“Look how the oppressor has met his end!
Hostility 2 has ceased!
51:13 Why do you forget 3 the Lord, who made you,
who stretched out the sky 4
and founded the earth?
Why do you constantly tremble all day long 5
at the anger of the oppressor,
when he makes plans to destroy?
Where is the anger of the oppressor? 6
9:4 For their oppressive yoke
and the club that strikes their shoulders,
the cudgel the oppressor uses on them, 7
you have shattered, as in the day of Midian’s defeat. 8
1 tn Heb “you will lift up this taunt over the king of Babylon, saying.”
2 tc The word in the Hebrew text (מַדְהֵבָה, madhevah) is unattested elsewhere and of uncertain meaning. Many (following the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa) assume a dalet-resh (ד-ר) confusion and emend the form to מַרְהֵבָה (marhevah, “onslaught”). See HALOT 548 s.v. II *מִדָּה and HALOT 633 s.v. *מַרְהֵבָה.
3 tn Heb “and that you forget.”
4 tn Or “the heavens” (also in v. 16). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
5 tn Heb “and that you tremble constantly all the day.”
6 tn The question anticipates the answer, “Ready to disappear!” See v. 14.
7 tn Heb “for the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the scepter of the oppressor against him.” The singular pronouns are collective, referring to the people. The oppressed nation is compared to an ox weighed down by a heavy yoke and an animal that is prodded and beaten.
8 sn This alludes to Gideon’s victory over Midian (Judg 7-8), when the Lord delivered Israel from an oppressive foreign invader.