49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;
they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. 1
Then all humankind 2 will recognize that
I am the Lord, your deliverer,
your protector, 3 the powerful ruler of Jacob.” 4
66:17 “As for those who consecrate and ritually purify themselves so they can follow their leader and worship in the sacred orchards, 5 those who eat the flesh of pigs and other disgusting creatures, like mice 6 – they will all be destroyed together,” 7 says the Lord.
1 sn Verse 26a depicts siege warfare and bloody defeat. The besieged enemy will be so starved they will their own flesh. The bloodstained bodies lying on the blood-soaked battle site will look as if they collapsed in drunkenness.
2 tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).
3 tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
4 tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.” See 1:24.
5 tn Heb “the ones who consecrate themselves and the ones who purify themselves toward the orchards [or “gardens”] after the one in the midst.” The precise meaning of the statement is unclear, though it is obvious that some form of idolatry is in view.
6 tn Heb “ones who eat the flesh of the pig and the disgusting thing and the mouse.”
7 tn Heb “together they will come to an end.”