32:15 Moses turned and went down from the mountain with 11 the two tablets of the testimony in his hands. The tablets were written on both sides – they were written on the front and on the back.
15:25 for he stretches out his hand against God, 12
and vaunts himself 13 against the Almighty,
15:26 defiantly charging against him 14
with a thick, strong shield! 15
10:15 Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it,
or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? 16
As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it,
or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!
37:23 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?
At whom have you shouted
and looked so arrogantly? 17
At the Holy One of Israel! 18
37:24 Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, 19
‘With my many chariots I climbed up
the high mountains,
the slopes of Lebanon.
I cut down its tall cedars
and its best evergreens.
I invaded its most remote regions, 20
its thickest woods.
37:25 I dug wells
and drank water. 21
With the soles of my feet I dried up
all the rivers of Egypt.’
37:26 22 Certainly you must have heard! 23
Long ago I worked it out,
in ancient times I planned 24 it,
and now I am bringing it to pass.
The plan is this:
Fortified cities will crash
into heaps of ruins. 25
37:27 Their residents are powerless; 26
they are terrified and ashamed.
They are as short-lived as plants in the field
or green vegetation. 27
They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops 28
when it is scorched by the east wind. 29
37:28 I know where you live
and everything you do
and how you rage against me. 30
37:29 Because you rage against me
and the uproar you create has reached my ears, 31
I will put my hook in your nose, 32
and my bridle between your lips,
and I will lead you back
the way you came.”
1 tn Heb “Yahweh.” This is a rhetorical question, expressing doubt or indignation or simply a negative thought that Yahweh is nothing (see erotesis in E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 944-45). Pharaoh is not asking for information (cf. 1 Sam 25:5-10).
2 tn The relative pronoun introduces the consecutive clause that depends on the interrogative clause (see GKC 318-19 §107.u).
3 tn The imperfect tense here receives the classification of obligatory imperfect. The verb שָׁמַע (shama’) followed by “in the voice of” is idiomatic; rather than referring to simple audition – “that I should hear his voice” – it conveys the thought of listening that issues in action – “that I should obey him.”
4 tn The Piel infinitive construct here has the epexegetical usage with lamed (ל); it explains the verb “obey.”
5 sn This absolute statement of Pharaoh is part of a motif that will develop throughout the conflict. For Pharaoh, the
6 tn Heb “Yahweh.” This is a rhetorical question, expressing doubt or indignation or simply a negative thought that Yahweh is nothing (see erotesis in E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 944-45). Pharaoh is not asking for information (cf. 1 Sam 25:5-10).
7 tn The relative pronoun introduces the consecutive clause that depends on the interrogative clause (see GKC 318-19 §107.u).
8 tn The imperfect tense here receives the classification of obligatory imperfect. The verb שָׁמַע (shama’) followed by “in the voice of” is idiomatic; rather than referring to simple audition – “that I should hear his voice” – it conveys the thought of listening that issues in action – “that I should obey him.”
9 tn The Piel infinitive construct here has the epexegetical usage with lamed (ל); it explains the verb “obey.”
10 sn This absolute statement of Pharaoh is part of a motif that will develop throughout the conflict. For Pharaoh, the
11 tn The disjunctive vav (ו) serves here as a circumstantial clause indicator.
12 sn The symbol of the outstretched hand is the picture of attempting to strike someone, or shaking a fist at someone; it is a symbol of a challenge or threat (see Isa 5:25; 9:21; 10:4).
13 tn The Hitpael of גָּבַר (gavar) means “to act with might” or “to behave like a hero.” The idea is that the wicked boldly vaunts himself before the
14 tn Heb “he runs against [or upon] him with the neck.” The RSV takes this to mean “with a stiff neck.” Several commentators, influenced by the LXX’s “insolently,” have attempted to harmonize with some idiom for neck (“outstretched neck,” for example). Others have made more extensive changes. Pope and Anderson follow Tur-Sinai in accepting “with full battle armor.” But the main idea seems to be that of a headlong assault on God.
15 tn Heb “with the thickness of the bosses of his shield.” The bosses are the convex sides of the bucklers, turned against the foe. This is a defiant attack on God.
16 tn Heb “the one who pushes it back and forth”; KJV “him that shaketh it”; ASV “him that wieldeth it.”
17 tn Heb “and lifted your eyes on high?” Cf. NIV “lifted your eyes in pride”; NRSV “haughtily lifted your eyes.”
18 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
19 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
20 tn Heb “the height of its extremity”; ASV “its farthest height.”
21 tc The Hebrew text has simply, “I dug and drank water.” But the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:24 has “foreign waters.” זָרִים (zarim, “foreign”) may have accidentally dropped out of the Isaianic text by homoioteleuton (cf. NCV, NIV, NLT). Note that the preceding word, מַיִם (mayim, “water) also ends in mem (ם). The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has “foreign waters” for this line. However, in several other passages the 1QIsaa scroll harmonizes with 2 Kgs 19 against the MT (Isa 36:5; 37:9, 20). Since the addition of “foreign” to this text in Isaiah by a later scribe would be more likely than its deletion, the MT reading should be accepted.
22 tn Having quoted the Assyrian king’s arrogant words in vv. 23-24, the Lord now speaks to the king.
23 tn Heb “Have you not heard?” The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s amazement that anyone might be ignorant of what he is about to say.
24 tn Heb “formed” (so KJV, ASV).
25 tn Heb “and it is to cause to crash into heaps of ruins fortified cities.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb תְהִי (tÿhi) is the implied plan, referred to in the preceding lines with third feminine singular pronominal suffixes.
26 tn Heb “short of hand”; KJV, ASV “of small power”; NASB “short of strength.”
27 tn Heb “they are plants in the field and green vegetation.” The metaphor emphasizes how short-lived these seemingly powerful cities really were. See Ps 90:5-6; Isa 40:6-8, 24.
28 tn Heb “[they are] grass on the rooftops.” See the preceding note.
29 tc The Hebrew text has “scorched before the standing grain” (perhaps meaning “before it reaches maturity”), but it is preferable to emend קָמָה (qamah, “standing grain”) to קָדִים (qadim, “east wind”) with the support of 1Q Isaa; cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:657, n. 8.
30 tc Heb “your going out and your coming in and how you have raged against me.” Several scholars have suggested that this line is probably dittographic (note the beginning of the next line). However, most English translations include the statement in question at the end of v. 28 and the beginning of v. 29. Interestingly, the LXX does not have this clause at the end of v. 28 and the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa does not have it at the beginning of v. 29. In light of this ambiguous manuscript evidence, it appears best to retain the clause in both verses.
31 tc Heb “and your complacency comes up into my ears.” The parallelism is improved if שַׁאֲנַנְךָ (sha’anankha, “your complacency”) is emended to שְׁאוֹנְךָ (shÿ’onÿkha, “your uproar”). See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 237-38. However, the LXX seems to support the MT and Sennacherib’s cavalier dismissal of Yahweh depicts an arrogant complacency (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:658, n. 10).
32 sn The word-picture has a parallel in Assyrian sculpture. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 238.