51:31 One runner after another will come to the king of Babylon.
One messenger after another will come bringing news. 1
They will bring news to the king of Babylon
that his whole city has been captured. 2
13:6 Wail, for the Lord’s day of judgment 3 is near;
it comes with all the destructive power of the sovereign judge. 4
13:7 For this reason all hands hang limp, 5
every human heart loses its courage. 6
13:8 They panic –
cramps and pain seize hold of them
like those of a woman who is straining to give birth.
They look at one another in astonishment;
their faces are flushed red. 7
21:3 For this reason my stomach churns; 8
cramps overwhelm me
like the contractions of a woman in labor.
I am disturbed 9 by what I hear,
horrified by what I see.
21:4 My heart palpitates, 10
I shake in fear; 11
the twilight I desired
has brought me terror.
5:5 At that very moment the fingers of a human hand appeared 12 and wrote on the plaster of the royal palace wall, opposite the lampstand. 13 The king was watching the back 14 of the hand that was writing. 5:6 Then all the color drained from the king’s face 15 and he became alarmed. 16 The joints of his hips gave way, 17 and his knees began knocking together.
1 tn Heb “Runner will run to meet runner and…” The intent is to portray a relay of runners carrying the news that follows on in vv. 31d-33 to the king of Babylon. The present translation attempts to spell out the significance.
2 tn Heb “Runner will run to meet runner and messenger to meet messenger to report to the king of Babylon that his city has been taken in [its] entirety.” There is general agreement among the commentaries that the first two lines refer to messengers converging on the king of Babylon from every direction bringing news the sum total of which is reported in the lines that follow. For the meaning of the last phrase see BDB 892 s.v. קָצֶה 3 and compare the usage in Gen 19:4 and Isa 56:11. The sentence has been broken down and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style.
3 tn Heb “the day of the Lord” (so KJV, NAB).
4 tn Heb “like destruction from the sovereign judge it comes.” The comparative preposition (כְּ, kÿ) has here the rhetorical nuance, “in every way like.” The point is that the destruction unleashed will have all the earmarks of divine judgment. One could paraphrase, “it comes as only destructive divine judgment can.” On this use of the preposition in general, see GKC 376 §118.x.
5 tn Heb “drop”; KJV “be faint”; ASV “be feeble”; NAB “fall helpless.”
6 tn Heb “melts” (so NAB).
7 tn Heb “their faces are faces of flames.” Their faces are flushed with fear and embarrassment.
8 tn Heb “my waist is filled with shaking [or “anguish”].”
9 tn Or perhaps, “bent over [in pain]”; cf. NRSV “I am bowed down.”
10 tn Heb “wanders,” perhaps here, “is confused.”
11 tn Heb “shuddering terrifies me.”
12 tn Aram “came forth.”
13 sn The mention of the lampstand in this context is of interest because it suggests that the writing was in clear view.
14 tn While Aramaic פַּס (pas) can mean the palm of the hand, here it seems to be the back of the hand that is intended.
15 tn Aram “[the king’s] brightness changed for him.”
16 tn Aram “his thoughts were alarming him.”
17 tn Aram “his loins went slack.”