Ezekiel 17:10

17:10 Consider! It is planted, but will it prosper?

Will it not wither completely when the east wind blows on it?

Will it not wither in the soil where it sprouted?’”

Ezekiel 17:15-17

17:15 But this one from Israel’s royal family ¹  rebelled against the king of Babylon ²  by sending his emissaries to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he prosper? Will the one doing these things escape? Can he break the covenant and escape?

17:16 “‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, surely in the city ³  of the king who crowned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke – in the middle of Babylon he will die! 17:17 Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help ⁴  him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people.

Numbers 14:41

14:41 But Moses said, “Why ⁵  are you now transgressing the commandment ⁶  of the Lord? It will not succeed!

Numbers 14:2

14:2 And all the Israelites murmured ⁷  against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died ⁸  in the land of Egypt, or if only we had perished ⁹  in this wilderness!

Numbers 13:12

13:12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli;

Numbers 20:20

20:20 But he said, “You may not pass through.” Then Edom came out against them ¹⁰  with a large and powerful force. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 8:9-10

8:9 You will be broken, ¹²  O nations;

you will be shattered! ¹³ 

Pay attention, all you distant lands of the earth!

Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered!

Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered! ¹⁴ 

8:10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted!

Issue your orders, but they will not be executed! ¹⁵ 

For God is with us! ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 30:1-7

Egypt Will Prove Unreliable

30:1 “The rebellious ¹⁷  children are as good as dead,” ¹⁸  says the Lord,

“those who make plans without consulting me, ¹⁹ 

who form alliances without consulting my Spirit, ²⁰ 

and thereby compound their sin. ²¹ 

30:2 They travel down to Egypt

without seeking my will, ²² 

seeking Pharaoh’s protection,

and looking for safety in Egypt’s protective shade. ²³ 

30:3 But Pharaoh’s protection will bring you nothing but shame,

and the safety of Egypt’s protective shade nothing but humiliation.

30:4 Though his ²⁴  officials are in Zoan

and his messengers arrive at Hanes, ²⁵ 

30:5 all will be put to shame ²⁶ 

because of a nation that cannot help them,

who cannot give them aid or help,

but only shame and disgrace.”

30:6 This is a message ²⁷  about the animals in the Negev:

Through a land of distress and danger,

inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions, ²⁸ 

by snakes and darting adders, ²⁹ 

they transport ³⁰  their wealth on the backs of donkeys,

their riches on the humps of camels,

to a nation that cannot help them. ³¹ 

30:7 Egypt is totally incapable of helping. ³² 

For this reason I call her

‘Proud one ³³  who is silenced.’” ³⁴ 

Isaiah 31:1-3

Egypt Will Disappoint

31:1 Those who go down to Egypt for help are as good as dead, ³⁵ 

those who rely on war horses,

and trust in Egypt’s many chariots ³⁶ 

and in their many, many horsemen. ³⁷ 

But they do not rely on the Holy One of Israel ³⁸ 

and do not seek help from the Lord.

31:2 Yet he too is wise ³⁹  and he will bring disaster;

he does not retract his decree. ⁴⁰ 

He will attack the wicked nation, ⁴¹ 

and the nation that helps ⁴²  those who commit sin. ⁴³ 

31:3 The Egyptians are mere humans, not God;

their horses are made of flesh, not spirit.

The Lord will strike with ⁴⁴  his hand;

the one who helps will stumble

and the one being helped will fall.

Together they will perish. ⁴⁵ 

Jeremiah 32:5

32:5 Zedekiah will be carried off to Babylon and will remain there until I have fully dealt with him. ⁴⁶  I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁴⁷  Even if you ⁴⁸  continue to fight against the Babylonians, ⁴⁹  you cannot win.’”

[17:15]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the member of the royal family, v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:15]  ² tn Heb “him”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:16]  ³ tn Heb “place.”

[17:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “deal with” or “work with.”

[14:41]  ⁵ tn The line literally has, “Why is this [that] you are transgressing….” The demonstrative pronoun is enclitic; it brings the force of “why in the world are you doing this now?”

[14:41]  ⁶ tn Heb “mouth.”

[14:2]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew verb “to murmur” is לוּן (lun). It is a strong word, signifying far more than complaining or grumbling, as some of the modern translations have it. The word is most often connected to the wilderness experience. It is paralleled in the literature with the word “to rebel.” The murmuring is like a parliamentary vote of no confidence, for they no longer trusted their leaders and wished to choose a new leader and return. This “return to Egypt” becomes a symbol of their lack of faith in the Lord.

