1:7 Your land is devastated,
your cities burned with fire.
Right before your eyes your crops
are being destroyed by foreign invaders. 1
They leave behind devastation and destruction. 2
2:8 Their land is full of worthless idols;
they worship 3 the product of their own hands,
what their own fingers have fashioned.
6:11 I replied, “How long, sovereign master?” He said,
“Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated,
and houses are uninhabited,
and the land is ruined and devastated,
6:12 and the Lord has sent the people off to a distant place,
and the very heart of the land is completely abandoned. 4
7:18 At that time 5 the Lord will whistle for flies from the distant streams of Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria. 6
9:2 (9:1) The people walking in darkness
see a bright light; 10
light shines
on those who live in a land of deep darkness. 11
13:5 They come from a distant land,
from the horizon. 12
It is the Lord with his instruments of judgment, 13
coming to destroy the whole earth. 14
14:20 You will not be buried with them, 15
because you destroyed your land
and killed your people.
The offspring of the wicked
will never be mentioned again.
16:1 Send rams as tribute to the ruler of the land, 16
from Sela in the desert 17
to the hill of Daughter Zion.
19:7 along with the plants by the mouth of the river. 18
All the cultivated land near the river
will turn to dust and be blown away. 19
21:1 Here is a message about the Desert by the Sea: 20
Like strong winds blowing in the south, 21
one invades from the desert,
from a land that is feared.
21:14 Bring out some water for the thirsty.
You who live in the land of Tema,
bring some food for the fugitives.
23:7 Is this really your boisterous city 22
whose origins are in the distant past, 23
and whose feet led her to a distant land to reside?
26:15 You have made the nation larger, 24 O Lord,
you have made the nation larger and revealed your splendor, 25
you have extended all the borders of the land.
32:13 Mourn 26 over the land of my people,
which is overgrown with thorns and briers,
and over all the once-happy houses 27
in the city filled with revelry. 28
33:9 The land 29 dries up 30 and withers away;
the forest of Lebanon shrivels up 31 and decays.
Sharon 32 is like the desert; 33
Bashan and Carmel 34 are parched. 35
34:7 Wild oxen will be slaughtered 36 along with them,
as well as strong bulls. 37
Their land is drenched with blood,
their soil is covered with fat.
38:11 “I thought,
‘I will no longer see the Lord 38 in the land of the living,
I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world. 39
49:12 Look, they come from far away!
Look, some come from the north and west,
and others from the land of Sinim! 40
1 tn Heb “As for your land, before you foreigners are devouring it.”
2 tn Heb “and [there is] devastation like an overthrow by foreigners.” The comparative preposition כְּ (kÿ, “like, as”) has here the rhetorical nuance, “in every way like.” The point is that the land has all the earmarks of a destructive foreign invasion because that is what has indeed happened. One could paraphrase, “it is desolate as it can only be when foreigners destroy.” On this use of the preposition in general, see GKC 376 §118.x. Many also prefer to emend “foreigners” here to “Sodom,” though there is no external attestation for such a reading in the
3 tn Or “bow down to” (NIV, NRSV).
4 tn Heb “and great is the abandonment in the midst of the land.”
5 tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
6 sn Swarming flies are irritating; bees are irritating and especially dangerous because of the pain they inflict with their sting (see Deut 1:44; Ps 118:12). The metaphors are well chosen, for the Assyrians (symbolized by the bees) were much more powerful and dangerous than the Egyptians (symbolized by the flies). Nevertheless both would put pressure on Judah, for Egypt wanted Judah as a buffer state against Assyrian aggression, while Assyrian wanted it as a base for operations against Egypt. Following the reference to sour milk and honey, the metaphor is especially apt, for flies are attracted to dairy products and bees can be found in the vicinity of honey.
7 tn Heb “he will pass through it.” The subject of the collective singular verb is the nation. (See the preceding note.) The immediately preceding context supplies no antecedent for “it” (a third feminine singular suffix in the Hebrew text); the suffix may refer to the land, which would be a reasonable referent with a verb of motion. Note also that אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”) does appear at the beginning of the next verse.
8 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
9 tn Or “gods” (NAB, NRSV, CEV).
10 sn The darkness symbolizes judgment and its effects (see 8:22); the light represents deliverance and its effects, brought about by the emergence of a conquering Davidic king (see vv. 3-6).
