19:22 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?
At whom have you shouted, 1
and looked so arrogantly? 2
At the Holy One of Israel! 3
19:23 Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, 4
‘With my many chariots 5
I climbed up the high mountains,
the slopes of Lebanon.
I cut down its tall cedars,
and its best evergreens.
I invaded its most remote regions, 6
its thickest woods.
19:24 I dug wells and drank
water in foreign lands. 7
With the soles of my feet I dried up
all the rivers of Egypt.’
19:25 8 Certainly you must have heard! 9
Long ago I worked it out,
In ancient times I planned 10 it;
and now I am bringing it to pass.
The plan is this:
Fortified cities will crash
into heaps of ruins. 11
1 tn Heb “have you raised a voice.”
2 tn Heb “and lifted your eyes on high?”
3 sn This divine title pictures the Lord as the sovereign king who rules over his covenant people and exercises moral authority over them.
4 tn The word is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai), “lord,” but some Hebrew
5 tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has בְּרֶכֶב (bÿrekhev), but this must be dittographic (note the following רִכְבִּי [rikhbi], “my chariots”). The marginal reading (Qere) בְּרֹב (bÿrov), “with many,” is supported by many Hebrew
6 tn Heb “the lodging place of its extremity.”
7 tn Heb “I dug and drank foreign waters.”
8 tn Having quoted the Assyrian king’s arrogant words in vv. 23-24, the Lord now speaks to the king.
9 tn Heb “Have you not heard?” The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s amazement that anyone might be ignorant of what he is about to say.
10 tn Heb “formed.”
11 tn Heb “and it is to cause to crash into heaps of ruins fortified cities.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb תְּהִי (tÿhi) is the implied plan, referred to in the preceding lines with third feminine singular pronominal suffixes.