47:15 They will disappoint you, 1
those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. 2
Each strays off in his own direction, 3
leaving no one to rescue you.”
28:7 Even these men 4 stagger because of wine,
they stumble around because of beer –
priests and prophets stagger because of beer,
they are confused 5 because of wine,
they stumble around because of beer;
they stagger while seeing prophetic visions, 6
they totter while making legal decisions. 7
1 tn Heb “So they will be to you”; NIV “That is all they can do for you.”
2 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.
3 tn Heb “each to his own side, they err.”
4 tn Heb “these.” The demonstrative pronoun anticipates “priests and prophets” two lines later.
5 tn According to HALOT 135 s.v. III בלע, the verb form is derived from בָּלַע (bala’, “confuse”), not the more common בָּלַע (“swallow”). See earlier notes at 3:12 and 9:16.
6 tn Heb “in the seeing.”
7 tn Heb “[in] giving a decision.”