2:20 At that time 1 men will throw
their silver and gold idols,
which they made for themselves to worship, 2
into the caves where rodents and bats live, 3
19:1 Here is a message about Egypt:
Look, the Lord rides on a swift-moving cloud
and approaches Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him;
the Egyptians lose their courage. 4
1 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).
2 tn Or “bow down to.”
3 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.”
4 tn Heb “and the heart of Egypt melts within it.”
7 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).
8 tn Heb “reject” (so NIV); NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT “throw away.”
9 tn Heb “the idols of their idols of silver and their idols of gold which your hands made for yourselves [in] sin.” חָטָא (khata’, “sin”) is understood as an adverbial accusative of manner. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:573, n. 4.