13:20 Elisha died and was buried. 3 Moabite raiding parties invaded 4 the land at the beginning of the year. 5 13:21 One day some men 6 were burying a man when they spotted 7 a raiding party. So they threw the dead man 8 into Elisha’s tomb. When the body 9 touched Elisha’s bones, the dead man 10 came to life and stood on his feet.
33:11 Bless, O Lord, his goods,
and be pleased with his efforts;
undercut the legs 14 of any who attack him,
and of those who hate him, so that they cannot stand.
1:17 While this one was still speaking another messenger arrived and said, “The Chaldeans 15 formed three bands and made a raid 16 on the camels and carried them all away, and they killed the servants with the sword! 17 And I – only I alone – escaped to tell you!”
13:5 They come from a distant land,
from the horizon. 20
It is the Lord with his instruments of judgment, 21
coming to destroy the whole earth. 22
19:8 The nations – the surrounding regions – attacked him.
They threw their net over him; he was caught in their pit.
1 tn Or “held a great feast.”
2 tn Heb “they went back.”
3 tn Heb “and they buried him.”
4 tn Heb “entered.”
5 tc The MT reading בָּא שָׁנָה (ba’ shanah), “it came, year,” should probably be emended to בְּבָּא הַשָּׁנָה (bÿba’ hashanah), “at the coming [i.e., ‘beginning’] of the year.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 148.
6 tn Heb “and it so happened [that] they.”
7 tn Heb “and look, they saw.”
8 tn Heb “the man”; the adjective “dead” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Heb “the man.”
10 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the dead man) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Otherwise the reader might think it was Elisha rather than the unnamed dead man who came back to life.
11 tn Heb “from the end of the earth.”
12 tn Some translations understand this to mean “like an eagle swoops down” (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), comparing the swift attack of an eagle to the attack of the Israelites’ enemies.
13 tn Heb “come upon you and overtake you” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “come upon you and accompany you.”
14 tn Heb “smash the sinews [or “loins,” so many English versions].” This part of the body was considered to be center of one’s strength (cf. Job 40:16; Ps 69:24; Prov 31:17; Nah 2:2, 11). See J. H. Tigay, Deuteronomy (JPSTC), 325.
15 sn The name may have been given to the tribes that roamed between the Euphrates and the lands east of the Jordan. These are possibly the nomadic Kaldu who are part of the ethnic Aramaeans. The LXX simply has “horsemen.”
16 tn The verb פָּשַׁט (pashat) means “to hurl themselves” upon something (see Judg 9:33, 41). It was a quick, plundering raid to carry off the camels.
17 tn Heb “with the edge/mouth of the sword.”
18 tn Heb “days” (so KJV, NAB); NASB, NRSV “such days.”
19 sn Initially the prophecy appears to be a message of salvation. Immanuel seems to have a positive ring to it, sour milk and honey elsewhere symbolize prosperity and blessing (see Deut 32:13-14; Job 20:17), verse 16 announces the defeat of Judah’s enemies, and verse 17a could be taken as predicting a return to the glorious days of David and Solomon. However, the message turns sour in verses 17b-25. God will be with his people in judgment, as well as salvation. The curds and honey will be signs of deprivation, not prosperity, the relief announced in verse 16 will be short-lived, and the new era will be characterized by unprecedented humiliation, not a return to glory. Because of Ahaz’s refusal to trust the Lord, potential blessing would be transformed into a curse, just as Isaiah turns an apparent prophecy of salvation into a message of judgment. Because the words “the king of Assyria” are rather awkwardly tacked on to the end of the sentence, some regard them as a later addition. However, the very awkwardness facilitates the prophet’s rhetorical strategy here, as he suddenly turns what sounds like a positive message into a judgment speech. Actually, “the king of Assyria,” stands in apposition to the earlier object “days,” and specifies who the main character of these coming “days” will be.
20 tn Heb “from the end of the sky.”
21 tn Or “anger”; cf. KJV, ASV “the weapons of his indignation.”
22 tn Or perhaps, “land” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NLT). Even though the heading and subsequent context (see v. 17) indicate Babylon’s judgment is in view, the chapter has a cosmic flavor that suggests that the coming judgment is universal in scope. Perhaps Babylon’s downfall occurs in conjunction with a wider judgment, or the cosmic style is poetic hyperbole used to emphasize the magnitude and importance of the coming event.
23 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
24 tn Heb “Chaldean.” For explanation see the study note on 21:4.