Isaiah 10:9-11

10:9 Is not Calneh like Carchemish?

Hamath like Arpad?

Samaria like Damascus? ¹ 

10:10 I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols, ² 

whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem’s ³  or Samaria’s.

10:11 As I have done to Samaria and its idols,

so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.” ⁴ 

Isaiah 36:18-20

36:18 Hezekiah is misleading you when he says, “The Lord will rescue us.” Has any of the gods of the nations rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria? ⁵  36:19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? ⁶  Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria ⁷  from my power? ⁸  36:20 Who among all the gods of these lands have rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’” ⁹ 

Isaiah 46:1-2

The Lord Carries His People

46:1 Bel ¹⁰  kneels down,

Nebo ¹¹  bends low.

Their images weigh down animals and beasts. ¹² 

Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals. ¹³ 

46:2 Together they bend low and kneel down;

they are unable to rescue the images; ¹⁴ 

they themselves ¹⁵  head off into captivity. ¹⁶ 

Exodus 32:20

32:20 He took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, ground it ¹⁷  to powder, poured it out on the water, and made the Israelites drink it. ¹⁸ 

Exodus 32:2

32:2 So Aaron said to them, “Break off the gold earrings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ¹⁹ 

Exodus 5:21

5:21 and they said to them, “May the Lord look on you and judge, ²⁰  because you have made us stink ²¹  in the opinion of ²²  Pharaoh and his servants, ²³  so that you have given them an excuse to kill us!” ²⁴ 

[10:9]  ¹ sn Calneh … Carchemish … Hamath … Arpad … Samaria … Damascus. The city states listed here were conquered by the Assyrians between 740-717 b.c. The point of the rhetorical questions is that no one can stand before Assyria’s might. On the geographical, rather than chronological arrangement of the cities, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:264, n. 4.

[10:10]  ² tn Heb “Just as my hand found the kingdoms of the idol[s].” The comparison is expanded in v. 11a (note “as”) and completed in v. 11b (note “so”).

[10:10]  ³ map For the location of Jerusalem see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[10:11]  ⁴ tn The statement is constructed as a rhetorical question in the Hebrew text: “Is it not [true that] just as I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols?”

[36:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “Have the gods of the nations rescued, each his land, from the hand of the king of Assyria?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course not!”

[36:19]  ⁶ tn The rhetorical questions in v. 34a suggest the answer, “Nowhere, they seem to have disappeared in the face of Assyria’s might.”

[36:19]  ⁷ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[36:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “that they rescued Samaria from my hand?” But this gives the impression that the gods of Sepharvaim were responsible for protecting Samaria, which is obviously not the case. The implied subject of the plural verb “rescued” must be the generic “gods of the nations/lands” (vv. 18, 20).

[36:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “that the Lord might rescue Jerusalem from my hand?” The logic runs as follows: Since no god has ever been able to withstand the Assyrian onslaught, how can the people of Jerusalem possibly think the Lord will rescue them?

[46:1]  ¹⁰ sn Bel was the name of a Babylonian god. The name was originally associated with Enlil, but later was applied to Marduk. See HALOT 132 s.v. בֵּל.

[46:1]  ¹¹ sn Nebo is a variation of the name of the Babylonian god Nabu.

[46:1]  ¹² tn Heb “their images belong to animals and beasts”; NIV “their idols are borne by beasts of burden”; NLT “are being hauled away.”

[46:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “your loads are carried [as] a burden by a weary [animal].”

[46:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “[the] burden,” i.e., their images, the heavy burden carried by the animals.

[46:2]  ¹⁵ tn נַפְשָׁם (nafsham, “their souls/lives”) is equivalent here to a third masculine plural suffix, but the third feminine singular verb הָלָכָה (halakhah, “they go”) agrees with the feminine noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul, life”).

[46:2]  ¹⁶ sn The downfall of Babylon is depicted here. The idols are carried off by the victorious enemy; the gods are likened to defeated captives who cower before the enemy and are taken into exile.

[32:20]  ¹⁷ tn Here “it” has been supplied.

[32:20]  ¹⁸ tn Here “it” has been supplied.

[32:2]  ¹⁹ sn B. Jacob (Exodus, 937-38) argues that Aaron simply did not have the resolution that Moses did, and wanting to keep peace he gave in to the crowd. He also tries to explain that Aaron was wanting to show their folly through the deed. U. Cassuto also says that Aaron’s request for the gold was a form of procrastination, but that the people quickly did it and so he had no alternative but to go through with it (Exodus, 412). These may be right, since Aaron fully understood what was wrong with this, and what the program was all about. The text gives no strong indication to support these ideas, but there are enough hints from the way Aaron does things to warrant such a conclusion.

[5:21]  ²⁰ tn The foremen vented their anger on Moses and Aaron. The two jussives express their desire that the evil these two have caused be dealt with. “May Yahweh look on you and may he judge” could mean only that God should decide if Moses and Aaron are at fault, but given the rest of the comments it is clear the foremen want more. The second jussive could be subordinated to the first – “so that he may judge [you].”

[5:21]  ²¹ tn Heb “you have made our aroma stink.”

[5:21]  ²² tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[5:21]  ²³ tn Heb “in the eyes of his servants.” This phrase is not repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[5:21]  ²⁴ tn Heb “to put a sword in their hand to kill us.” The infinitive construct with the lamed (לָתֶת, latet) signifies the result (“so that”) of making the people stink. Their reputation is now so bad that Pharaoh might gladly put them to death. The next infinitive could also be understood as expressing result: “put a sword in their hand so that they can kill us.”