40:31 But those who wait for the Lord’s help 6 find renewed strength;
they rise up as if they had eagles’ wings, 7
they run without growing weary,
they walk without getting tired.
1:10 Their faces had this appearance: Each of the four had the face of a man, with the face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left and also the face of an eagle. 9
7:4 “The first one was like a lion with eagles’ wings. As I watched, its wings were pulled off and it was lifted up from the ground. It was made to stand on two feet like a human being, and a human mind 12 was given to it. 13
1:4 Even if you were to soar high like an eagle, 14
even if you 15 were to make your nest among the stars,
I can bring you down even from there!” says the Lord.
1 tn Heb “from the end of the earth.”
2 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.
3 tn Heb “come upon you and overtake you” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “come upon you and accompany you.”
4 tn Heb “the thing was good in my eyes.”
5 tn Or “selected” (so NIV, NRSV, TEV); Heb “took.”
6 tn The words “for the Lord’s help” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
7 tn Heb “they rise up [on] wings like eagles” (TEV similar).
8 tc The MT reads “his hand” while many Hebrew
9 tc The MT has an additional word at the beginning of v. 11, וּפְנֵיהֶם (ufÿnehem, “and their faces”), which is missing from the LXX. As the rest of the verse only applies to wings, “their faces” would have to somehow be understood in the previous clause. But this would be very awkward and is doubly problematic since “their faces” are already introduced as the topic at the beginning of v. 10. The Hebrew scribe appears to have copied the phrase “and their faces and their wings” from v. 8, where it introduces the content of 9-11. Only “and (as for) their wings” belongs here.
10 tn Heb “each one”; the referent (the cherubim) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 sn The living creature described here is thus slightly different from the one described in Ezek 1:10, where a bull’s face appeared instead of a cherub’s. Note that some English versions harmonize the two descriptions and read the same here as in 1:10 (cf. NAB, NLT “an ox”; TEV, CEV “a bull”). This may be justified based on v. 22, which states the creatures’ appearance was the same.
12 tn Aram “heart of a man.”
13 sn The identity of the first animal, derived from v. 17 and the parallels in chap. 2, is Babylon. The reference to the plucking of its wings is probably a reference to the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s insanity (cf. chap. 4). The latter part of v. 4 then describes the restoration of Nebuchadnezzar. The other animals have traditionally been understood to represent respectively Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome, although most of modern scholarship identifies them as Media, Persia, and Greece. For a biblical parallel to the mention of lion, bear, and leopard together, see Hos 13:7-8.
14 sn The eagle was often used in the ancient Near East as a symbol of strength and swiftness.
15 tc The present translation follows the reading תָּשִׂים (tasim; active) rather than שִׁים (sim; passive) of the MT (“and your nest be set among the stars,” NAB). Cf. LXX, Syriac, Vg.