5:14 So Death 1 will open up its throat,
and open wide its mouth; 2
Zion’s dignitaries and masses will descend into it,
including those who revel and celebrate within her. 3
14:22 “I will rise up against them,”
says the Lord who commands armies.
“I will blot out all remembrance of Babylon and destroy all her people, 4
including the offspring she produces,” 5
says the Lord.
21:9 Look what’s coming!
A charioteer,
a team of horses.” 8
When questioned, he replies, 9
“Babylon has fallen, fallen!
All the idols of her gods lie shattered on the ground!”
34:11 Owls and wild animals 10 will live there, 11
all kinds of wild birds 12 will settle in it.
The Lord 13 will stretch out over her
the measuring line of ruin
and the plumb line 14 of destruction. 15
53:7 He was treated harshly and afflicted, 16
but he did not even open his mouth.
Like a lamb led to the slaughtering block,
like a sheep silent before her shearers,
he did not even open his mouth. 17
65:18 But be happy and rejoice forevermore
over what I am about to create!
For look, I am ready to create Jerusalem 18 to be a source of joy, 19
and her people to be a source of happiness. 20
1 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.”
2 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).
3 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).
4 tn Heb “I will cut off from Babylon name and remnant” (ASV, NAB, and NRSV all similar).
5 tn Heb “descendant and child.”
6 tn Heb “in three years, like the years of a hired worker.” The three years must be reckoned exactly, just as a hired worker would carefully keep track of the time he had agreed to work for an employer in exchange for a predetermined wage.
7 tn Heb “and the splendor of Moab will be disgraced with all the great multitude, and a small little remnant will not be strong.”
8 tn Or “[with] teams of horses,” or perhaps, “with a pair of horsemen.”
9 tn Heb “and he answered and said” (so KJV, ASV).
10 tn קָאַת (qa’at) refers to some type of bird (cf. Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (see Zeph 2:14). קִפּוֹד (qippod) may also refer to a type of bird (NAB “hoot owl”; NIV “screech owl”; TEV “ravens”), but some have suggested a rodent may be in view (cf. NCV “small animals”; ASV “porcupine”; NASB, NRSV “hedgehog”).
11 tn Heb “will possess it” (so NIV).
12 tn The Hebrew text has יַנְשׁוֹף וְעֹרֵב (yanshof vÿ’orev). Both the יַנְשׁוֹף (“owl”; see Lev 11:17; Deut 14:16) and עֹרֵב (“raven”; Lev 11:15; Deut 14:14) were types of wild birds.
13 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
14 tn Heb “stones,” i.e., the stones used in a plumb bob.
15 sn The metaphor in v. 11b emphasizes that God has carefully planned Edom’s demise.
16 tn The translation assumes the Niphal is passive; another option is take the clause (note the subject + verb pattern) as concessive and the Niphal as reflexive, “though he humbled himself.”
17 sn This verse emphasizes the servant’s silent submission. The comparison to a sheep does not necessarily suggest a sacrificial metaphor. Sheep were slaughtered for food as well as for sacrificial rituals, and טֶבַח (tevakh) need not refer to sacrificial slaughter (see Gen 43:16; Prov 7:22; 9:2; Jer 50:27; note also the use of the related verb in Exod 21:37; Deut 28:31; 1 Sam 25:11).
18 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
19 tn Heb “Jerusalem, joy.” The next verse suggests the meaning: The Lord will create Jerusalem to be a source of joy to himself.
20 tn Heb “her people, happiness.” See the preceding note.