41:8 In the morning he 7 was troubled, so he called for 8 all the diviner-priests 9 of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, 10 but no one could interpret 11 them for him. 12
44:25 who frustrates the omens of the empty talkers 13
and humiliates 14 the omen readers,
who overturns the counsel of the wise men 15
and makes their advice 16 seem foolish,
44:26 who fulfills the oracles of his prophetic servants 17
and brings to pass the announcements 18 of his messengers,
who says about Jerusalem, 19 ‘She will be inhabited,’
and about the towns of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt,
her ruins I will raise up,’
47:13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice. 20
Let them take their stand –
the ones who see omens in the sky,
who gaze at the stars,
who make monthly predictions –
let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! 21
1 tn Heb “said.” So also in v. 12.
2 tn Heb “Chaldeans.” The term Chaldeans (Hebrew כַּשְׂדִּים, kasdim) is used in the book of Daniel both in an ethnic sense and, as here, to refer to a caste of Babylonian wise men and astrologers.
3 tn Heb “to explain to the king his dreams.”
4 tn Heb “stood before the king.”
5 tn Aram “from me there was placed a decree.”
6 tn The Aramaic infinitive here is active.
7 tn Heb “his spirit.”
8 tn Heb “he sent and called,” which indicates an official summons.
9 tn The Hebrew term חַרְטֹם (khartom) is an Egyptian loanword (hyr-tp) that describes a class of priests who were skilled in such interpretations.
10 tn The Hebrew text has the singular (though the Samaritan Pentateuch reads the plural). If retained, the singular must be collective for the set of dreams. Note the plural pronoun “them,” referring to the dreams, in the next clause. However, note that in v. 15 Pharaoh uses the singular to refer to the two dreams. In vv. 17-24 Pharaoh seems to treat the dreams as two parts of one dream (see especially v. 22).
11 tn “there was no interpreter.”
12 tn Heb “for Pharaoh.” The pronoun “him” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
13 tc The Hebrew text has בַּדִּים (baddim), perhaps meaning “empty talkers” (BDB 95 s.v. III בַּד). In the four other occurrences of this word (Job 11:3; Isa 16:6; Jer 48:30; 50:36) the context does not make the meaning of the term very clear. Its primary point appears to be that the words spoken are meaningless or false. In light of its parallelism with “omen readers,” some have proposed an emendation to בָּרִים (barim, “seers”). The Mesopotamian baru-priests were divination specialists who played an important role in court life. See R. Wilson, Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel, 93-98. Rather than supporting an emendation, J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:189, n. 79) suggests that Isaiah used בַּדִּים purposively as a derisive wordplay on the Akkadian word baru (in light of the close similarity of the d and r consonants).
14 tn Or “makes fools of” (NIV, NRSV); NAB and NASB both similar.
15 tn Heb “who turns back the wise” (so NRSV); NIV “overthrows the learning of the wise”; TEV “The words of the wise I refute.”
16 tn Heb “their knowledge” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).
17 tn Heb “the word of his servant.” The following context indicates that the Lord’s prophets are in view.
18 tn Heb “counsel.” The Hebrew term עֵצָה (’etsah) probably refers here to the divine plan as announced by the prophets. See HALOT 867 s.v. I עֵצָה.
19 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
20 tn Heb “you are tired because of the abundance of your advice.”
21 tn Heb “let them stand and rescue you – the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make known by months – from those things which are coming upon you.”