Isaiah 37:29

37:29 Because you rage against me

and the uproar you create has reached my ears, ¹ 

I will put my hook in your nose, ² 

and my bridle between your lips,

and I will lead you back

the way you came.”

Isaiah 37:2

37:2 Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, ³  clothed in sackcloth, sent this message to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz:

Isaiah 19:1

The Lord Will Judge Egypt

19:1 Here is a message about Egypt:

Look, the Lord rides on a swift-moving cloud

and approaches Egypt.

The idols of Egypt tremble before him;

the Egyptians lose their courage. ⁴ 

Psalms 32:9

32:9 Do not be ⁵  like an unintelligent horse or mule, ⁶ 

which will not obey you

unless they are controlled by a bridle and bit. ⁷ 

Proverbs 26:3

26:3 A whip for the horse and a bridle for the donkey,

and a rod for the backs of fools! ⁸ 

[37:29]  ¹ 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]  ² sn The word-picture has a parallel in Assyrian sculpture. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 238.

[37:2]  ³ tn Heb “elders of the priests” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); NCV “the older priests”; NRSV, TEV, CEV “the senior priests.”

[19:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the heart of Egypt melts within it.”

[32:9]  ⁵ tn The verb form is plural (i.e., “do not all of you be”); the psalmist addresses the whole group.

[32:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “like a horse, like a mule without understanding.”

[32:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “with a bridle and bit, its [?] to hold, not to come near to you.” The meaning of the Hebrew noun עֲדִי (’adiy) is uncertain. Normally the word refers to “jewelry,” so some suggest the meaning “trappings” here (cf. NASB). Some emend the form to לְחֵיהֶם (lÿkhehem, “their jawbones”) but it is difficult to see how the present Hebrew text, even if corrupt, could have derived from this proposed original reading. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 265) takes the form from an Arabic root and translates “whose gallop.” Cf. also NRSV “whose temper must be curbed.”

[26:3]  ⁸ sn A fool must be disciplined by force like an animal – there is no reasoning. The fool is as difficult to manage as the donkey or horse.