24:18 The one who runs away from the sound of the terror
will fall into the pit; 3
the one who climbs out of the pit,
will be trapped by the snare.
For the floodgates of the heavens 4 are opened up 5
and the foundations of the earth shake.
48:43 Terror, pits, and traps 6 are in store
for the people who live in Moab. 7
I, the Lord, affirm it! 8
48:44 Anyone who flees at the sound of terror
will fall into a pit.
Anyone who climbs out of the pit
will be caught in a trap. 9
For the time is coming
when I will punish the people of Moab. 10
I, the Lord, affirm it! 11
5:19 Disaster will be inescapable, 12
as if a man ran from a lion only to meet a bear,
then escaped 13 into a house,
leaned his hand against the wall,
and was bitten by a poisonous snake.
9:1 I saw the sovereign One 14 standing by the altar 15 and he said, “Strike the tops of the support pillars, 16 so the thresholds shake!
Knock them down on the heads of all the people, 17
and I will kill the survivors 18 with the sword.
No one will be able to run away; 19
no one will be able to escape. 20
9:2 Even if they could dig down into the netherworld, 21
my hand would pull them up from there.
Even if they could climb up to heaven,
I would drag them down from there.
9:3 Even if they were to hide on the top of Mount Carmel,
I would hunt them down and take them from there.
Even if they tried to hide from me 22 at the bottom of the sea,
from there 23 I would command the Sea Serpent 24 to bite them.
1 tn Heb “and the remaining ones fled to Aphek to the city and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand men, the ones who remained.”
2 tn Heb “and Ben Hadad fled and went into the city, [into] an inner room in an inner room.”
3 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
4 tn Heb “from the height”; KJV “from on high.”
5 sn The language reflects the account of the Noahic Flood (see Gen 7:11).
6 sn There is an extended use of assonance here and in the parallel passage in Isa 24:17. The Hebrew text reads פַּחַד וָפַחַת וָפָח (pakhad vafakhat vafakh). The assonance is intended to underscore the extensive trouble that is in store for them.
7 tn Heb “are upon you, inhabitant of Moab.” This is another example of the rapid switch in person or direct address (apostrophe) in the midst of a third person description or prediction which the present translation typically keeps in the third person for smoother English style.
8 tn Heb “Oracle of the
9 sn Jer 48:43-44a are in the main the same as Isa 24:17-18 which shows that the judgment was somewhat proverbial. For a very similar kind of argumentation see Amos 5:19; judgment is unavoidable.
10 tn Heb “For I will bring upon her, even upon Moab, the year of her punishment.”
11 tn Heb “Oracle of the
12 tn The words “Disaster will be inescapable” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
13 tn Heb “went” (so KJV, NRSV).
14 tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
15 sn The altar is perhaps the altar at Bethel.
16 tn Or “the capitals.” The Hebrew singular form is collective.
17 tn Heb “cut them off on the head of all of them.” The translation assumes the objective suffix on the verb refers to the tops of the pillars and that the following prepositional phrase refers to the people standing beneath. Another option is to take this phrase as referring to the pillars, in which case one could translate, “Knock all the tops of the pillars off.”
18 tn Heb “the remnant of them.” One could possibly translate, “every last one of them” (cf. NEB “to the last man”). This probably refers to those who survive the collapse of the temple, which may symbolize the northern kingdom.
19 tn Heb “a fugitive belonging to them will not run away.”
20 tn Heb “a survivor belonging to them will not escape.”
21 tn Heb “into Sheol” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV), that is, the land of the dead localized in Hebrew thought in the earth’s core or the grave. Cf. KJV “hell”; NCV, NLT “the place of the dead”; NIV “the depths of the grave.”
22 tn Heb “from before my eyes.”
23 tn Or perhaps simply, “there,” if the מ (mem) prefixed to the adverb is dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem).
24 sn If the article indicates a definite serpent, then the mythological Sea Serpent, symbolic of the world’s chaotic forces, is probably in view. See Job 26:13 and Isa 27:1 (where it is also called Leviathan). Elsewhere in the OT this serpent is depicted as opposing the