Exodus 9:17

9:17 You are still exalting ¹  yourself against my people by ²  not releasing them.

Exodus 10:3

10:3 So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and told him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: ‘How long do you refuse ³  to humble yourself before me? ⁴  Release my people so that they may serve me!

Isaiah 10:12-15

10:12 But when ⁵  the sovereign master ⁶  finishes judging ⁷  Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I ⁸  will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays. ⁹  10:13 For he says:

“By my strong hand I have accomplished this,

by my strategy that I devised.

I invaded the territory of nations, ¹⁰ 

and looted their storehouses.

Like a mighty conqueror, ¹¹  I brought down rulers. ¹² 

10:14 My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest,

as one gathers up abandoned eggs,

I gathered up the whole earth.

There was no wing flapping,

or open mouth chirping.” ¹³ 

10:15 Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it,

or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? ¹⁴ 

As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it,

or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!

Isaiah 37:22-29

37:22 this is what the Lord says about him: ¹⁵ 

“The virgin daughter Zion ¹⁶ 

despises you – she makes fun of you;

daughter Jerusalem

shakes her head after you. ¹⁷ 

37:23 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?

At whom have you shouted

and looked so arrogantly? ¹⁸ 

At the Holy One of Israel! ¹⁹ 

37:24 Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, ²⁰ 

‘With my many chariots I climbed up

the high mountains,

the slopes of Lebanon.

I cut down its tall cedars

and its best evergreens.

I invaded its most remote regions, ²¹ 

its thickest woods.

37:25 I dug wells

and drank water. ²² 

With the soles of my feet I dried up

all the rivers of Egypt.’

37:26 ²³ Certainly you must have heard! ²⁴ 

Long ago I worked it out,

in ancient times I planned ²⁵  it,

and now I am bringing it to pass.

The plan is this:

Fortified cities will crash

into heaps of ruins. ²⁶ 

37:27 Their residents are powerless; ²⁷ 

they are terrified and ashamed.

They are as short-lived as plants in the field

or green vegetation. ²⁸ 

They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops ²⁹ 

when it is scorched by the east wind. ³⁰ 

37:28 I know where you live

and everything you do

and how you rage against me. ³¹ 

37:29 Because you rage against me

and the uproar you create has reached my ears, ³² 

I will put my hook in your nose, ³³ 

and my bridle between your lips,

and I will lead you back

the way you came.”

Ezekiel 38:14-18

38:14 “Therefore, prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: On that day when my people Israel are living securely, you will take notice ³⁴  38:15 and come from your place, from the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a vast army. 38:16 You will advance ³⁵  against my people Israel like a cloud covering the earth. In the latter days I will bring you against my land so that the nations may acknowledge me, when before their eyes I magnify myself ³⁶  through you, O Gog.

38:17 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days by my servants ³⁷  the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days ³⁸  that I would bring you against them? 38:18 On that day, when Gog invades ³⁹  the land of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord, my rage will mount up in my anger.

[9:17]  ¹ tn מִסְתּוֹלֵל (mistolel) is a Hitpael participle, from a root that means “raise up, obstruct.” So in the Hitpael it means to “raise oneself up,” “elevate oneself,” or “be an obstructionist.” See W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:363; U. Cassuto, Exodus, 116.

[9:17]  ² tn The infinitive construct with lamed here is epexegetical; it explains how Pharaoh has exalted himself – “by not releasing the people.”

[10:3]  ³ tn The verb is מֵאַנְתָּ (me’anta), a Piel perfect. After “how long,” the form may be classified as present perfect (“how long have you refused), for it describes actions begun previously but with the effects continuing. (See GKC 311 §106.g-h). The use of a verb describing a state or condition may also call for a present translation (“how long do you refuse”) that includes past, present, and potentially future, in keeping with the question “how long.”

[10:3]  ⁴ tn The clause is built on the use of the infinitive construct to express the direct object of the verb – it answers the question of what Pharaoh was refusing to do. The Niphal infinitive construct (note the elision of the ה [hey] prefix after the preposition [see GKC 139 §51.l]) is from the verb עָנָה (’anah). The verb in this stem would mean “humble oneself.” The question is somewhat rhetorical, since God was not yet through humbling Pharaoh, who would not humble himself. The issue between Yahweh and Pharaoh is deeper than simply whether or not Pharaoh will let the Israelites leave Egypt.

[10:12]  ⁵ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[10:12]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 16, 23, 24, 33 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[10:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “his work on/against.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV “on”; NIV “against.”

[10:12]  ⁸ tn The Lord is speaking here, as in vv. 5-6a.

[10:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “I will visit [judgment] on the fruit of the greatness of the heart of the king of Assyria, and on the glory of the height of his eyes.” The proud Assyrian king is likened to a large, beautiful fruit tree.

[10:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “removed the borders of nations”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV “boundaries.”

