Isaiah 11:13-15

11:13 Ephraim’s jealousy will end, ¹ 

and Judah’s hostility ²  will be eliminated.

Ephraim will no longer be jealous of Judah,

and Judah will no longer be hostile toward Ephraim.

11:14 They will swoop down ³  on the Philistine hills to the west; ⁴ 

together they will loot the people of the east.

They will take over Edom and Moab, ⁵ 

and the Ammonites will be their subjects.

11:15 The Lord will divide ⁶  the gulf ⁷  of the Egyptian Sea; ⁸ 

he will wave his hand over the Euphrates River ⁹  and send a strong wind, ¹⁰ 

he will turn it into seven dried-up streams, ¹¹ 

and enable them to walk across in their sandals.

Jeremiah 9:26

9:26 That is, I will punish the Egyptians, the Judeans, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples. ¹²  I will do so because none of the people of those nations are really circumcised in the Lord’s sight. ¹³  Moreover, none of the people of Israel ¹⁴  are circumcised when it comes to their hearts.” ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 48:47

48:47 Yet in days to come

I will reverse Moab’s ill fortune.” ¹⁶ 

says the Lord. ¹⁷ 

The judgment against Moab ends here.

Jeremiah 49:6

49:6 Yet in days to come

I will reverse Ammon’s ill fortune.” ¹⁸ 

says the Lord. ¹⁹ 

[11:13]  ¹ tn Heb “turn aside”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “depart.”

[11:13]  ² tn Heb “hostile ones of Judah.” Elsewhere when the substantival participle of צָרָר (tsarar) takes a pronominal suffix or appears in a construct relationship, the following genitive is objective. (For a list of texts see BDB 865 s.v. III צָרַר) In this case the phrase “hostile ones of Judah” means “those who are hostile toward Judah,” i.e., Judah’s enemies. However, the parallel couplet that follows suggests that Judah’s hostility toward Ephraim is in view. In this case “hostile ones of Judah” means “hostile ones from Judah.” The translation above assumes the latter, giving the immediate context priority over general usage.

[11:14]  ³ tn Heb “fly.” Ephraim/Judah are compared to a bird of prey.

[11:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “on the shoulder of Philistia toward the sea.” This refers to the slopes of the hill country west of Judah. See HALOT 506 s.v. כָּתֵף.

[11:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “Edom and Moab [will be the place of] the outstretching of their hand,” i.e., included in their area of jurisdiction (see HALOT 648 s.v. ח(וֹ)מִשְׁלֹ).

[11:15]  ⁶ tn The verb is usually understood as “put under the ban, destroy,” or emended to חָרָב (kharav, “dry up”). However, HALOT 354 s.v. II חרם proposes a homonymic root meaning “divide.”

[11:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “tongue” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[11:15]  ⁸ sn That is, the Red Sea.

[11:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “the river”; capitalized in some English versions (e.g., ASV, NASB, NRSV) as a reference to the Euphrates River.

[11:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “with the [?] of his wind” [or “breath”]. The Hebrew term עַיָם (’ayam) occurs only here. Some attempt to relate the word to an Arabic root and translate, “scorching [or “hot”] wind.” This interpretation fits especially well if one reads “dry up” in the previous line. Others prefer to emend the form to עֹצֶם (’otsem, “strong”). See HALOT 817 s.v. עֲצַם.

[11:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “seven streams.” The Hebrew term נַחַל (nakhal, “stream”) refers to a wadi, or seasonal stream, which runs during the rainy season, but is otherwise dry. The context (see v. 15b) here favors the translation, “dried up streams.” The number seven suggests totality and completeness. Here it indicates that God’s provision for escape will be thorough and more than capable of accommodating the returning exiles.

[9:26]  ¹² tn Heb “all those who are cut off on the side of the head who live in the desert.” KJV and some other English versions (e.g., NIV “who live in the desert in distant places”; NLT “who live in distant places”) have followed the interpretation that this is a biform of an expression meaning “end or remote parts of the [far] corners [of the earth].” This interpretation is generally abandoned by the more recent commentaries and lexicons (see, e.g. BDB 802 s.v. פֵּאָה 1 and HALOT 858 s.v. פֵּאָה 1.β). It occurs also in 25:33; 49:32.

[9:26]  ¹³ tn Heb “For all of these nations are uncircumcised.” The words “I will do so” are supplied in the translation to indicate the connection with the preceding statement.

[9:26]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

[9:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “And all the house of Israel is uncircumcised of heart.”

[48:47]  ¹⁶ tn See 29:14; 30:3 and the translator’s note on 29:14 for the idiom used here.

[48:47]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[49:6]  ¹⁸ tn See Jer 29:14; 30:3 and the translator’s note on 29:14 for the idiom used here.

[49:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”