5:19 Disaster will be inescapable, 1
as if a man ran from a lion only to meet a bear,
then escaped 2 into a house,
leaned his hand against the wall,
and was bitten by a poisonous snake.
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 3 at the bottom of the sea,
from there 4 I would command the Sea Serpent 5 to bite them.
1 tn The words “Disaster will be inescapable” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
2 tn Heb “went” (so KJV, NRSV).
3 tn Heb “from before my eyes.”
4 tn Or perhaps simply, “there,” if the מ (mem) prefixed to the adverb is dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem).
5 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