with living waters demands thanksgiving in return.
This means thanks is given through ministry in the name of Yahweh [as Jesus reborn]. True thanks are given not in words, but in “deeds known among the peoples,” which are capable of one who has received Yahweh’s Spirit. That receipt means one’s soul has married Yahweh, becoming His wife, so one’s soul has taken on His name in marriage. The “name exalted” is not “the Lord,” but Yahweh, as said in Jesus.
When verse five then sings, “Sing the praises of Yahweh, for he has done great things,” one needs to realize that Yahweh does not swoop down from Heaven and do great deeds. Isaiah is singing the praises for the deeds he has been made capable of doing, because Yahweh is with his soul. That presence in his soul is what makes Isaiah be an “el.” One sings praises to Yahweh by entering ministry and taking the presence of Yahweh to the people, as one of His servant wives. The great things are then the miracles, which means being able to fully explain Scripture, so greatly that others see for themselves it could only come from Yahweh. The miracles prove Yahweh; and, it is the proof that leads other souls to seek His proposal of marriage.
In the final verse of this song, Isaiah repeated what Zephaniah sang (relative to “Yahweh elohayik in your inward part”), by singing, “the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.” The same root verb is used (“qereb”), singing that Yahweh (“the great one”) is in one’s “inward part,” which is one’s soul. The translation of “Holy One” [from “qə·ḏō·wōš,” rooted in “qadosh”] needs not be capitalized, as that again gives the impression that Yahweh has become incarnate. The truth of this word is it is a singular reference to one made “sacred,” or “holy,” which is a “Saint.” A “Saint” is the soul of a wife of Yahweh having been merged with the soul of His Son Jesus, so Jesus is again resurrected in the flesh, with that flesh made “holy.” Before Jesus was born, Isaiah was a soul possessed by the soul of Jesus, making him be in the name of Yahweh.
As a song to be sung aloud on the third Sunday of Advent, this should be heard as another song of praise given during the time one’s soul is pregnant with baby Jesus within one’s inward part. The reasons to sing praises of thanks is the gift of eternal life being close to becoming one’s Spiritual rebirth. All human pregnancies should be celebrated with thanksgiving, because a baby born is a miracle of Yahweh’s making. When an old body of flesh is to be renewed by having drawn living waters from the well of true faith, then there is more reason to sing praises of thanksgiving.