Discovery Box2 Kings 17:19-20
Context17:19 Judah also failed to keep the commandments of the Lord their God; they followed Israel’s example. 1 17:20 So the Lord rejected all of Israel’s descendants; he humiliated 2 them and handed them over to robbers, until he had thrown them from his presence.
Isaiah 8:7-8
Context8:7 So look, the sovereign master 3 is bringing up against them the turbulent and mighty waters of the Euphrates River 4 – the king of Assyria and all his majestic power. It will reach flood stage and overflow its banks. 5 8:8 It will spill into Judah, flooding and engulfing, as it reaches to the necks of its victims. He will spread his wings out over your entire land, 6 O Immanuel.” 7
Isaiah 10:6
Context10:6 I sent him 8 against a godless 9 nation,
I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, 10
to take plunder and to carry away loot,
to trample them down 11 like dirt in the streets.
Jeremiah 3:8-11
Context3:8 She also saw 12 that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods. 13 Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this, 14 she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods. 15 3:9 Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land 16 through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone. 17 3:10 In spite of all this, 18 Israel’s sister, unfaithful Judah, has not turned back to me with any sincerity; she has only pretended to do so,” 19 says the Lord. 3:11 Then the Lord said to me, “Under the circumstances, wayward Israel could even be considered less guilty than unfaithful Judah. 20
Ezekiel 23:11-21
Context23:11 “Her sister Oholibah watched this, 21 but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister. 23:12 She lusted after the Assyrians – governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 23:13 I saw that she was defiled; both of them followed the same path. 23:14 But she increased her prostitution. She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red, 22 23:15 wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians 23 whose native land is Chaldea. 23:16 When she saw them, 24 she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 25 23:17 The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. 26 They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she 27 became disgusted with them. 23:18 When she lustfully exposed her nakedness, 28 I 29 was disgusted with her, just as I 30 had been disgusted with her sister. 23:19 Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt. 23:20 She lusted after their genitals – as large as those of donkeys, 31 and their seminal emission was as strong as that of stallions. 23:21 This is how you assessed 32 the obscene conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled 33 your nipples and squeezed 34 your young breasts.
Ezekiel 23:31-32
Context23:31 You have followed the ways of your sister, so I will place her cup of judgment 35 in your hand. 23:32 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: “You will drink your sister’s deep and wide cup; 36 you will be scorned and derided, for it holds a great deal.
[17:19] 1 tn Heb “they walked in the practices of Israel which they did.”
[8:7] 3 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
[8:7] 4 tn Heb “the mighty and abundant waters of the river.” The referent of “the river” here, the Euphrates River, has been specified in the translation for clarity. As the immediately following words indicate, these waters symbolize the Assyrian king and his armies which will, as it were, inundate the land.
[8:7] 5 tn Heb “it will go up over all its stream beds and go over all its banks.”
[8:8] 6 tn Heb “and the spreading out of his wings [will be over] the fullness of the breadth of your land.” The metaphor changes here from raging flood to predatory bird.
[8:8] 7 sn The appearance of the name Immanuel (“God is with us”) is ironic at this point, for God is present with his people in judgment. Immanuel is addressed here as if he has already been born and will see the judgment occur. This makes excellent sense if his birth has just been recorded. There are several reasons for considering Immanuel and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz one and the same. 8:3 is a birth account which could easily be understood as recording the fulfillment of the birth prophecy of 7:14. The presence of a formal record/witnesses (8:1-2) suggests a sign function for the child (cf. 7:14). As in 7:14-16, the removal of Judah’s enemies would take place before the child reached a specified age (cf. 8:4). Both 7:17-25 and 8:7-8 speak of an Assyrian invasion of Judah which would follow the defeat of Israel/Syria. The major objection to this view is the fact that different names appear, but such a phenomenon is not without parallel in the OT (cf. Gen 35:18). The name Immanuel may emphasize the basic fact of God’s presence, while the name Maher focuses on the specific nature of God’s involvement. In 7:14 the mother is viewed as naming the child, while in 8:3 Isaiah is instructed to give the child’s name, but one might again point to Gen 35:18 for a precedent. The sign child’s age appears to be different in 8:4 than in 7:15-16, but 7:15-16 pertains to the judgment on Judah, as well as the defeat of Israel/Syria (cf. vv. 17-25), while 8:4 deals only with the downfall of Israel/Syria. Some argue that the suffixed form “your land” in 8:8 points to a royal referent (a child of Ahaz or the Messiah), but usage elsewhere shows that the phrase does not need to be so restricted. While the suffix can refer to the king of a land (cf. Num 20:17; 21:22; Deut 2:27; Judg 11:17, 19; 2 Sam 24:13; 1 Kgs 11:22; Isa 14:20), it can also refer to one who is a native of a particular land (cf. Gen 12:1; 32:9; Jonah 1:8). (See also the use of “his land” in Isa 13:14 [where the suffix refers to a native of a land] and 37:7 [where it refers to a king].)
