2:11 Proud men will be brought low,
arrogant men will be humiliated; 1
the Lord alone will be exalted 2
in that day.
2:20 At that time 3 men will throw
their silver and gold idols,
which they made for themselves to worship, 4
into the caves where rodents and bats live, 5
1 tn Heb “and the eyes of the pride of men will be brought low, and the arrogance of men will be brought down.” The repetition of the verbs שָׁפַל (shafal) and שָׁחָח (shakhakh) from v. 9 draws attention to the appropriate nature of the judgment. Those proud men who “bow low” before idols will be forced to “bow low” before God when he judges their sin.
2 tn Or “elevated”; CEV “honored.”
3 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).
4 tn Or “bow down to.”
5 tn Heb “to the shrews and to the bats.” On the meaning of חֲפַרְפָּרָה (khafarparah, “shrew”), see HALOT 341 s.v. חֲפַרְפָּרָה. The BHS text as it stands (לַחְפֹּר פֵּרוֹת, perot lakhpor), makes no sense. Based on Theodotion’s transliteration and a similar reading in the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa, most scholars suggest that the MT mistakenly divided a noun (a hapax legomenon) that should be translated “moles,” “shrews,” or “rodents.”