2:18 The worthless idols will be completely eliminated. 1
5:14 So Death 3 will open up its throat,
and open wide its mouth; 4
Zion’s dignitaries and masses will descend into it,
including those who revel and celebrate within her. 5
24:12 The city is left in ruins; 6
the gate is reduced to rubble. 7
30:17 One thousand will scurry at the battle cry of one enemy soldier; 8
at the battle cry of five enemy soldiers you will all run away, 9
until the remaining few are as isolated 10
as a flagpole on a mountaintop
or a signal flag on a hill.”
47:9 Both of these will come upon you
suddenly, in one day!
You will lose your children and be widowed. 11
You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, 12
despite 13 your many incantations
and your numerous amulets. 14
47:15 They will disappoint you, 15
those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. 16
Each strays off in his own direction, 17
leaving no one to rescue you.”
56:6 As for foreigners who become followers of 18 the Lord and serve him,
who love the name of the Lord and want to be his servants –
all who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it,
and who are faithful to 19 my covenant –
1 tc The verb “pass away” is singular in the Hebrew text, despite the plural subject (“worthless idols”) that precedes. The verb should be emended to a plural; the final vav (ו) has been accidentally omitted by haplography (note the vav at the beginning of the immediately following form).
tn Heb “will completely pass away”; ASV “shall utterly pass away.”
2 tn The precise meaning of many of the words in this list is uncertain.
sn The rhetorical purpose for such a lengthy list is to impress on the audience the guilt of these women with their proud, materialistic attitude, whose husbands and fathers have profited at the expense of the poor.
3 tn Heb “Sheol” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV); the underworld, the land of the dead, according to the OT world view. Cf. NAB “the nether world”; TEV, CEV “the world of the dead”; NLT “the grave.”
4 tn Heb “so Sheol will make wide its throat, and open its mouth without limit.”
sn Death is portrayed in both the OT (Prov 1:12; Hab 2:5) and Canaanite myth as voraciously swallowing up its prey. In the myths Death is portrayed as having “a lip to the earth, a lip to the heavens … and a tongue to the stars.” (G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 69, text 5 ii 2-3.) Death describes his own appetite as follows: “But my appetite is the appetite of lions in the waste…If it is in very truth my desire to consume ‘clay’ [a reference to his human victims], then in truth by the handfuls I must eat it, whether my seven portions [indicating fullness and completeness] are already in the bowl or whether Nahar [the god of the river responsible for ferrying victims from the land of the living to the land of the dead] has to mix the cup.” (Driver, 68-69, text 5 i 14-22).
5 tn Heb “and her splendor and her masses will go down, and her tumult and the one who exults in her.” The antecedent of the four feminine singular pronominal suffixes used in v. 14b is unclear. The likely referent is personified Zion/Jerusalem (see 3:25-26; 4:4-5).
6 tn Heb “and there is left in the city desolation.”
7 tn Heb “and [into] rubble the gate is crushed.”
8 tn Heb “One thousand from before [or “because of”] one battle cry.” גְּעָרָה (gÿ’arah) is often defined as “threat,” but in war contexts it likely refers to a shout or battle cry. See Ps 76:6.
9 tn Heb “from before [or “because of”] the battle cry of five you will flee.
10 tn Heb “until you are left” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).
11 tn Heb “loss of children and widowhood.” In the Hebrew text the phrase is in apposition to “both of these” in line 1.
12 tn Heb “according to their fullness, they will come upon you.”
13 tn For other examples of the preposition bet (בְּ) having the sense of “although, despite,” see BDB 90 s.v. III.7.
14 sn Reference is made to incantations and amulets, both of which were important in Mesopotamian religion. They were used to ward off danger and demons.
15 tn Heb “So they will be to you”; NIV “That is all they can do for you.”
16 tn Heb “that for which you toiled, your traders from your youth.” The omen readers and star gazers are likened to merchants with whom Babylon has had an ongoing economic relationship.
17 tn Heb “each to his own side, they err.”
18 tn Heb “who attach themselves to.”
19 tn Heb “and take hold of”; NAB “hold to”; NIV, NRSV “hold fast.”