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!”
48:40 For the Lord says,
“Look! Like an eagle with outspread wings
a nation will swoop down on Moab. 5
49:22 Look! Like an eagle with outspread wings,
a nation will soar up and swoop down on Bozrah.
At that time the soldiers of Edom will be as fearful
as a woman in labor.” 6
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.
8:1 Sound the alarm! 17
An eagle 18 looms over the temple of the Lord!
For they have broken their covenant with me, 19
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 “Behold! Like an eagle he will swoop and will spread his wings against Moab.” The sentence has been reordered in English to give a better logical flow and the unidentified “he” has been identified as “a nation.” The nation is, of course, Babylon, but it is nowhere identified so the referent has been left ambiguous.
6 sn Compare Jer 48:40-41 for a similar prophecy about Moab. The parallelism here suggests that Bozrah, like Teman in v. 20, is a poetic equivalent for Edom.
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 The words “of Israel” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation as a clarification of the referent.
15 sn The narrative description of this interpretation of the riddle is given in 2 Kgs 24:11-15.
16 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
17 tn Heb “A horn unto your gums!”; NAB “A trumpet to your lips!”
18 tn Or perhaps “A vulture.” Some identify the species indicated by the Hebrew term נֶשֶׁר (nesher) as the griffon vulture (cf. NEB, NRSV).
19 tn Heb “my covenant” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “the covenant I made with them.”
20 tn The same Greek term can refer to “eagles” or “vultures” (L&N 4.42; BDAG 22 s.v. ἀετός), but in this context it must mean vultures because the gruesome image is one of dead bodies being consumed by scavengers.
21 tn Grk “will be gathered.” The passive construction has been translated as an active one in English.