12:26 1 So Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal city.
49:2 Because you did that,
I, the Lord, affirm that 2 a time is coming
when I will make Rabbah, the capital city of Ammon,
hear the sound of the battle cry.
It will become a mound covered with ruins. 3
Its villages will be burned to the ground. 4
Then Israel will take back its land
from those who took their land from them.
I, the Lord, affirm it! 5
1:14 So I will set fire to Rabbah’s 7 city wall; 8
fire 9 will consume her fortresses.
War cries will be heard on the day of battle; 10
a strong gale will blow on the day of the windstorm. 11
1 sn Here the narrative resumes the battle story that began in 11:1 (see 11:25). The author has interrupted that story to give the related account of David’s sin with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. He now returns to the earlier story and brings it to a conclusion.
2 tn Heb “oracle of the
3 tn Heb “a desolate tel.” For the explanation of what a “tel” is see the study note on 30:18.
4 tn Heb “Its daughters will be burned with fire.” For the use of the word “daughters” to refer to the villages surrounding a larger city see BDB 123 s.v. I בַּת 4 and compare the usage in Judg 1:27.
5 tn Heb “says the
6 tc The MT reads “Judah in fortified Jerusalem,” a geographic impossibility. The translation follows the LXX, which assumes בְּתוֹכָהּ (bÿtokhah, “in it”) for בְּצוּרָה (bÿtsurah, “fortified”).
7 sn Rabbah was the Ammonite capital.
8 sn The city wall symbolizes the city’s defenses and security.
9 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 tn Heb “with a war cry in the day of battle.”
11 tn Heb “with wind in the day of the windstorm.”