24:18 The one who runs away from the sound of the terror
will fall into the pit; 1
the one who climbs out of the pit,
will be trapped by the snare.
For the floodgates of the heavens 2 are opened up 3
and the foundations of the earth shake.
28:13 So the Lord’s word to them will sound like
meaningless gibberish,
senseless babbling,
a syllable here, a syllable there. 4
As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk, 5
and be injured, ensnared, and captured. 6
29:4 You will fall;
while lying on the ground 7 you will speak;
from the dust where you lie, your words will be heard. 8
Your voice will sound like a spirit speaking from the underworld; 9
from the dust you will chirp as if muttering an incantation. 10
51:3 Certainly the Lord will console Zion;
he will console all her ruins.
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the Garden of the Lord.
Happiness and joy will be restored to 11 her,
thanksgiving and the sound of music.
1 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
2 tn Heb “from the height”; KJV “from on high.”
3 sn The language reflects the account of the Noahic Flood (see Gen 7:11).
4 tn Heb “And the word of the Lord will be to them, ‘tsahv latsahv,’ etc.” See the note at v. 10. In this case the “Lord’s word” is not the foreigner’s strange sounding words (as in v. 10), but the Lord’s repeated appeals to them (like the one quoted in v. 12). As time goes on, the Lord’s appeals through the prophets will have no impact on the people; they will regard prophetic preaching as gibberish.
5 tn Heb “as a result they will go and stumble backward.” Perhaps an infant falling as it attempts to learn to walk is the background image here (cf. v. 9b). The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) could be taken as indicating purpose (“in order that”), rather than simple result. In this case the people’s insensitivity to the message is caused by the Lord as a means of expediting their downfall.
6 sn When divine warnings and appeals become gibberish to the spiritually insensitive, they have no guidance and are doomed to destruction.
7 tn Heb “from the ground” (so NIV, NCV).
8 tn Heb “and from the dust your word will be low.”
9 tn Heb “and your voice will be like a ritual pit from the earth.” The Hebrew אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. See the note on “incantations” in 8:19. Here the word is used metonymically for the voice that emerges from such a pit.
10 tn Heb “and from the dust your word will chirp.” The words “as if muttering an incantation” are supplied in the translation for clarification. See the parallelism and 8:19.
11 tn Heb “found in” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).