28:18 Your treaty with death will be dissolved; 4
your agreement 5 with Sheol will not last. 6
When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by, 7
you will be overrun by it. 8
28:15 For you say,
“We have made a treaty with death,
with Sheol 9 we have made an agreement. 10
When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by 11
it will not reach us.
For we have made a lie our refuge,
we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.” 12
1 tn Heb “him” (so KJV, ASV, NASB); the singular refers to the leader or king who stands for the entire nation. This is specified by NCV, CEV as “the Assyrians.”
2 sn According to Judg 7:25, the Ephraimites executed the Midianite general Oreb at a rock which was subsequently named after the executed enemy.
3 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and his staff [will be] against the sea, and he will lift it in the way [or “manner”] of Egypt.” If the text is retained, “the sea” symbolizes Assyria’s hostility, the metaphor being introduced because of the reference to Egypt. The translation above assumes an emendation of עַל הַיָּם (’al hayyam, “against the sea”) to עַלֵיהֶם (’alehem, “against them”). The proposed shift from the third singular pronoun (note “beat him” earlier in the verse) to the plural is not problematic, for the singular is collective. Note that a third plural pronoun is used at the end of v. 25 (“their destruction”). The final phrase, “in the way/manner of Egypt,” probably refers to the way in which God used the staff of Moses to bring judgment down on Egypt.
4 tn On the meaning of כָּפַר (kafar) in this context, see HALOT 494 s.v. I כפר and J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:515, n. 9.
5 tn Normally the noun חָזוּת (khazut) means “vision.” See the note at v. 15.
6 tn Or “will not stand” (NIV, NRSV).
7 tn See the note at v. 15.
8 tn Heb “you will become a trampling place for it.”
7 sn Sheol is the underworld, land of the dead, according to the OT world view.
8 tn Elsewhere the noun חֹזֶה (khozeh) refers to a prophet who sees visions. In v. 18 the related term חָזוּת (khazut, “vision”) is used. The parallelism in both verses (note “treaty”) seems to demand a meaning “agreement” for both nouns. Perhaps חֹזֶה and חזוּת are used in a metonymic sense in vv. 15 and 18. Another option is to propose a homonymic root. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:514, and HALOT 301 s.v. II חֹזֶה.
9 tn Heb “the overwhelming scourge, when it passes by” (NRSV similar).
10 sn “Lie” and “deceitful word” would not be the terms used by the people. They would likely use the words “promise” and “reliable word,” but the prophet substitutes “lie” and “deceitful word” to emphasize that this treaty with death will really prove to be disappointing.