8:19 1 They will say to you, “Seek oracles at the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, from the magicians who chirp and mutter incantations. 2 Should people not seek oracles from their gods, by asking the dead about the destiny of the living?” 3
15:2 They went up to the temple, 4
the people of Dibon went up to the high places to lament. 5
Because of what happened to Nebo and Medeba, 6 Moab wails.
Every head is shaved bare,
every beard is trimmed off. 7
44:25 who frustrates the omens of the empty talkers 8
and humiliates 9 the omen readers,
who overturns the counsel of the wise men 10
and makes their advice 11 seem foolish,
47:12 Persist 12 in trusting 13 your amulets
and your many incantations,
which you have faithfully recited 14 since your youth!
Maybe you will be successful 15 –
maybe you will scare away disaster. 16
47:1 “Fall down! Sit in the dirt,
O virgin 17 daughter Babylon!
Sit on the ground, not on a throne,
O daughter of the Babylonians!
Indeed, 18 you will no longer be called delicate and pampered.
“By my strong hand I have accomplished this,
by my strategy that I devised.
I invaded the territory of nations, 19
and looted their storehouses.
Like a mighty conqueror, 20 I brought down rulers. 21
1 tn It is uncertain if the prophet or the Lord is speaking in vv. 19-22. If the latter, then vv. 19-22 resume the speech recorded in vv. 12-15, after the prophet’s response in vv. 16-18.
2 tn Heb “inquire of the ritual pits and of the magicians who chirp and mutter.” The Hebrew word אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Sam 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a אוֹב-בַּעֲלַת (ba’alat-’ov, “owner of a ritual pit”). See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401.
3 tn Heb “Should a nation not inquire of its gods on behalf of the living, (by inquiring) of the dead?” These words appear to be a continuation of the quotation begun in the first part of the verse. אֱלֹהָיו (’elohayv) may be translated “its gods” or “its God.” Some take the second half of the verse as the prophet’s (or the Lord’s) rebuke of the people who advise seeking oracles at the ritual pits, but in this case the words “the dead on behalf of the living” are difficult to explain.
4 tn Heb “house.”
5 tn Heb “even Dibon [to] the high places to weep.” The verb “went up” does double duty in the parallel structure.
6 tn Heb “over [or “for”] Nebo and over [or “for”] Medeba.”
7 sn Shaving the head and beard were outward signs of mourning and grief.
7 tc The Hebrew text has בַּדִּים (baddim), perhaps meaning “empty talkers” (BDB 95 s.v. III בַּד). In the four other occurrences of this word (Job 11:3; Isa 16:6; Jer 48:30; 50:36) the context does not make the meaning of the term very clear. Its primary point appears to be that the words spoken are meaningless or false. In light of its parallelism with “omen readers,” some have proposed an emendation to בָּרִים (barim, “seers”). The Mesopotamian baru-priests were divination specialists who played an important role in court life. See R. Wilson, Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel, 93-98. Rather than supporting an emendation, J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:189, n. 79) suggests that Isaiah used בַּדִּים purposively as a derisive wordplay on the Akkadian word baru (in light of the close similarity of the d and r consonants).
8 tn Or “makes fools of” (NIV, NRSV); NAB and NASB both similar.
9 tn Heb “who turns back the wise” (so NRSV); NIV “overthrows the learning of the wise”; TEV “The words of the wise I refute.”
10 tn Heb “their knowledge” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).
10 tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”
11 tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.
12 tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”
13 tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”
14 tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.
13 tn בְּתוּלַה (bÿtulah) often refers to a virgin, but the phrase “virgin daughter” is apparently stylized (see also 23:12; 37:22). In the extended metaphor of this chapter, where Babylon is personified as a queen (vv. 5, 7), she is depicted as being both a wife and mother (vv. 8-9).
14 tn Or “For” (NASB, NRSV).
16 tn Heb “removed the borders of nations”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV “boundaries.”
17 tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has כְּאַבִּיר (kÿ’abir, “like a strong one”); the marginal reading (Qere) is כַּבִיר (kavir, “mighty one”).
18 tn Heb “and I brought down, like a strong one, ones sitting [or “living”].” The participle יוֹשְׁבִים (yoshÿvim, “ones sitting”) could refer to the inhabitants of the nations, but the translation assumes that it refers to those who sit on thrones, i.e., rulers. See BDB 442 s.v. יָשַׁב and HALOT 444 s.v. ישׁב.
19 tn Heb “said.” So also in v. 12.
20 tn Heb “Chaldeans.” The term Chaldeans (Hebrew כַּשְׂדִּים, kasdim) is used in the book of Daniel both in an ethnic sense and, as here, to refer to a caste of Babylonian wise men and astrologers.
21 tn Heb “to explain to the king his dreams.”
22 tn Heb “stood before the king.”
22 tn Aram “from me there was placed a decree.”
23 tn The Aramaic infinitive here is active.
25 tn Aram “in strength.”
26 tn Aram “cause to enter.”
27 tn Aram “answered and said.”
28 sn Purple was a color associated with royalty in the ancient world.
29 tn The term translated “golden collar” here probably refers to something more substantial than merely a gold chain (cf. NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT) or necklace (cf. NASB).