10:6 I sent him 1 against a godless 2 nation,
I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, 3
to take plunder and to carry away loot,
to trample them down 4 like dirt in the streets.
25:10 For the Lord’s power will make this mountain secure. 5
Moab will be trampled down where it stands, 6
as a heap of straw is trampled down in 7 a manure pile.
28:3 The splendid crown of Ephraim’s drunkards
will be trampled underfoot.
28:18 Your treaty with death will be dissolved; 8
your agreement 9 with Sheol will not last. 10
When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by, 11
you will be overrun by it. 12
ס (Samek)
1:15 He rounded up 13 all my mighty ones; 14
The Lord 15 did this 16 in 17 my midst.
He summoned an assembly 18 against me
to shatter my young men.
The Lord has stomped like grapes 19
the virgin daughter, Judah. 20
8:13 Then I heard a holy one 21 speaking. Another holy one said to the one who was speaking, “To what period of time does the vision pertain – this vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the destructive act of rebellion and the giving over of both the sanctuary and army to be trampled?”
1 sn Throughout this section singular forms are used to refer to Assyria; perhaps the king of Assyria is in view (see v. 12).
2 tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “impious”; NCV “separated from God.”
3 tn Heb “and against the people of my anger I ordered him.”
4 tn Heb “to make it [i.e., the people] a trampled place.”
5 tn Heb “for the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain”; TEV “will protect Mount Zion”; NCV “will protect (rest on NLT) Jerusalem.”
6 tn Heb “under him,” i.e., “in his place.”
7 tc The marginal reading (Qere) is בְּמוֹ (bÿmo, “in”). The consonantal text (Kethib) has בְּמִי (bÿmi, “in the water of”).
8 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.
9 tn Normally the noun חָזוּת (khazut) means “vision.” See the note at v. 15.
10 tn Or “will not stand” (NIV, NRSV).
11 tn See the note at v. 15.
12 tn Heb “you will become a trampling place for it.”
13 tn The verb סָלַה (salah) occurs only twice in OT; once in Qal (Ps 119:118) and once here in Piel. It is possibly a by-form of סָלַל (salal, “to heap up”). It may also be related to Aramaic סלא (sl’) meaning “to throw away” and Assyrian salu/shalu meaning “to hurl (away)” (AHw 1152) or “to kick up dust, shoot (arrows), reject, throw away?” (CAD 17:272). With people as its object shalu is used of people casting away their children, specifically meaning selling them on the market. The LXX translates סָלַה (salah) as ἐξῆρεν (exhren, “to remove, lead away”). Thus God is either (1) heaping them up (dead) in the city square, (2) putting them up for sale in the city square, or (3) leading them out of the city (into exile or to deprive it of defenders prior to attack). The English “round up” could accommodate any of these and is also a cattle term, which fits well with the use of the word “bulls” (see following note).
14 tn Heb “bulls.” Metaphorically, bulls may refer to mighty ones, leaders or warriors. F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp (Lamentations [IBC], 69) insightfully suggests that the Samek stanza presents an overarching dissonance by using terms associated with a celebratory feast (bulls, assembly, and a winepress) in sentences where God is abusing the normally expected celebrants, i.e. the “leaders” are the sacrifice.
15 tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the
16 tn The verb is elided and understood from the preceding colon. Naming “my Lord” as the subject of the verb late, as it were, emphasizes the irony of the action taken by a person in this position.
17 tc The MT reads the preposition בּ (bet, “in”) prefixed to קִרְבִּי (qirbi, “my midst”): בְּקִרְבִּי (bÿkirbi, “in my midst”); however, the LXX reads ἐκ μέσου μου (ek mesou mou) which may reflect a Vorlage of the preposition מִן (min, “from”): מִקִּרְבִּי (miqqirbi, “from my midst”). The LXX may have chosen ἐκ to accommodate understanding סִלָּה (sillah) as ἐξῆρεν (exhren, “to remove, lead away”). The textual deviation may have been caused by an unusual orthographic confusion.
18 tn Heb “an assembly.” The noun מוֹעֵד (mo’ed, “assembly”) is normally used in reference to the annual religious festive assemblies of Israel (Ezek 45:17; Hos 9:5; Zeph 3:18; Zech 8:19), though a number of English versions take this “assembly” to refer to the invading army which attacks the city (e.g., NAB, NIV, TEV, NLT).
19 tn Heb “a winepress he has stomped.” The noun גַּת (gat, “winepress”) functions as an adverbial accusative of location: “in a winepress.” The translation reflects the synecdoche that is involved – one stomps the grapes that are in the winepress, not the winepress itself.
20 sn The expression the virgin daughter, Judah is used as an epithet, i.e. Virgin Judah or Maiden Judah, further reinforcing the feminine anthrpomorphism.
21 sn The holy one referred to here is presumably an angel. Cf. 4:13[10], 23 [20].
22 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
23 tn Grk “by the mouth of the sword” (an idiom for the edge of a sword).
24 sn Here is the predicted judgment against the nation until the time of Gentile rule has passed: Its people will be led away as captives.
25 tn Grk “And Jerusalem.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
26 sn Until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled implies a time when Israel again has a central role in God’s plan.
27 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
28 tn On the term αὐλήν (aulhn) BDAG 150 s.v. αὐλή 1 states, “(outer) court of the temple…Rv 11:2.”
29 tn The precise meaning of the phrase ἔκβαλε ἔξωθεν (ekbale exwqen) is difficult to determine.
30 tn Or “to the nations” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).
31 sn The holy city appears to be a reference to Jerusalem. See also Luke 21:24.