Discovery BoxIsaiah 14:29 
Context14:29 Don’t be so happy, all you Philistines,
just because the club that beat you has been broken! 1
For a viper will grow out of the serpent’s root,
and its fruit will be a darting adder. 2
Isaiah 30:6
Context30:6 This is a message 3 about the animals in the Negev:
Through a land of distress and danger,
inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions, 4
by snakes and darting adders, 5
they transport 6 their wealth on the backs of donkeys,
their riches on the humps of camels,
to a nation that cannot help them. 7
1 sn The identity of this “club” (also referred to as a “serpent” in the next line) is uncertain. It may refer to an Assyrian king, or to Ahaz. For discussion see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:331-32. The viper/adder referred to in the second half of the verse is his successor.
2 tn Heb “flying burning one.” The designation “burning one” may allude to the serpent’s appearance or the effect of its poisonous bite. (See the note at 6:2.) The qualifier “flying” probably refers to the serpent’s quick, darting movements, though one might propose a homonym here, meaning “biting.” (See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:332, n. 18.) Some might think in terms of a mythological flying, fire breathing dragon (cf. NAB “a flying saraph”; CEV “a flying fiery dragon”), but this proposal does not make good sense in 30:6, where the phrase “flying burning one” appears again in a list of desert animals.
3 tn Traditionally, “burden” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “oracle.”
4 tc Heb “[a land of] a lioness and a lion, from them.” Some emend מֵהֶם (mehem, “from them”) to מֵהֵם (mehem), an otherwise unattested Hiphil participle from הָמַם (hamam, “move noisily”). Perhaps it would be better to take the initial mem (מ) as enclitic and emend the form to הֹמֶה (homeh), a Qal active participle from הָמָה (hamah, “to make a noise”); cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:542, n. 9.
5 tn Heb “flying fiery one.” See the note at 14:29.
6 tn Or “carry” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
7 sn This verse describes messengers from Judah transporting wealth to Egypt in order to buy Pharaoh’s protection through a treaty.
