17:12 The many nations massing together are as good as dead, 1
those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea’s waves. 2
The people making such an uproar are as good as dead, 3
those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves. 4
66:8 Who has ever heard of such a thing?
Who has ever seen this?
Can a country 5 be brought forth in one day?
Can a nation be born in a single moment?
Yet as soon as Zion goes into labor she gives birth to sons!
1 tn Heb “Woe [to] the massing of the many nations.” The word הוֹי (hoy) could be translated as a simple interjection here (“ah!”), but since the following verses announce the demise of these nations, it is preferable to take הוֹי as a funeral cry. See the note on the first phrase of 1:4.
2 tn Heb “like the loud noise of the seas, they make a loud noise.”
3 tn Heb “the uproar of the peoples.” The term הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse; the words “are as good as dead” are supplied in the translation to reflect this.
4 tn Heb “like the uproar of mighty waters they are in an uproar.”
5 tn Heb “land,” but here אֶרֶץ (’erets) stands metonymically for an organized nation (see the following line).