47:14 Look, they are like straw,
which the fire burns up;
they cannot rescue themselves
from the heat 1 of the flames.
There are no coals to warm them,
no firelight to enjoy. 2
47:15 They will disappoint you, 3
those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. 4
Each strays off in his own direction, 5
leaving no one to rescue you.”
1 tn Heb “hand,” here a metaphor for the strength or power of the flames.
2 tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “there is no coal [for?] their food, light to sit before it.” Some emend לַחְמָם (lakhmam, “their food”) to לְחֻמָּם (lÿkhummam, “to warm them”; see HALOT 328 s.v. חמם). This statement may allude to Isa 44:16, where idolaters are depicted warming themselves over a fire made from wood, part of which was used to form idols. The fire of divine judgment will be no such campfire; its flames will devour and destroy.
3 tn Heb “So they will be to you”; NIV “That is all they can do for you.”
4 tn Heb “that for which you toiled, your traders from your youth.” The omen readers and star gazers are likened to merchants with whom Babylon has had an ongoing economic relationship.
5 tn Heb “each to his own side, they err.”