Discovery BoxExodus 12:12
Context12:12 I will pass through 1 the land of Egypt in the same 2 night, and I will attack 3 all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, 4 and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. 5 I am the Lord.
Isaiah 19:1-15
Context19:1 Here is a message about Egypt:
Look, the Lord rides on a swift-moving cloud
and approaches Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him;
the Egyptians lose their courage. 6
19:2 “I will provoke civil strife in Egypt, 7
brothers will fight with each other,
as will neighbors,
cities, and kingdoms. 8
19:3 The Egyptians will panic, 9
and I will confuse their strategy. 10
They will seek guidance from the idols and from the spirits of the dead,
from the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, and from the magicians. 11
19:4 I will hand Egypt over to a harsh master;
a powerful king will rule over them,”
says the sovereign master, 12 the Lord who commands armies.
19:5 The water of the sea will be dried up,
and the river will dry up and be empty. 13
19:6 The canals 14 will stink; 15
the streams of Egypt will trickle and then dry up;
the bulrushes and reeds will decay,
19:7 along with the plants by the mouth of the river. 16
All the cultivated land near the river
will turn to dust and be blown away. 17
19:8 The fishermen will mourn and lament,
all those who cast a fishhook into the river,
and those who spread out a net on the water’s surface will grieve. 18
19:9 Those who make clothes from combed flax will be embarrassed;
those who weave will turn pale. 19
19:10 Those who make cloth 20 will be demoralized; 21
all the hired workers will be depressed. 22
19:11 The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools; 23
Pharaoh’s wise advisers give stupid advice.
How dare you say to Pharaoh,
“I am one of the sages,
one well-versed in the writings of the ancient kings?” 24
19:12 But where, oh where, are your wise men? 25
Let them tell you, let them find out
what the Lord who commands armies has planned for Egypt.
19:13 The officials of Zoan are fools,
the officials of Memphis 26 are misled;
the rulers 27 of her tribes lead Egypt astray.
19:14 The Lord has made them undiscerning; 28
they lead Egypt astray in all she does,
so that she is like a drunk sliding around in his own vomit. 29
19:15 Egypt will not be able to do a thing,
head or tail, shoots and stalk. 30
Jeremiah 43:12-13
Context43:12 He will set fire 31 to the temples of the gods of Egypt. He will burn their gods or carry them off as captives. 32 He will pick Egypt clean like a shepherd picks the lice from his clothing. 33 He will leave there unharmed. 34 43:13 He will demolish the sacred pillars in the temple of the sun 35 in Egypt and will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.”’”
Jeremiah 46:25
Context46:25 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all 36 says, “I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes. 37 I will punish Egypt, its gods, and its kings. I will punish Pharaoh and all who trust in him. 38
Zephaniah 2:11
Context2:11 The Lord will terrify them, 39
for 40 he will weaken 41 all the gods of the earth.
All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands. 42
Zechariah 13:2
Context13:2 And also on that day,” says the Lord who rules over all, “I will remove 43 the names of the idols from the land and they will never again be remembered. Moreover, I will remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.
[12:12] 1 tn The verb וְעָבַרְתִּי (vÿ’avarti) is a Qal perfect with vav (ו) consecutive, announcing the future action of God in bringing judgment on the land. The word means “pass over, across, through.” This verb provides a contextual motive for the name “Passover.”
[12:12] 2 tn Heb “this night.”
[12:12] 3 tn The verb נָכָה (nakhah) means “to strike, smite, attack”; it does not always mean “to kill,” but that is obviously its outcome in this context. This is also its use in 2:12, describing how Moses killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.
[12:12] 4 tn Heb “from man and to beast.”
[12:12] 5 tn The phrase אֶעֱשֶׂה שְׁפָטִים (’e’eseh shÿfatim) is “I will do judgments.” The statement clearly includes what had begun in Exod 6:1. But the statement that God would judge the gods of Egypt is appropriately introduced here (see also Num 33:4) because with the judgment on Pharaoh and the deliverance from bondage, Yahweh would truly show himself to be the one true God. Thus, “I am Yahweh” is fitting here (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 312).
[19:1] 6 tn Heb “and the heart of Egypt melts within it.”
[19:2] 7 tn Heb I will provoke Egypt against Egypt” (NAB similar).
[19:2] 8 tn Heb “and they will fight, a man against his brother, and a man against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.” Civil strife will extend all the way from the domestic level to the provincial arena.
[19:3] 9 tn Heb “and the spirit of Egypt will be laid waste in its midst.”
[19:3] 10 tn The verb בָּלַע (bala’, “confuse”) is a homonym of the more common בָּלַע (bala’, “swallow”); see HALOT 135 s.v. I בלע.
[19:3] 11 tn Heb “they will inquire of the idols and of the spirits of the dead and of the ritual pits and of the magicians.” Hebrew אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. See the note on “incantations” in 8:19.
[19:4] 12 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
[19:5] 13 tn Heb “will dry up and be dry.” Two synonyms are joined for emphasis.
[19:6] 14 tn Heb “rivers” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, CEV “streams”; TEV “channels.”
[19:6] 15 tn The verb form appears as a Hiphil in the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa; the form in MT may be a so-called “mixed form,” reflecting the Hebrew Hiphil stem and the functionally corresponding Aramaic Aphel stem. See HALOT 276 s.v. I זנח.
[19:7] 16 tn Heb “the plants by the river, by the mouth of the river.”
[19:7] 17 tn Heb “will dry up, [being] scattered, and it will vanish.”
