6:13 Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, 1 like one of the large sacred trees 2 or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. 3 That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family.” 4
10:15 Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it,
or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? 5
As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it,
or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!
14:19 But you have been thrown out of your grave
like a shoot that is thrown away. 6
You lie among 7 the slain,
among those who have been slashed by the sword,
among those headed for 8 the stones of the pit, 9
as if you were a mangled corpse. 10
29:4 You will fall;
while lying on the ground 11 you will speak;
from the dust where you lie, your words will be heard. 12
Your voice will sound like a spirit speaking from the underworld; 13
from the dust you will chirp as if muttering an incantation. 14
49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;
they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. 15
Then all humankind 16 will recognize that
I am the Lord, your deliverer,
your protector, 17 the powerful ruler of Jacob.” 18
1 tn Or “be burned” (NRSV); NIV “laid waste.”
2 tn Heb “like a massive tree or like a big tree” (perhaps, “like a terebinth or like an oak”).
3 tn The Hebrew text has “which in the felling, a sacred pillar in them.” Some take מַצֶּבֶת (matsevet) as “stump,” and translate, “which, when chopped down, have a stump remaining in them.” But elsewhere מַצֶּבֶת refers to a memorial pillar (2 Sam 18:18) and the word resembles מַצֶּבָה (matsevah, “sacred pillar”). בָּם (bam, “in them”) may be a corruption of בָּמָה (bamah, “high place”; the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has במה). אֳשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) becomes a problem in this case, but one might emend the form to וּכְּאֲשֵׁרָה (ukÿ’asherah, “or like an Asherah pole”) and translate, “like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole.” Though the text is difficult, the references to sacred trees and a sacred pillar suggest that the destruction of a high place is in view, an apt metaphor for the judgment of idolatrous Judah.
4 tn Heb “a holy offspring [is] its sacred pillar.” If מַצֶּבֶת (matsevet) is taken as “stump,” one can see in this statement a brief glimpse of hope. The tree (the nation) is chopped down, but the stump (a righteous remnant) remains from which God can restore the nation. However, if מַצֶּבֶת is taken as “sacred pillar” (מַצֶּבָה, matsevah; see the previous note), it is much more difficult to take the final statement in a positive sense. In this case “holy offspring” alludes to God’s ideal for his covenant people, the offspring of the patriarchs. Ironically that “holy” nation is more like a “sacred pillar” and it will be thrown down like a sacred pillar from a high place and its land destroyed like the sacred trees located at such shrines. Understood in this way, the ironic statement is entirely negative in tone, just like the rest of the preceding announcement of judgment. It also reminds the people of their failure; they did not oppose pagan religion, instead they embraced it. Now they will be destroyed in the same way they should have destroyed paganism.
5 tn Heb “the one who pushes it back and forth”; KJV “him that shaketh it”; ASV “him that wieldeth it.”
6 tn Heb “like a shoot that is abhorred.” The simile seems a bit odd; apparently it refers to a small shoot that is trimmed from a plant and tossed away. Some prefer to emend נֵצֶר (netser, “shoot”); some propose נֵפֶל (nefel, “miscarriage”). In this case one might paraphrase: “like a horrible-looking fetus that is delivered when a woman miscarries.”
7 tn Heb “are clothed with.”
8 tn Heb “those going down to.”
9 tn בּוֹר (bor) literally means “cistern”; cisterns were constructed from stones. On the metaphorical use of “cistern” for the underworld, see the note at v. 15.
10 tn Heb “like a trampled corpse.” Some take this line with what follows.
11 tn Heb “from the ground” (so NIV, NCV).
12 tn Heb “and from the dust your word will be low.”
13 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.
14 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.
15 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.
16 tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).
17 tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
18 tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.” See 1:24.