11 tn Traditionally צַלְמָוֶת (tsalmavet) has been interpreted as a compound noun, meaning “shadow of death” (so KJV, ASV, NIV), but usage indicates that the word, though it sometimes refers to death, means “darkness.” The term should probably be repointed as an abstract noun צַלְמוּת (tsalmut). See the note at Ps 23:4.
12 tn Heb “from the end of the sky.”
13 tn Or “anger”; cf. KJV, ASV “the weapons of his indignation.”
14 tn Or perhaps, “land” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NLT). Even though the heading and subsequent context (see v. 17) indicate Babylon’s judgment is in view, the chapter has a cosmic flavor that suggests that the coming judgment is universal in scope. Perhaps Babylon’s downfall occurs in conjunction with a wider judgment, or the cosmic style is poetic hyperbole used to emphasize the magnitude and importance of the coming event.
15 tn Heb “you will not be united with them in burial” (so NASB).
16 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “Send [a plural imperatival form is used] a ram [to] the ruler of the land.” The term כַּר (kar, “ram”) should be emended to the plural כָּרִים (karim). The singular form in the text is probably the result of haplography; note that the next word begins with a mem (מ).
17 tn The Hebrew text has “toward [across?] the desert.”
18 tn Heb “the plants by the river, by the mouth of the river.”
19 tn Heb “will dry up, [being] scattered, and it will vanish.”
20 sn The phrase is quite cryptic, at least to the modern reader. Verse 9 seems to indicate that this message pertains to Babylon. Southern Mesopotamia was known as the Sealand in ancient times, because of its proximity to the Persian Gulf. Perhaps the reference to Babylon as a “desert” foreshadows the destruction that would overtake the city, making it like a desolate desert.
21 tn Or “in the Negev” (NASB).
22 tn Heb “Is this to you, boisterous one?” The pronoun “you” is masculine plural, like the imperatives in v. 6, so it is likely addressed to the Egyptians and residents of the coast. “Boisterous one” is a feminine singular form, probably referring to the personified city of Tyre.
23 tn Heb “in the days of antiquity [is] her beginning.”
24 tn Heb “you have added to the nation.” The last line of the verse suggests that geographical expansion is in view. “The nation” is Judah.
25 tn Or “brought honor to yourself.”
26 tn “Mourn” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 12-13 are one long sentence.
27 tn Heb “indeed, over all the houses of joy.” It is not certain if this refers to individual homes or to places where parties and celebrations were held.
28 sn This same phrase is used in 22:2.
29 tn Or “earth” (KJV); NAB “the country.”
30 tn Or “mourns” (BDB 5 s.v. I אָבַל). HALOT 6-7 lists homonyms I אבל (“mourn”) and II אבל (“dry up”). They propose the second here on the basis of parallelism. See 24:4.
31 tn Heb “Lebanon is ashamed.” The Hiphil is exhibitive, expressing the idea, “exhibits shame.” In this context the statement alludes to the withering of vegetation.
32 sn Sharon was a fertile plain along the Mediterranean coast. See 35:2.
33 tn Or “the Arabah” (NIV). See 35:1.
34 sn Both of these areas were known for their trees and vegetation. See 2:13; 35:2.
35 tn Heb “shake off [their leaves]” (so ASV, NRSV); NAB “are stripped bare.”
36 tn Heb “will go down”; NAB “shall be struck down.”
37 tn Heb “and bulls along with strong ones.” Perhaps this refers to the leaders.
38 tn The Hebrew text has יָהּ יָהּ (yah yah, the abbreviated form of יְהוָה [yÿhvah] repeated), but this is probably a corruption of יְהוָה.
39 tc The Hebrew text has חָדֶל (khadel), which appears to be derived from a verbal root meaning “to cease, refrain.” But the form has probably suffered an error of transmission; the original form (attested in a few medieval Hebrew
40 tc The MT reads “Sinim” here; the Dead Sea Scrolls read “Syene,” a location in Egypt associated with modern Aswan. A number of recent translations adopt this reading: “Syene” (NAB, NRSV); “Aswan” (NIV); “Egypt” (NLT).
sn The precise location of the land of Sinim is uncertain, but since the north and west are mentioned in the previous line, it was a probably located in the distant east or south.