13:5 They come from a distant land,
from the horizon. 1
It is the Lord with his instruments of judgment, 2
coming to destroy the whole earth. 3
40:22 He is the one who sits on the earth’s horizon; 4
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him. 5
He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain, 6
and spreads it out 7 like a pitched tent. 8
41:25 I have stirred up one out of the north 9 and he advances,
one from the eastern horizon who prays in my name. 10
He steps on 11 rulers as if they were clay,
like a potter treading the clay.
42:10 Sing to the Lord a brand new song!
Praise him 12 from the horizon of the earth,
you who go down to the sea, and everything that lives in it, 13
you coastlands 14 and those who live there!
1 tn Heb “from the end of the sky.”
2 tn Or “anger”; cf. KJV, ASV “the weapons of his indignation.”
3 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.
4 tn Heb “the circle of the earth” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
5 tn The words “before him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
6 tn The otherwise unattested noun דֹּק (doq), translated here “thin curtain,” is apparently derived from the verbal root דקק (“crush”) from which is derived the adjective דַּק (daq, “thin”; see HALOT 229 s.v. דקק). The nuance “curtain” is implied from the parallelism (see “tent” in the next line).
7 tn The meaning of the otherwise unattested verb מָתַח (matakh, “spread out”) is determined from the parallelism (note the corresponding verb “stretch out” in the previous line) and supported by later Hebrew and Aramaic cognates. See HALOT 654 s.v. *מתה.
8 tn Heb “like a tent [in which] to live”; NAB, NASB “like a tent to dwell (live NIV, NRSV) in.”
9 sn That is, Cyrus the Persian. See the note at v. 2.
10 tn Heb “[one] from the rising of the sun [who] calls in my name.”
11 tn The Hebrew text has וְיָבֹא (vÿyavo’, “and he comes”), but this is likely a corruption of an original וַיָּבָס (vayyavas), from בּוּס (bus, “step on”).
12 tn Heb “his praise.” The phrase stands parallel to “new song” in the previous line.
13 tn Heb “and its fullness”; NASB, NIV “and all that is in it.”
14 tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “distant coastlands.”