[19:8] 18 tn Or perhaps, “will disappear”; cf. TEV “will be useless.”
[19:9] 19 tn BDB 301 s.v. חוֹרִי suggests the meaning “white stuff” for חוֹרִי (khori); the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has חָוֵרוּ (khaveru), probably a Qal perfect, third plural form of חוּר, (khur, “be white, pale”). See HALOT 299 s.v. I חור. The latter reading is assumed in the translation above.
[19:10] 20 tn Some interpret שָׁתֹתֶיהָ (shatoteha) as “her foundations,” i.e., leaders, nobles. See BDB 1011 s.v. שָׁת. Others, on the basis of alleged cognates in Akkadian and Coptic, repoint the form שְׁתִיתֶיהָ (shÿtiteha) and translate “her weavers.” See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:370.
[19:10] 21 tn Heb “crushed.” Emotional distress is the focus of the context (see vv. 8-9, 10b).
[19:10] 22 tn Heb “sad of soul”; cf. NIV, NLT “sick at heart.”
[19:11] 23 tn Or “certainly the officials of Zoan are fools.” אַךְ (’akh) can carry the sense, “only, nothing but,” or “certainly, surely.”
[19:11] 24 tn Heb “A son of wise men am I, a son of ancient kings.” The term בֶּן (ben, “son of”) could refer to literal descent, but many understand the word, at least in the first line, in its idiomatic sense of “member [of a guild].” See HALOT 138 s.v. בֶּן and J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:371. If this is the case, then one can take the word in a figurative sense in the second line as well, the “son of ancient kings” being one devoted to their memory as preserved in their literature.
[19:12] 25 tn Heb “Where are they? Where are your wise men?” The juxtaposition of the interrogative pronouns is emphatic. See HALOT 38 s.v. אֶי.
[19:13] 26 tn Heb “Noph” (so KJV); most recent English versions substitute the more familiar “Memphis.”
[19:13] 27 tn Heb “the cornerstone.” The singular form should be emended to a plural.
[19:14] 28 tn Heb “the Lord has mixed into her midst a spirit of blindness.”
[19:14] 29 tn Heb “like the going astray of a drunkard in his vomit.”
[19:15] 30 tn Heb “And there will not be for Egypt a deed, which head and tail, shoot and stalk can do.” In 9:14-15 the phrase “head or tail” refers to leaders and prophets, respectively. This interpretation makes good sense in this context, where both leaders and advisers (probably including prophets and diviners) are mentioned (vv. 11-14). Here, as in 9:14, “shoots and stalk” picture a reed, which symbolizes the leadership of the nation in its entirety.
[43:12] 31 tc The translation follows the Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions. The Hebrew text reads: “I will set fire to.” While it would be possible to explain the first person subject here in the same way as in the two verbs in v. 12b, the corruption of the Hebrew text is easy to explain here as a metathesis of two letters, י (yod) and ת (tav). The Hebrew reads הִצַּתִּי (hitsatti) and the versions presuppose הִצִּית (hitsit).
[43:12] 32 tn Heb “burn them or carry them off as captives.” Some of the commentaries and English versions make a distinction between the objects of the verbs, i.e., burn the temples and carry off the gods. However, the burning down of the temples is referred to later in v. 13.
[43:12] 33 tn Or “he will take over Egypt as easily as a shepherd wraps his cloak around him.” The translation follows the interpretation of HALOT 769 s.v. II ָעטָה Qal, the Greek translation, and a number of the modern commentaries (e.g., J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 671). The only other passage where that translation is suggested for this verb is Isa 22:17 according to HAL. The alternate translation follows the more normal meaning of עָטָה (’atah; cf. BDB 741 s.v. I עָטָה Qal which explains “so completely will it be in his power”). The fact that the subject is “a shepherd” lends more credence to the former view though there may be a deliberate double meaning playing on the homonyms (cf. W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 2:302).
[43:12] 34 tn Heb “in peace/wholeness/well-being/safety [shalom].”
[43:13] 35 sn It is generally agreed that the temple of the sun was located in Heliopolis, which is elsewhere referred to as On (cf. Gen 41:45). It was the center for the worship of Amon-Re, the Egyptian sun god, and was famous for its obelisks (conical shaped pillars) dedicated to that god. It was located about 6 miles (10 km) northeast of modern-day Cairo.
[46:25] 36 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” For the significance of this title see the note at 2:19.
[46:25] 37 tn Heb “Amon of No.”
[46:25] 38 tc Heb “Behold I will punish Amon of No and Pharaoh and Egypt and its gods and its kings and Pharaoh and all who trust in him.” There appears to be a copyist slip involving a double writing of וְעַל־פַּרְעֹה (vÿ’al-par’oh). The present translation has followed the suggestion of BHS and deleted the first one since the second is necessary for the syntactical connection, “Pharaoh and all who trust in him.”
[2:11] 39 tn Heb “will be awesome over [or, “against”] them.”
[2:11] 41 tn The meaning of this rare Hebrew word is unclear. If the meaning is indeed “weaken,” then this line may be referring to the reduction of these gods’ territory through conquest (see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah [AB 25A], 110-11). Cf. NEB “reduce to beggary”; NASB “starve”; NIV “when he destroys”; NRSV “shrivel.”
[2:11] 42 tn Heb “and all the coastlands of the nations will worship [or, “bow down”] to him, each from his own place.”
[13:2] 43 tn Heb “cut off” (so NRSV); NAB “destroy”; NIV “banish.”
