Isaiah 13:4

13:4 ¹ There is a loud noise on the mountains –

it sounds like a large army! ² 

There is great commotion among the kingdoms ³  –

nations are being assembled!

The Lord who commands armies is mustering

forces for battle.

Isaiah 13:1

The Lord Will Judge Babylon

13:1 ⁴ This is a message about Babylon that God revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz: ⁵ 

Isaiah 14:19

14:19 But you have been thrown out of your grave

like a shoot that is thrown away. ⁶ 

You lie among ⁷  the slain,

among those who have been slashed by the sword,

among those headed for ⁸  the stones of the pit, ⁹ 

as if you were a mangled corpse. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 47:3

47:3 Fathers will hear the hoofbeats of the enemies’ horses,

the clatter of their chariots and the rumbling of their wheels.

They will not turn back to save their children

because they will be paralyzed with fear. ¹¹ 

Joel 2:5

2:5 They sound like ¹²  chariots rumbling ¹³  over mountain tops,

like the crackling ¹⁴  of blazing fire consuming stubble,

like the noise of ¹⁵  a mighty army ¹⁶  being drawn up for battle. ¹⁷ 

Nahum 3:2

Portrayal of the Destruction of Nineveh

3:2 The chariot drivers will crack their whips; ¹⁸ 

the chariot wheels will shake the ground; ¹⁹ 

the chariot horses ²⁰  will gallop; ²¹ 

the war chariots ²²  will bolt forward! ²³ 

[13:4]  ¹ sn In vv. 4-10 the prophet appears to be speaking, since the Lord is referred to in the third person. However, since the Lord refers to himself in the third person later in this chapter (see v. 13), it is possible that he speaks throughout the chapter.

[13:4]  ² tn Heb “a sound, a roar [is] on the mountains, like many people.”

[13:4]  ³ tn Heb “a sound, tumult of kingdoms.”

[13:1]  ⁴ sn Isa 13-23 contains a series of judgment oracles against various nations. It is likely that Israel, not the nations mentioned, actually heard these oracles. The oracles probably had a twofold purpose. For those leaders who insisted on getting embroiled in international politics, these oracles were a reminder that Judah need not fear foreign nations or seek international alliances for security reasons. For the righteous remnant within the nation, these oracles were a reminder that Israel’s God was indeed the sovereign ruler of the earth, worthy of his people’s trust.

[13:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “The message [traditionally, “burden”] [about] Babylon which Isaiah son of Amoz saw.”

[14:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “like a shoot that is abhorred.” The simile seems a bit odd; apparently it refers to a small shoot that is trimmed from a plant and tossed away. Some prefer to emend נֵצֶר (netser, “shoot”); some propose נֵפֶל (nefel, “miscarriage”). In this case one might paraphrase: “like a horrible-looking fetus that is delivered when a woman miscarries.”

[14:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “are clothed with.”

[14:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “those going down to.”

[14:19]  ⁹ tn בּוֹר (bor) literally means “cistern”; cisterns were constructed from stones. On the metaphorical use of “cistern” for the underworld, see the note at v. 15.

[14:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “like a trampled corpse.” Some take this line with what follows.

[47:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “From the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions, from the rattling of his chariots at the rumbling of their wheels, fathers will not turn to their children from sinking of hands.” According to BDB 952 s.v. רִפָּיוֹן the “sinking of the hands” is figurative of helplessness caused by terror. A very similar figure is seen with a related expression in Isa 35:3-4. The sentence has been restructured to put the subject up front and to suggest through shorter sentences more in keeping with contemporary English style the same causal connections. The figures have been interpreted for the sake of clarity for the average reader.

[2:5]  ¹² tn Heb “like the sound of.”

[2:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “jostling” or “leaping.” There is question whether this pictures chariots rumbling over the mountains (e.g., 2 Sam 6:14,16; 1 Chr 15:29; Nah 3:2) or the locusts flying – or “leaping” – over the mountains (e.g., Job 21:11); see BDB 955 s.v. רָקַד.

[2:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “sound.”

[2:5]  ¹⁵ tn The phrase “the noise of” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is implied by the parallelism, so it has been supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[2:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “people.”

[2:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “being arrayed of battle.”

[3:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the sound of a whip.”

[3:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the shaking of a chariot wheel.”

[3:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “a horse.”

[3:2]  ²¹ tn Albright argues that the term דֹּהֵר (doher) should be translated as “chariot driver” (W. F. Albright, “The Song of Deborah in Light of Archaeology,” BASOR 62 [1936]: 30). More recent research indicates that this term denotes “to dash” (HALOT 215 s.v.) or “to gallop, neigh” (DCH 2:417 s.v. דהר I). It is used as a synonym for רָקַד (raqad, “to skip”). This Hebrew verb is related to Egyptian thr (“to travel by chariot”) and Arabic dahara VII (“to hurry”). The related noun דַּהֲרָה (daharah) means “dashing, galloping” (Judg 5:22; HALOT 215 s.v.; DCH 2:417 s.v. דַּהֲרָה I).

[3:2]  ²² tn Heb “a chariot.”

[3:2]  ²³ tn The Piel participle מְרַקֵּדָה (mÿraqqedah, “jolting”) is from רַקַד (raqad); this verb means “to dance, to leap” (of children, Job 21:11), “to skip about, to dance” (Eccl 3:4), and “to leap” (of chariots, Joel 2:5). In related Semitic languages (Akkadian, Ugaritic, and Arabic) the root raqad means “to dance, to skip about.” Here, the verb is used as a figurative expression (hypocatastasis) to describe the jostling of the madly rushing war-chariots.