[14:2]  ⁸ tn The optative is expressed by לוּ (lu) and then the verb, here the perfect tense מַתְנוּ (matnu) – “O that we had died….” Had they wanted to die in Egypt they should not have cried out to the Lord to deliver them from bondage. Here the people became consumed with the fear and worry of what lay ahead, and in their panic they revealed a lack of trust in God.

[14:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “died.”

[20:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to meet him.”

[20:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “with many [heavy] people and with a strong hand.” The translation presented above is interpretive, but that is what the line means. It was a show of force, numbers and weapons, to intimidate the Israelites.

[8:9]  ¹² tn The verb רֹעוּ (ro’u) is a Qal imperative, masculine plural from רָעַע (ra’a’, “break”). Elsewhere both transitive (Job 34:24; Ps 2:9; Jer 15:12) and intransitive (Prov 25:19; Jer 11:16) senses are attested for the Qal of this verb. Because no object appears here, the form is likely intransitive: “be broken.” In this case the imperative is rhetorical (like “be shattered” later in the verse) and equivalent to a prediction, “you will be broken.” On the rhetorical use of the imperative in general, see IBHS 572 §34.4c; GKC 324 §110.c.

[8:9]  ¹³ tn The imperatival form (Heb “be shattered”) is rhetorical and expresses the speaker’s firm conviction of the outcome of the nations’ attack. See the note on “be broken.”

[8:9]  ¹⁴ tn The initial imperative (“get ready for battle”) acknowledges the reality of the nations’ hostility; the concluding imperative (Heb “be shattered”) is rhetorical and expresses the speakers’ firm conviction of the outcome of the nations’ attack. (See the note on “be broken.”) One could paraphrase, “Okay, go ahead and prepare for battle since that’s what you want to do, but your actions will backfire and you’ll be shattered.” This rhetorical use of the imperatives is comparable to saying to a child who is bent on climbing a high tree, “Okay, go ahead, climb the tree and break your arm!” What this really means is: “Okay, go ahead and climb the tree since that’s what you really want to do, but your actions will backfire and you’ll break your arm.” The repetition of the statement in the final two lines of the verse gives the challenge the flavor of a taunt (ancient Israelite “trash talking,” as it were).

[8:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “speak a word, but it will not stand.”

[8:10]  ¹⁶ sn In these vv. 9-10 the tone shifts abruptly from judgment to hope. Hostile nations like Assyria may attack God’s people, but eventually they will be destroyed, for God is with his people, sometimes to punish, but ultimately to vindicate. In addition to being a reminder of God’s presence in the immediate crisis faced by Ahaz and Judah, Immanuel (whose name is echoed in this concluding statement) was a guarantee of the nation’s future greatness in fulfillment of God’s covenantal promises. Eventually God would deliver his people from the hostile nations (vv. 9-10) through another child, an ideal Davidic ruler who would embody God’s presence in a special way (see 9:6-7). Jesus the Messiah is the fulfillment of the Davidic ideal prophesied by Isaiah, the one whom Immanuel foreshadowed. Through the miracle of the incarnation he is literally “God with us.” Matthew realized this and applied Isaiah’s ancient prophecy of Immanuel’s birth to Jesus (Matt 1:22-23). The first Immanuel was a reminder to the people of God’s presence and a guarantee of a greater child to come who would manifest God’s presence in an even greater way. The second Immanuel is “God with us” in a heightened and infinitely superior sense. He “fulfills” Isaiah’s Immanuel prophecy by bringing the typology intended by God to realization and by filling out or completing the pattern designed by God. Of course, in the ultimate fulfillment of the type, the incarnate Immanuel’s mother must be a virgin, so Matthew uses a Greek term (παρθένος, parqenos), which carries that technical meaning (in contrast to the Hebrew word עַלְמָה [’almah], which has the more general meaning “young woman”). Matthew draws similar analogies between NT and OT events in 2:15, 18. The linking of these passages by analogy is termed “fulfillment.” In 2:15 God calls Jesus, his perfect Son, out of Egypt, just as he did his son Israel in the days of Moses, an historical event referred to in Hos 11:1. In so doing he makes it clear that Jesus is the ideal Israel prophesied by Isaiah (see Isa 49:3), sent to restore wayward Israel (see Isa 49:5, cf. Matt 1:21). In 2:18 Herod’s slaughter of the infants is another illustration of the oppressive treatment of God’s people by foreign tyrants. Herod’s actions are analogous to those of the Assyrians, who deported the Israelites, causing the personified land to lament as inconsolably as a mother robbed of her little ones (Jer 31:15).

