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
22:18 He will wind you up tightly into a ball
and throw you into a wide, open land. 4
There you will die,
and there with you will be your impressive chariots, 5
which bring disgrace to the house of your master. 6
30:33 For 7 the burial place is already prepared; 8
it has been made deep and wide for the king. 9
The firewood is piled high on it. 10
The Lord’s breath, like a stream flowing with brimstone,
will ignite it.
33:21 Instead the Lord will rule there as our mighty king. 11
Rivers and wide streams will flow through it; 12
no war galley will enter; 13
no large ships will sail through. 14
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 “and he will tightly [or “surely”] wind you [with] winding like a ball, to a land broad of hands [i.e., “sides”].”
5 tn Heb “and there the chariots of your splendor.”
6 sn Apparently the reference to chariots alludes to Shebna’s excessive pride, which in turn brings disgrace to the royal family.
7 tn Or “indeed.”
8 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “for arranged from before [or “yesterday”] is [?].” The meaning of תָּפְתֶּה (tafÿteh), which occurs only here, is unknown. The translation above (as with most English versions) assumes an emendation to תֹּפֶת (tofet, “Topheth”; cf. NASB, NIV, NLT) and places the final hey (ה) on the beginning of the next word as an interrogative particle. Topheth was a place near Jerusalem used as a burial ground (see Jer 7:32; 19:11).
9 tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “Also it is made ready for the king, one makes it deep and wide.” If one takes the final hey (ה) on תָּפְתֶּה (tafÿteh) and prefixes it to גָּם (gam) as an interrogative particle (see the preceding note), one can translate, “Is it also made ready for the king?” In this case the question is rhetorical and expects an emphatic affirmative answer, “Of course it is!”
10 tn Heb “its pile of wood, fire and wood one makes abundant.”
sn Apparently this alludes to some type of funeral rite.
11 tn Heb “But there [as] a mighty one [will be] the Lord for us.”
12 tn Heb “a place of rivers, streams wide of hands [i.e., on both sides].”
13 tn Heb “a ship of rowing will not go into it.”
14 tn Heb “and a mighty ship will not pass through it.”