4:13 Look! The enemy is approaching like gathering clouds. 1
The roar of his chariots is like that of a whirlwind. 2
His horses move more swiftly than eagles.”
I cry out, 3 “We are doomed, 4 for we will be destroyed!”
ק (Qof)
4:19 Those who pursued us were swifter
than eagles 7 in the sky. 8
They chased us over the mountains;
they ambushed us in the wilderness.
“‘A great eagle 10 with broad wings, long feathers, 11
with full plumage which was multi-hued, 12
came to Lebanon 13 and took the top of the cedar.
7:4 “The first one was like a lion with eagles’ wings. As I watched, its wings were pulled off and it was lifted up from the ground. It was made to stand on two feet like a human being, and a human mind 14 was given to it. 15
8:1 Sound the alarm! 16
An eagle 17 looms over the temple of the Lord!
For they have broken their covenant with me, 18
and have rebelled against my law.
1 tn Heb “he is coming up like clouds.” The words “The enemy” are supplied in the translation to identify the referent and the word “gathering” is supplied to try to convey the significance of the simile, i.e., that of quantity and of an approaching storm.
2 tn Heb “his chariots [are] like a whirlwind.” The words “roar” and “sound” are supplied in the translation to clarify the significance of the simile.
3 tn The words “I cry out” are not in the text, but the words that follow are obviously not the
4 tn Heb “Woe to us!” The words “woe to” are common in funeral laments and at the beginning of oracles of judgment. In many contexts they carry the connotation of hopelessness or apprehensiveness of inevitable doom.
5 tn Heb “from the end of the earth.”
6 tn Some translations understand this to mean “like an eagle swoops down” (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), comparing the swift attack of an eagle to the attack of the Israelites’ enemies.
7 tn The bird referred to here could be one of several species of eagles, but more likely is the griffin-vulture (cf. NEB “vultures”). However, because eagles are more commonly associated with swiftness than vultures in contemporary English, “eagles” was used in the translation.
8 tn Or “in the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
9 tn The parable assumes the defection of Zedekiah to Egypt and his rejection of Babylonian lordship.
10 sn The great eagle symbolizes Nebuchadnezzar (17:12).
11 tn Hebrew has two words for wings; it is unknown whether they are fully synonymous or whether one term distinguishes a particular part of the wing such as the wing coverts (nearest the shoulder), secondaries (mid-feathers of the wing) or primaries (last and longest section of the wing).
12 tn This term was used in 16:10, 13, and 18 of embroidered cloth.
13 sn In the parable Lebanon apparently refers to Jerusalem (17:12).
14 tn Aram “heart of a man.”
15 sn The identity of the first animal, derived from v. 17 and the parallels in chap. 2, is Babylon. The reference to the plucking of its wings is probably a reference to the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s insanity (cf. chap. 4). The latter part of v. 4 then describes the restoration of Nebuchadnezzar. The other animals have traditionally been understood to represent respectively Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome, although most of modern scholarship identifies them as Media, Persia, and Greece. For a biblical parallel to the mention of lion, bear, and leopard together, see Hos 13:7-8.
16 tn Heb “A horn unto your gums!”; NAB “A trumpet to your lips!”
17 tn Or perhaps “A vulture.” Some identify the species indicated by the Hebrew term נֶשֶׁר (nesher) as the griffon vulture (cf. NEB, NRSV).
18 tn Heb “my covenant” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “the covenant I made with them.”