14:9 Sheol 1 below is stirred up about you,
ready to meet you when you arrive.
It rouses 2 the spirits of the dead for you,
all the former leaders of the earth; 3
it makes all the former kings of the nations
rise from their thrones. 4
14:10 All of them respond to you, saying:
‘You too have become weak like us!
You have become just like us!
14:11 Your splendor 5 has been brought down to Sheol,
as well as the sound of your stringed instruments. 6
You lie on a bed of maggots,
with a blanket of worms over you. 7
14:12 Look how you have fallen from the sky,
O shining one, son of the dawn! 8
You have been cut down to the ground,
O conqueror 9 of the nations! 10
38:10 “I thought, 11
‘In the middle of my life 12 I must walk through the gates of Sheol,
I am deprived 13 of the rest of my years.’
38:11 “I thought,
‘I will no longer see the Lord 14 in the land of the living,
I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world. 15
38:12 My dwelling place 16 is removed and taken away 17 from me
like a shepherd’s tent.
I rolled up my life like a weaver rolls cloth; 18
from the loom he cuts me off. 19
You turn day into night and end my life. 20
32:22 “Assyria is there with all her assembly around her grave, 27 all of them struck down by the sword. 28 32:23 Their 29 graves are located in the remote slopes of the pit. 30 Her assembly is around her grave, all of them struck down by the sword, those who spread terror in the land of the living.
32:24 “Elam is there with all her hordes around her grave; all of them struck down by the sword. They went down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, those who spread terror in the land of the living. Now they will bear their shame with those who descend to the pit. 32:25 Among the dead they have made a bed for her, along with all her hordes around her grave. 31 All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for their terror had spread in the land of the living. They bear their shame along with those who descend to the pit; they are placed among the dead.
32:26 “Meshech-Tubal is there, along with all her hordes around her grave. 32 All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for they spread their terror in the land of the living. 32:27 They do not lie with the fallen warriors of ancient times, 33 who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, having their swords placed under their heads and their shields on their bones, 34 when the terror of these warriors was in the land of the living.
32:28 “But as for you, in the midst of the uncircumcised you will be broken, and you will lie with those killed by the sword.
32:29 “Edom is there with her kings and all her princes. Despite their might they are laid with those killed by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised and those who descend to the pit.
32:30 “All the leaders of the north are there, along with all the Sidonians; despite their might they have gone down in shameful terror with the dead. They lie uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, and bear their shame with those who descend to the pit.
32:31 “Pharaoh will see them and be consoled over all his hordes who were killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his army, declares the sovereign Lord. 32:32 Indeed, I terrified him in the land of the living, yet he will lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the sovereign Lord.”
1 sn Sheol is the proper name of the subterranean world which was regarded as the land of the dead.
2 tn Heb “arousing.” The form is probably a Polel infinitive absolute, rather than a third masculine singular perfect, for Sheol is grammatically feminine (note “stirred up”). See GKC 466 §145.t.
3 tn Heb “all the rams of the earth.” The animal epithet is used metaphorically here for leaders. See HALOT 903 s.v. *עַתּוּד.
4 tn Heb “lifting from their thrones all the kings of the nations.” הֵקִים (heqim, a Hiphil perfect third masculine singular) should be emended to an infinitive absolute (הָקֵים, haqem). See the note on “rouses” earlier in the verse.
5 tn Or “pride” (NCV, CEV); KJV, NIV, NRSV “pomp.”
6 tn Or “harps” (NAB, NIV, NRSV).
7 tn Heb “under you maggots are spread out, and worms are your cover.”
8 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.
9 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.”
10 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.
11 tn Or “I said” (KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
12 tn The precise meaning of the phrase בִּדְמִי יָמַי (bidmi yamay, “in the [?] of my days”) is uncertain. According to HALOT 226 s.v. דְּמִי this word is a hapax legomenon meaning “half.” Others derive the form from דַּמִי (dami, “quiet, rest, peacefulness”).
13 tn The precise meaning of the verb is uncertain. The Pual of of פָּקַד (paqad) occurs only here and in Exod 38:21, where it appears to mean “passed in review” or “mustered.” Perhaps the idea is, “I have been called away for the remainder of my years.” To bring out the sense more clearly, one can translate, “I am deprived of the rest of my years.”
14 tn The Hebrew text has יָהּ יָהּ (yah yah, the abbreviated form of יְהוָה [yÿhvah] repeated), but this is probably a corruption of יְהוָה.
15 tc The Hebrew text has חָדֶל (khadel), which appears to be derived from a verbal root meaning “to cease, refrain.” But the form has probably suffered an error of transmission; the original form (attested in a few medieval Hebrew
16 tn According to HALOT 217 s.v. דּוֹר this noun is a hapax legomenon meaning “dwelling place,” derived from a verbal root meaning “live” (see Ps 84:10). For an interpretation that understands the form as the well-attested noun meaning “generation,” see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:679, n. 4.
17 tn The verb form appears to be a Niphal from גָּלָה (galah), which normally means “uncovered, revealed” in the Niphal. Because of the following reference to a shepherd’s tent, some prefer to emend the form to וְנָגַל, a Niphal from גָלָל (galal, “roll”) and translate “is rolled [or “folded”] up.”
18 tn Heb “I rolled up, like a weaver, my life” (so ASV).
19 sn For a discussion of the imagery employed here, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:684.
20 tn Heb “from day to night you bring me to an end.”
21 tn The Hebrew verb is used as a response to death (Jer 9:17-19; Amos 5:16).
22 sn Through this prophetic lament given by God himself, the prophet activates the judgment described therein. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:217, and L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:136-37.
23 tn Heb “Bring him down, her and the daughters of the powerful nations, to the earth below.” The verb “bring down” appears in the Hebrew text only once. Because the verb takes several objects here, the repetition of the verb in the translation improves the English style.
24 tn This apparently refers to personified Egypt.
25 tc The LXX places this verse after v. 21.
26 tn Heb “pleasantness.”
27 tn Heb “around him his graves.” The masculine pronominal suffixes are problematic; the expression is best emended to correspond to the phrase “around her grave” in v. 23. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:219.
28 tn Heb “all of them slain, the ones felled by the sword.” See as well vv. 23-24.
29 tn Heb “whose.”
30 tn The only other occurrence of the phrase “remote slopes of the pit” is in Isa 14:15.
31 tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).
32 tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).
33 tc Heb “of the uncircumcised.” The LXX reads, probably correctly, “from of old” rather than “of the uncircumcised.” The phrases are very similar in spelling. The warriors of Meshech-Tubal are described as uncircumcised, so it would be odd for them to not be buried with the uncircumcised. Verse 28 specifically says that they would lie with the uncircumcised.
34 tn Heb “and their iniquities were over their bones.” The meaning of this statement is unclear; in light of the parallelism (see “swords”) it is preferable to emend “their iniquities” to “their swords.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:135.