31:9 I made it beautiful with its many branches;
all the trees of Eden, in the garden of God, envied it.
14:8 The evergreens also rejoice over your demise, 1
as do the cedars of Lebanon, singing, 2
‘Since you fell asleep, 3
no woodsman comes up to chop us down!’ 4
2:17 For you will pay in full for your violent acts against Lebanon; 5
terrifying judgment will come upon you because of the way you destroyed the wild animals living there. 6
You have shed human blood
and committed violent acts against lands, cities, and those who live in them.
1 tn Heb “concerning you.”
2 tn The word “singing” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. Note that the personified trees speak in the second half of the verse.
3 tn Heb “lay down” (in death); cf. NAB “laid to rest.”
4 tn Heb “the [wood]cutter does not come up against us.”
5 tn Heb “for the violence against Lebanon will cover you.”
6 tc The Hebrew appears to read literally, “and the violence against the animals [which] he terrified.” The verb form יְחִיתַן (yÿkhitan) appears to be a Hiphil imperfect third masculine singular with third feminine plural suffix (the antecedent being the animals) from חָתַת (khatat, “be terrified”). The translation above follows the LXX and assumes a reading יְחִתֶּךָ (yÿkhittekha, “[the violence against the animals] will terrify you”; cf. NRSV “the destruction of the animals will terrify you”; NIV “and your destruction of animals will terrify you”). In this case the verb is a Hiphil imperfect third masculine singular with second masculine singular suffix (the antecedent being Babylon). This provides better symmetry with the preceding line, where Babylon’s violence is the subject of the verb “cover.”