21:2 I have received a distressing message: 1
“The deceiver deceives,
the destroyer destroys.
Attack, you Elamites!
Lay siege, you Medes!
I will put an end to all the groaning!” 2
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!
1 tn Heb “a severe revelation has been related to me.”
2 sn This is often interpreted to mean “all the groaning” that Babylon has caused others.
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.”