46:7 “Who is this that rises like the Nile,
like its streams 7 turbulent at flood stage?
8:8 Because of this the earth 8 will quake, 9
and all who live in it will mourn.
The whole earth 10 will rise like the River Nile, 11
it will surge upward 12 and then grow calm, 13 like the Nile in Egypt. 14
9:5 The sovereign Lord who commands armies will do this. 15
He touches the earth and it dissolves; 16
all who live on it mourn.
The whole earth 17 rises like the River Nile, 18
and then grows calm 19 like the Nile in Egypt. 20
1:8 But with an overwhelming flood 21
he will make a complete end of Nineveh; 22
he will drive 23 his enemies into darkness.
1 sn The sons of Seleucus II Callinicus were Seleucus III Ceraunus (ca. 227-223
2 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the enemy of the king of the north) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “and he will certainly come and overflow and cross over and return and be aroused unto a fortress.” The translation has attempted to simplify the syntax of this difficult sequence.
4 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
5 tn Heb “the mighty and abundant waters of the river.” The referent of “the river” here, the Euphrates River, has been specified in the translation for clarity. As the immediately following words indicate, these waters symbolize the Assyrian king and his armies which will, as it were, inundate the land.
6 tn Heb “it will go up over all its stream beds and go over all its banks.”
7 tn The word translated “streams” here refers to the streams of the Nile (cf. Exod 7:19; 8:1) for parallel usage.
8 tn Or “land” (also later in this verse).
9 tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the
10 tn Heb “all of it.”
11 tc The MT reads “like the light” (כָאֹר, kha’or; note this term also appears in v. 9), which is commonly understood to be an error for “like the Nile” (כִּיאוֹר, ki’or). See the parallel line and Amos 9:5. The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity. If this emendation is correct, in the Hebrew of Amos “Nile” is actually spelled three slightly different ways.
12 tn Or “churn.”
13 tn Or “sink back down.” The translation assumes the verb שָׁקַע (shaqa’), following the Qere.
14 tn The entire verse is phrased in a series of rhetorical questions which anticipate the answer, “Of course!” (For example, the first line reads, “Because of this will the earth not quake?”). The rhetorical questions entrap the listener in the logic of the judgment of God (cf. 3:3-6; 9:7). The rhetorical questions have been converted to affirmative statements in the translation for clarity.
15 tn The words “will do this” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
16 tn Or “melts.” The verb probably depicts earthquakes and landslides. See v. 5b.
17 tn Heb “all of it.”
18 tn Heb “the Nile.” The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
19 tn Or “sinks back down.”
20 sn See Amos 8:8, which is very similar to this verse.
21 tn Some scholars connect “in an overwhelming flood” (וּבְשֶׁטֶף עֹבֵר, uvÿshetef ’over) with the preceding line: “he protects those who trust him in an overwhelming flood.” However, others connect it with the following line: “But with an overwhelming flood he will make a complete end of its [Nineveh’s] site.” D. T. Tsumura (“Janus Parallelism in Nah 1:8,” JBL 102 [1983]: 109-11) suggests that it does double duty and should be read with both lines: “he knows those who trust him in an overwhelming flood, / but with an overwhelming flood he will make a complete end of its [Nineveh’s] site.” Connecting it with the preceding line creates a tight parallelism and a balanced 5+5 metrical count. Connecting it with the following line harmonizes with Nah 2:9 [8], which describes the walls of Nineveh being destroyed by flood waters, and with historical evidence (Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, 2.27.1-3; Xenophon, Anabasis, 3.4.12) and modern archaeological evidence (A. T. Olmstead, History of Assyria, 637). This might be an example of intentional ambiguity: God will protect his people from the very calamity that he will use to destroy his enemies.
22 tc Heb “her place.” Alternately, some ancient versions read “his adversaries.” The MT reads מְקוֹמָהּ (mÿqomah, “her place”). This is supported by the Dead Sea Scrolls (מקומה, “her place,” found in 4QpNah) and Symmachus (τῆς τόποῦ αὐτοῦ, th" topou autou, “her place”). The reading of the LXX (τούς ἐπεγειρουμένους, tou" epegeiroumenou", “those who rise up [against Him]”) and Aquila (ἀντισταμενω¡ν, antistamenw>n, “adversaries”) reflect מְקּוֹמיהוּ or מְקִימיהוּ or מְקִּמָיו (“his adversaries”), also reflected in the Vulgate and Targum. Some scholars suggest emending the MT in the light of the LXX to create a tight parallelism between “his adversaries” (מקומיו) and “his enemies” (וְאֹיְבָיו, vÿ’oyÿvayv) which is a parallel word pair elsewhere (Deut 28:7; 2 Sam 22:40-41, 49; Mic 7:6; Ps 59:2). Likewise, Tsumura suggests emending the MT because the text, as it stands, does not have a clear parallel word for “his enemies” (וְאֹיְבָיו) – emending the MT’s מְקוֹמָהּ (“her place”) to מקומיו (“his adversaries”) would result in a parallel word (D. T. Tsumura, “Janus Parallelism in Nah 1:8,” JBL 102 [1983]: 109-11). The BHS editors propose emending the MT in favor of the Greek tradition. The English versions reflect both textual traditions – several follow the MT with “her place” and “its site” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NKJV, NJPS), while others adopt the LXX reading and emend the Hebrew, resulting in “his adversaries” (NRSV) or “those who defy him” (NJB). The MT makes sense as it stands, but the proposed emendation is attractive and involves only the common confusion between ה and יו.
23 tc The BHS editors propose emending the Masoretic reading יְרַדֶּף (yÿraddef, Piel imperfect of רָדַּף [raddaf], “to chase”) to יֶהְדֹּף (yekhdof, Qal imperfect of הָדַף [hadaf], “to thrust away, drive away”). Although הָדַף is used with חֹשֶׁךְ (khoshekh, “darkness”) in Job 18:18 (“he is driven from light into darkness”), the MT makes good sense as it stands, and is supported by the versions. The conjectural emendation has no support and is unnecessary.