[30:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “stubborn” (NCV); cf. NIV “obstinate.”

[30:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Woe [to] rebellious children.”

[30:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “making a plan, but not from me.”

[30:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and pouring out a libation, but not [from] my spirit.” This translation assumes that the verb נָסַךְ (nasakh) means “pour out,” and that the cognate noun מַסֵּכָה (massekhah) means “libation.” In this case “pouring out a libation” alludes to a ceremony that formally ratifies an alliance. Another option is to understand the verb נָסַךְ as a homonym meaning “weave,” and the cognate noun מַסֵּכָה as a homonym meaning “covering.” In this case forming an alliance is likened to weaving a garment.

[30:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “consequently adding sin to sin.”

[30:2]  ²² tn Heb “those who go to descend to Egypt, but [of] my mouth they do not inquire.”

[30:2]  ²³ tn Heb “to seek protection in the protection of Pharaoh, and to seek refuge in the shade of Egypt.”

[30:4]  ²⁴ sn This probably refers to Judah’s officials and messengers.

[30:4]  ²⁵ sn Zoan was located in the Egyptian delta in the north; Hanes was located somewhere in southern region of lower Egypt, south of Memphis; the exact location is debated.

[30:5]  ²⁶ tn The present translation follows the marginal (Qere) reading of the Hebrew text; the consonantal text (Kethib) has “made to stink, decay.”

[30:6]  ²⁷ tn Traditionally, “burden” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “oracle.”

[30:6]  ²⁸ tc Heb “[a land of] a lioness and a lion, from them.” Some emend מֵהֶם (mehem, “from them”) to מֵהֵם (mehem), an otherwise unattested Hiphil participle from הָמַם (hamam, “move noisily”). Perhaps it would be better to take the initial mem (מ) as enclitic and emend the form to הֹמֶה (homeh), a Qal active participle from הָמָה (hamah, “to make a noise”); cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:542, n. 9.

[30:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “flying fiery one.” See the note at 14:29.

[30:6]  ³⁰ tn Or “carry” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[30:6]  ³¹ sn This verse describes messengers from Judah transporting wealth to Egypt in order to buy Pharaoh’s protection through a treaty.

[30:7]  ³² tn Heb “As for Egypt, with vanity and emptiness they help.”

[30:7]  ³³ tn Heb “Rahab” (רַהַב, rahav), which also appears as a name for Egypt in Ps 87:4. The epithet is also used in the OT for a mythical sea monster symbolic of chaos. See the note at 51:9. A number of English versions use the name “Rahab” (e.g., ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) while others attempt some sort of translation (cf. CEV “a helpless monster”; TEV, NLT “the Harmless Dragon”).

[30:7]  ³⁴ tn The MT reads “Rahab, they, sitting.” The translation above assumes an emendation of הֵם שָׁבֶת (hem shavet) to הַמָּשְׁבָּת (hammashbat), a Hophal participle with prefixed definite article, meaning “the one who is made to cease,” i.e., “destroyed,” or “silenced.” See HALOT 444-45 s.v. ישׁב.

[31:1]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who go down to Egypt for help.”

[31:1]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and trust in chariots for they are many.”

[31:1]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and in horsemen for they are very strong [or “numerous”].”

[31:1]  ³⁸ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[31:2]  ³⁹ sn This statement appears to have a sarcastic tone. The royal advisers who are advocating an alliance with Egypt think they are wise, but the Lord possesses wisdom as well and will thwart their efforts.

[31:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and he does not turn aside [i.e., “retract”] his words”; NIV “does not take back his words.”

[31:2]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and he will arise against the house of the wicked.”

[31:2]  ⁴² sn That is, Egypt.

[31:2]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and against the help of the doers of sin.”

[31:3]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “will extend”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV “stretch out.”

[31:3]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “together all of them will come to an end.”

[32:5]  ⁴⁶ tn This is the verb (פָּקַד, paqad) that has been met with several times in the book of Jeremiah, most often in the ominous sense of “punish” (e.g., 6:15; 11:22; 23:24) but also in the good sense of “resume concern for” (e.g., 27:22; 29:10). Here it is obviously in the ominous sense referring to his imprisonment and ultimate death (52:11).

[32:5]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[32:5]  ⁴⁸ sn The pronouns are plural here, referring to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Jeremiah had counseled that they surrender (cf. 27:12; 21:8-10) because they couldn’t succeed against the Babylonian army even under the most favorable circumstances (37:3-10).

[32:5]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.