30:6 This is a message 1 about the animals in the Negev:
Through a land of distress and danger,
inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions, 2
by snakes and darting adders, 3
they transport 4 their wealth on the backs of donkeys,
their riches on the humps of camels,
to a nation that cannot help them. 5
44:26 who fulfills the oracles of his prophetic servants 6
and brings to pass the announcements 7 of his messengers,
who says about Jerusalem, 8 ‘She will be inhabited,’
and about the towns of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt,
her ruins I will raise up,’
45:18 For this is what the Lord says,
the one who created the sky –
he is the true God, 9
the one who formed the earth and made it;
he established it,
he did not create it without order, 10
he formed it to be inhabited –
“I am the Lord, I have no peer.
1 tn Traditionally, “burden” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “oracle.”
2 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.
3 tn Heb “flying fiery one.” See the note at 14:29.
4 tn Or “carry” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
5 sn This verse describes messengers from Judah transporting wealth to Egypt in order to buy Pharaoh’s protection through a treaty.
6 tn Heb “the word of his servant.” The following context indicates that the Lord’s prophets are in view.
7 tn Heb “counsel.” The Hebrew term עֵצָה (’etsah) probably refers here to the divine plan as announced by the prophets. See HALOT 867 s.v. I עֵצָה.
8 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
9 tn Heb “he [is] the God.” The article here indicates uniqueness.
10 tn Or “unformed.” Gen 1:2 describes the world as “unformed” (תֹהוּ, tohu) prior to God’s creative work, but God then formed the world and made it fit for habitation.