[10:6] 8 sn Throughout this section singular forms are used to refer to Assyria; perhaps the king of Assyria is in view (see v. 12).
[10:6] 9 tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “impious”; NCV “separated from God.”
[10:6] 10 tn Heb “and against the people of my anger I ordered him.”
[10:6] 11 tn Heb “to make it [i.e., the people] a trampled place.”
[3:8] 12 tc Heb “she [‘her sister, unfaithful Judah’ from the preceding verse] saw” with one Hebrew
[3:8] 13 tn Heb “because she committed adultery.” The translation is intended to spell out the significance of the metaphor.
[3:8] 14 tn The words “Even after her unfaithful sister, Judah, had seen this” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit in the connection and are supplied for clarification.
[3:8] 15 tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation.
[3:9] 16 tc The translation reads the form as a causative (Hiphil, תַּהֲנֵף, tahanef) with some of the versions in place of the simple stative (Qal, תֶּחֱנַף, tekhenaf) in the MT.
[3:9] 17 tn Heb “because of the lightness of her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.”
[3:10] 18 tn Heb “And even in all this.”
[3:10] 19 tn Heb “ has not turned back to me with all her heart but only in falsehood.”
[3:11] 20 tn Heb “Wayward Israel has proven herself to be more righteous than unfaithful Judah.”
[23:11] 21 tn The word “this” is not in the original text.
[23:14] 22 tn The only other occurrence of the Hebrew term is in Jer 22:14.
[23:15] 23 tn Heb “the sons of Babel.”
[23:16] 24 tn Heb “at the appearance of her eyes.”
[23:16] 25 sn The Chaldeans were prominent tribal groups of Babylonia. The imagery is reminiscent of events in the reigns of Hezekiah (2 Kgs 20:12-15) and Jehoiakim (2 Kgs 23:34-24:1).
[23:17] 26 tn Heb “The sons of Babel came to her on a bed of love.”
[23:18] 28 tn Heb “She exposed her harlotry and she exposed her nakedness.”
[23:20] 31 tn Heb “She lusted after their concubines (?) whose flesh was the flesh of donkeys.” The phrase “their concubines” is extremely problematic here. The pronoun is masculine plural, suggesting that the Egyptian men are in view, but how concubines would fit into the picture envisioned here is not clear. Some suggest that Ezekiel uses the term in an idiomatic sense of “paramour,” but this still fails to explain how the pronoun relates to the noun. It is more likely that the term refers here to the Egyptians’ genitals. The relative pronoun that follows introduces a more specific description of their genitals.
[23:21] 32 tn Or “you took note of.” The Hebrew verb פָּקַד (paqad) in the Qal implies evaluating something and then acting in light of that judgment; here the prophet depicts Judah as approving of her youthful unfaithfulness and then magnifying it at the present time. Some translations assume the verb should be repointed as a Niphal, rendering “you missed” or by extension “you longed for,” but such an extension of the Niphal “to be missing” is otherwise unattested.
[23:21] 33 tn Heb “when (they) did,” but the verb makes no sense here and is better emended to “when (they) fondled,” a verb used in vv. 3 and 8. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:43.
[23:21] 34 tn Heb “for the sake of,” but the expression is awkward and is better emended to read “to squeeze.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:43.
[23:31] 35 tn Heb “her cup.” A cup of intoxicating strong drink is used, here and elsewhere, as a metaphor for judgment because both leave one confused and reeling. (See Jer 25:15, 17, 28; Hab 2:16.) The cup of wrath is a theme also found in the NT (Mark 14:36).
[23:32] 36 sn The image of a deep and wide cup suggests the degree of punishment; it will be extensive and leave the victim helpless.
