32:22 For a fire has been kindled by my anger,
and it burns to lowest Sheol; 1
it consumes the earth and its produce,
and ignites the foundations of the mountains.
32:26 “I said, ‘I want to cut them in pieces. 2
I want to make people forget they ever existed.
1 tn Or “to the lowest depths of the earth”; cf. NAB “to the depths of the nether world”; NIV “to the realm of death below”; NLT “to the depths of the grave.”
sn Sheol refers here not to hell and hell-fire – a much later concept – but to the innermost parts of the earth, as low down as one could get. The parallel with “the foundations of the mountains” makes this clear (cf. Pss 9:17; 16:10; 139:8; Isa 14:9, 15; Amos 9:2).
2 tc The LXX reads “I said I would scatter them.” This reading is followed by a number of English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT, CEV).