14:12 Look how you have fallen from the sky,
O shining one, son of the dawn! 1
You have been cut down to the ground,
O conqueror 2 of the nations! 3
30:2 They travel down to Egypt
without seeking my will, 4
seeking Pharaoh’s protection,
and looking for safety in Egypt’s protective shade. 5
46:1 Bel 6 kneels down,
Nebo 7 bends low.
Their images weigh down animals and beasts. 8
Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals. 9
1 tn The Hebrew text has הֵילֵל בֶּן־שָׁחַר (helel ben-shakhar, “Helel son of Shachar”), which is probably a name for the morning star (Venus) or the crescent moon. See HALOT 245 s.v. הֵילֵל.
2 tn Some understand the verb to from חָלַשׁ (khalash, “to weaken”), but HALOT 324 s.v. II חלשׁ proposes a homonym here, meaning “to defeat.”
3 sn In this line the taunting kings hint at the literal identity of the king, after likening him to the god Helel and a tree. The verb גָדַע (gada’, “cut down”) is used of chopping down trees in 9:10 and 10:33.
4 tn Heb “those who go to descend to Egypt, but [of] my mouth they do not inquire.”
5 tn Heb “to seek protection in the protection of Pharaoh, and to seek refuge in the shade of Egypt.”
7 sn Bel was the name of a Babylonian god. The name was originally associated with Enlil, but later was applied to Marduk. See HALOT 132 s.v. בֵּל.
8 sn Nebo is a variation of the name of the Babylonian god Nabu.
9 tn Heb “their images belong to animals and beasts”; NIV “their idols are borne by beasts of burden”; NLT “are being hauled away.”
10 tn Heb “your loads are carried [as] a burden by a weary [animal].”