50:14 “Take up your battle positions all around Babylon,
all you soldiers who are armed with bows. 1
Shoot 2 all your arrows at her! Do not hold any back! 3
For she has sinned against the Lord.
50:29 “Call for archers 4 to come against Babylon!
Summon against her all who draw the bow!
Set up camp all around the city!
Do not allow anyone to escape!
Pay her back for what she has done.
Do to her what she has done to others.
For she has proudly defied me, 5
the Holy One of Israel. 6
51:56 For a destroyer is attacking Babylon. 7
Her warriors will be captured;
their bows will be broken. 8
For the Lord is a God who punishes; 9
he pays back in full. 10
46:9 He brings an end to wars throughout the earth; 11
he shatters 12 the bow and breaks 13 the spear;
he burns 14 the shields with fire. 15
22:6 The Elamites picked up the quiver,
and came with chariots and horsemen; 16
the men of Kir 17 prepared 18 the shield. 19
1 tn Heb “all you who draw the bow.”
2 tc The verb here should probably be read as a Qal imperative יְרוּ (yÿru) from יָרָה (yarah) with a few Hebrew
3 tn Heb “Shoot at her! Don’t save any arrows!”
4 tn For this word see BDB 914 s.v. III רַב and compare usage in Prov 26:10 and Job 16:12 and compare the usage of the verb in Gen 49:23. Based on this evidence, it is not necessary to emend the form to רֹבִים (rovim) as many commentators contend.
5 tn Heb “for she has acted insolently against the
6 sn The Holy One of Israel is a common title for the
7 tn Heb “for a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon.”
8 tn The Piel form (which would be intransitive here, see GKC 142 §52.k) should probably be emended to Qal.
9 tn Or “God of retribution.”
10 tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following finite verb. Another option is to translate, “he certainly pays one back.” The translation assumes that the imperfect verbal form here describes the
11 tn Heb “[the] one who causes wars to cease unto the end of the earth.” The participle continues the description begun in v. 8b and indicates that this is the
12 tn The verb שָׁבַר (shavar, “break”) appears in the Piel here (see Ps 29:5). In the OT it occurs thirty-six times in the Piel, always with multiple objects (the object is either a collective singular or grammatically plural or dual form). The Piel may highlight the repetition of the pluralative action, or it may suggest an intensification of action, indicating repeated action comprising a whole, perhaps with the nuance “break again and again, break in pieces.” Another option is to understand the form as resultative: “make broken” (see IBHS 404-7 §24.3). The imperfect verbal form carries on and emphasizes the generalizing nature of the description.
13 tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries along the generalizing emphasis of the preceding imperfect.
14 tn The imperfect verbal form carries on and emphasizes the generalizing nature of the description.
15 tn Heb “wagons he burns with fire.” Some read “chariots” here (cf. NASB), but the Hebrew word refers to wagons or carts, not chariots, elsewhere in the OT. In this context, where military weapons are mentioned, it is better to revocalize the form as עֲגִלוֹת (’agilot, “round shields”), a word which occurs only here in the OT, but is attested in later Hebrew and Aramaic.
16 tn Heb “[with] the chariots of men, horsemen.”
17 sn A distant region in the direction of Mesopotamia; see Amos 1:5; 9:7.
18 tn Heb “Kir uncovers” (so NAB, NIV).
19 sn The Elamites and men of Kir may here symbolize a fierce army from a distant land. If this oracle anticipates a Babylonian conquest of the city (see 39:5-7), then the Elamites and men of Kir are perhaps viewed here as mercenaries in the Babylonian army. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:410.