17:13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, 1
when he shouts at 2 them, they will flee to a distant land,
driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills,
or like dead thistles 3 before a strong gale.
30:6 This is a message 4 about the animals in the Negev:
Through a land of distress and danger,
inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions, 5
by snakes and darting adders, 6
they transport 7 their wealth on the backs of donkeys,
their riches on the humps of camels,
to a nation that cannot help them. 8
1 tn Heb “the peoples are in an uproar like the uproar of mighty waters.”
2 tn Or “rebukes.” The verb and related noun are used in theophanies of God’s battle cry which terrifies his enemies. See, for example, Pss 18:15; 76:7; 106:9; Isa 50:2; Nah 1:4, and A. Caquot, TDOT 3:49-53.
3 tn Or perhaps “tumbleweed” (NAB, NIV, CEV); KJV “like a rolling thing.”
4 tn Traditionally, “burden” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “oracle.”
5 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.
6 tn Heb “flying fiery one.” See the note at 14:29.
7 tn Or “carry” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
8 sn This verse describes messengers from Judah transporting wealth to Egypt in order to buy Pharaoh’s protection through a treaty.