9:13 God does not restrain his anger; 1
under him the helpers of Rahab 2 lie crushed. 3
20:12 “If 4 evil is sweet in his mouth
and he hides it under his tongue, 5
26:8 He locks the waters in his clouds,
and the clouds do not burst with the weight of them.
28:5 The earth, from which food comes,
is overturned below as though by fire; 6
28:15 Fine gold cannot be given in exchange for it,
nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
34:24 He shatters the great without inquiry, 7
and sets up others in their place.
37:3 Under the whole heaven he lets it go,
even his lightning to the far corners 8 of the earth.
40:12 Look at every proud man and abase him;
crush the wicked on the spot! 9
41:30 Its underparts 10 are the sharp points of potsherds,
it leaves its mark in the mud
like a threshing sledge. 11
1 sn The meaning of the line is that God’s anger will continue until it has accomplished its purpose (23:13-14).
2 sn “Rahab” is not to be confused with the harlot of the same name from Jericho. “Rahab” is identified with Tiamat of the Babylonian creation epic, or Leviathan of the Canaanite myths. It is also used in parallelism to the sea (26:12), or the Red Sea (Ps 74:13), and so comes to symbolize Egypt (Isa 30:7). In the Babylonian Creation Epic there is reference to the helpers of Tiamat. In the Bible the reference is only to the raging sea, which the
3 tn The verb שָׁחַח (shakhakh) means “to be prostrate” or “to crouch.” Here the enemies are prostrate under the feet of God – they are crushed.
4 tn The conjunction אִם (’im) introduces clauses that are conditional or concessive. With the imperfect verb in the protasis it indicates what is possible in the present or future. See GKC 496 §159.q).
5 sn The wicked person holds on to evil as long as he can, savoring the taste or the pleasure of it.
7 sn The verse has been properly understood, on the whole, as comparing the earth above and all its produce with the upheaval down below.
10 tn Heb “[with] no investigation.”
13 tn Heb “wings,” and then figuratively for the extremities of garments, of land, etc.
16 tn The expression translated “on the spot” is the prepositional phrase תַּחְתָּם (takhtam, “under them”). “Under them” means in their place. But it can also mean “where someone stands, on the spot” (see Exod 16:29; Jos 6:5; Judg 7:21, etc.).
19 tn Heb “under him.”
20 tn Here only the word “sharp” is present, but in passages like Isa 41:15 it is joined with “threshing sledge.” Here and in Amos 1:3 and Isa 28:27 the word stands alone, but represents the “sledge.”