14:23 “I will turn her into a place that is overrun with wild animals 1
and covered with pools of stagnant water.
I will get rid of her, just as one sweeps away dirt with a broom,” 2
says the Lord who commands armies.
30:6 This is a message 3 about the animals in the Negev:
Through a land of distress and danger,
inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions, 4
by snakes and darting adders, 5
they transport 6 their wealth on the backs of donkeys,
their riches on the humps of camels,
to a nation that cannot help them. 7
1 tn Heb “I will make her into a possession of wild animals.” It is uncertain what type of animal קִפֹּד (qippod) refers to. Some suggest a rodent (cf. NASB, NRSV “hedgehog”), others an owl (cf, NAB, NIV, TEV).
2 tn Heb “I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction.”
3 tn Traditionally, “burden” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “oracle.”
4 tc Heb “[a land of] a lioness and a lion, from them.” Some emend מֵהֶם (mehem, “from them”) to מֵהֵם (mehem), an otherwise unattested Hiphil participle from הָמַם (hamam, “move noisily”). Perhaps it would be better to take the initial mem (מ) as enclitic and emend the form to הֹמֶה (homeh), a Qal active participle from הָמָה (hamah, “to make a noise”); cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:542, n. 9.
5 tn Heb “flying fiery one.” See the note at 14:29.
6 tn Or “carry” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
7 sn This verse describes messengers from Judah transporting wealth to Egypt in order to buy Pharaoh’s protection through a treaty.