[10:13]  ¹¹ tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has כְּאַבִּיר (kÿ’abir, “like a strong one”); the marginal reading (Qere) is כַּבִיר (kavir, “mighty one”).

[10:13]  ¹² tn Heb “and I brought down, like a strong one, ones sitting [or “living”].” The participle יוֹשְׁבִים (yoshÿvim, “ones sitting”) could refer to the inhabitants of the nations, but the translation assumes that it refers to those who sit on thrones, i.e., rulers. See BDB 442 s.v. יָשַׁב and HALOT 444 s.v. ישׁב.

[10:14]  ¹³ sn The Assyrians’ conquests were relatively unopposed, like robbing a bird’s nest of its eggs when the mother bird is absent.

[10:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the one who pushes it back and forth”; KJV “him that shaketh it”; ASV “him that wieldeth it.”

[37:22]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “this is the word which the Lord has spoken about him.”

[37:22]  ¹⁶ sn Zion (Jerusalem) is pictured here as a young, vulnerable daughter whose purity is being threatened by the would-be Assyrian rapist. The personification hints at the reality which the young girls of the city would face if the Assyrians conquer it.

[37:22]  ¹⁷ sn Shaking the head was a mocking gesture of derision.

[37:23]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and lifted your eyes on high?” Cf. NIV “lifted your eyes in pride”; NRSV “haughtily lifted your eyes.”

[37:23]  ¹⁹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[37:24]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[37:24]  ²¹ tn Heb “the height of its extremity”; ASV “its farthest height.”

[37:25]  ²² tc The Hebrew text has simply, “I dug and drank water.” But the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:24 has “foreign waters.” זָרִים (zarim, “foreign”) may have accidentally dropped out of the Isaianic text by homoioteleuton (cf. NCV, NIV, NLT). Note that the preceding word, מַיִם (mayim, “water) also ends in mem (ם). The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has “foreign waters” for this line. However, in several other passages the 1QIsa^a scroll harmonizes with 2 Kgs 19 against the MT (Isa 36:5; 37:9, 20). Since the addition of “foreign” to this text in Isaiah by a later scribe would be more likely than its deletion, the MT reading should be accepted.

[37:26]  ²³ tn Having quoted the Assyrian king’s arrogant words in vv. 23-24, the Lord now speaks to the king.

[37:26]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Have you not heard?” The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s amazement that anyone might be ignorant of what he is about to say.

[37:26]  ²⁵ tn Heb “formed” (so KJV, ASV).

[37:26]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and it is to cause to crash into heaps of ruins fortified cities.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb תְהִי (tÿhi) is the implied plan, referred to in the preceding lines with third feminine singular pronominal suffixes.

[37:27]  ²⁷ tn Heb “short of hand”; KJV, ASV “of small power”; NASB “short of strength.”

[37:27]  ²⁸ tn Heb “they are plants in the field and green vegetation.” The metaphor emphasizes how short-lived these seemingly powerful cities really were. See Ps 90:5-6; Isa 40:6-8, 24.

[37:27]  ²⁹ tn Heb “[they are] grass on the rooftops.” See the preceding note.

[37:27]  ³⁰ tc The Hebrew text has “scorched before the standing grain” (perhaps meaning “before it reaches maturity”), but it is preferable to emend קָמָה (qamah, “standing grain”) to קָדִים (qadim, “east wind”) with the support of 1Q Isa^a; cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:657, n. 8.

[37:28]  ³¹ tc Heb “your going out and your coming in and how you have raged against me.” Several scholars have suggested that this line is probably dittographic (note the beginning of the next line). However, most English translations include the statement in question at the end of v. 28 and the beginning of v. 29. Interestingly, the LXX does not have this clause at the end of v. 28 and the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does not have it at the beginning of v. 29. In light of this ambiguous manuscript evidence, it appears best to retain the clause in both verses.

[37:29]  ³² tc Heb “and your complacency comes up into my ears.” The parallelism is improved if שַׁאֲנַנְךָ (sha’anankha, “your complacency”) is emended to שְׁאוֹנְךָ (shÿ’onÿkha, “your uproar”). See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 237-38. However, the LXX seems to support the MT and Sennacherib’s cavalier dismissal of Yahweh depicts an arrogant complacency (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:658, n. 10).

[37:29]  ³³ sn The word-picture has a parallel in Assyrian sculpture. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 238.

[38:14]  ³⁴ tn The Hebrew text is framed as a rhetorical question: “will you not take notice?”

[38:16]  ³⁵ tn Heb “come up.”

[38:16]  ³⁶ tn Or “reveal my holiness.”

[38:17]  ³⁷ tn Heb “by the hand of my servants.”

[38:17]  ³⁸ tn The Hebrew text adds “years” here, but this is probably a scribal gloss on the preceding phrase. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:201.

[38:18]  ³⁹ tn Heb “goes up against.”