“Look how the oppressor has met his end!
Hostility 2 has ceased!
33:1 The destroyer is as good as dead, 3
you who have not been destroyed!
The deceitful one is as good as dead, 4
the one whom others have not deceived!
When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed;
when you finish 5 deceiving, others will deceive you!
51:13 Why do you forget 6 the Lord, who made you,
who stretched out the sky 7
and founded the earth?
Why do you constantly tremble all day long 8
at the anger of the oppressor,
when he makes plans to destroy?
Where is the anger of the oppressor? 9
48:8 The destroyer will come against every town.
Not one town will escape.
The towns in the valley will be destroyed.
The cities on the high plain will be laid waste. 10
I, the Lord, have spoken! 11
48:18 Come down from your place of honor;
sit on the dry ground, 12 you who live in Dibon. 13
For the one who will destroy Moab will attack you;
he will destroy your fortifications.
1 tn Heb “you will lift up this taunt over the king of Babylon, saying.”
2 tc The word in the Hebrew text (מַדְהֵבָה, madhevah) is unattested elsewhere and of uncertain meaning. Many (following the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa) assume a dalet-resh (ד-ר) confusion and emend the form to מַרְהֵבָה (marhevah, “onslaught”). See HALOT 548 s.v. II *מִדָּה and HALOT 633 s.v. *מַרְהֵבָה.
3 tn Heb “Woe [to] the destroyer.”
4 tn Heb “and the deceitful one”; NAB, NIV “O traitor”; NRSV “you treacherous one.” In the parallel structure הוֹי (hoy, “woe [to]”) does double duty.
5 tc The form in the Hebrew text appears to derive from an otherwise unattested verb נָלָה (nalah). The translation follows the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa in reading ככלתך, a Piel infinitival form from the verbal root כָּלָה (kalah), meaning “finish.”
6 tn Heb “and that you forget.”
7 tn Or “the heavens” (also in v. 16). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
8 tn Heb “and that you tremble constantly all the day.”
9 tn The question anticipates the answer, “Ready to disappear!” See v. 14.
10 tn Heb “The valley will be destroyed and the tableland be laid waste.” However, in the context this surely refers to the towns and not to the valley and the tableland itself.
11 tn Heb “which/for/as the
12 tn Heb “sit in thirst.” The abstract “thirst” is put for the concrete, i.e., thirsty or parched ground (cf. Deut 8:19; Isa 35:7; Ps 107:33) for the concrete. There is no need to emend to “filth” (צֹאָה [tso’ah] for צָמָא [tsama’]) as is sometimes suggested.
13 tn Heb “inhabitant of Daughter Dibon.” “Daughter” is used here as often in Jeremiah for the personification of a city, a country, or its inhabitants. The word “inhabitant” is to be understood as a collective as also in v. 19.
14 tn Heb “house” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).
15 tn Though a hapax legomenon, the מִצָּבָה (mitsavah) of the MT (from נָצַב, natsav, “take a stand”) is preferable to the suggestion מַצֵּבָה (matsevah, “pillar”) or even מִצָּבָא (mitsava’, “from” or “against the army”). The context favors the idea of the