Discovery BoxIsaiah 7:17-25
Context7:17 The Lord will bring on you, your people, and your father’s family a time 1 unlike any since Ephraim departed from Judah – the king of Assyria!” 2
7:18 At that time 3 the Lord will whistle for flies from the distant streams of Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria. 4 7:19 All of them will come and make their home 5 in the ravines between the cliffs, and in the crevices of the cliffs, in all the thorn bushes, and in all the watering holes. 6 7:20 At that time 7 the sovereign master will use a razor hired from the banks of the Euphrates River, 8 the king of Assyria, to shave the head and the pubic hair; 9 it will also shave off the beard. 7:21 At that time 10 a man will keep alive a young cow from the herd and a couple of goats. 7:22 From the abundance of milk they produce, 11 he will have sour milk for his meals. Indeed, everyone left in the heart of the land will eat sour milk and honey. 7:23 At that time 12 every place where there had been a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels will be overrun 13 with thorns and briers. 7:24 With bow and arrow 14 men will hunt 15 there, for the whole land will be covered 16 with thorns and briers. 7:25 They will stay away from all the hills that were cultivated, for fear of the thorns and briers. 17 Cattle will graze there and sheep will trample on them. 18
Isaiah 10:5-6
Context10:5 Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, 19
a cudgel with which I angrily punish. 20
10:6 I sent him 21 against a godless 22 nation,
I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, 23
to take plunder and to carry away loot,
to trample them down 24 like dirt in the streets.
Jeremiah 49:1
Context49:1 The Lord spoke about the Ammonites. 25
“Do you think there are not any people of the nation of Israel remaining?
Do you think there are not any of them remaining to reinherit their land?
Is that why you people who worship the god Milcom 26
have taken possession of the territory of Gad and live in his cities? 27
[7:17] 1 tn Heb “days” (so KJV, NAB); NASB, NRSV “such days.”
[7:17] 2 sn Initially the prophecy appears to be a message of salvation. Immanuel seems to have a positive ring to it, sour milk and honey elsewhere symbolize prosperity and blessing (see Deut 32:13-14; Job 20:17), verse 16 announces the defeat of Judah’s enemies, and verse 17a could be taken as predicting a return to the glorious days of David and Solomon. However, the message turns sour in verses 17b-25. God will be with his people in judgment, as well as salvation. The curds and honey will be signs of deprivation, not prosperity, the relief announced in verse 16 will be short-lived, and the new era will be characterized by unprecedented humiliation, not a return to glory. Because of Ahaz’s refusal to trust the Lord, potential blessing would be transformed into a curse, just as Isaiah turns an apparent prophecy of salvation into a message of judgment. Because the words “the king of Assyria” are rather awkwardly tacked on to the end of the sentence, some regard them as a later addition. However, the very awkwardness facilitates the prophet’s rhetorical strategy here, as he suddenly turns what sounds like a positive message into a judgment speech. Actually, “the king of Assyria,” stands in apposition to the earlier object “days,” and specifies who the main character of these coming “days” will be.
[7:18] 3 tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
[7:18] 4 sn Swarming flies are irritating; bees are irritating and especially dangerous because of the pain they inflict with their sting (see Deut 1:44; Ps 118:12). The metaphors are well chosen, for the Assyrians (symbolized by the bees) were much more powerful and dangerous than the Egyptians (symbolized by the flies). Nevertheless both would put pressure on Judah, for Egypt wanted Judah as a buffer state against Assyrian aggression, while Assyrian wanted it as a base for operations against Egypt. Following the reference to sour milk and honey, the metaphor is especially apt, for flies are attracted to dairy products and bees can be found in the vicinity of honey.
[7:19] 5 tn Heb “and shall rest” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NIV, NRSV “and settle.”
[7:19] 6 tn The meaning of this word (נַהֲלֹל, nahalol) is uncertain; some understand this as referring to another type of thorn bush. For bibliography, see HALOT 676 s.v. I *נַהֲלֹל.
[7:20] 7 tn Heb “in that day” (so ASV, NASB); KJV “In the same day.”
[7:20] 8 tn Heb “the river” (so KJV); NASB “the Euphrates.” The name of the river has been supplied in the present translation for clarity.
[7:20] 9 tn Heb “the hair of the feet.” The translation assumes that the word “feet” is used here as a euphemism for the genitals. See BDB 920 s.v. רֶגֶל.
[7:21] 10 tn Heb “in that day.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
[7:22] 11 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated, see note on 2:2.
[7:23] 12 tn Heb “in that day.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
[7:23] 13 tn Heb “will become” (so NASB); NAB “shall be turned to.”
[7:24] 14 tn Heb “with arrows and a bow.” The more common English idiom is “bow[s] and arrow[s].”
[7:24] 15 tn Heb “go” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “go hunting.”
[7:24] 16 tn Heb “will be” (so NASB, NRSV).
[7:25] 17 tn Heb “and all the hills which were hoed with a hoe, you will not go there [for] fear of the thorns and briers.”
[7:25] 18 tn Heb “and it will become a pasture for cattle and a trampling place for sheep.”
[10:5] 19 tn Heb “Woe [to] Assyria, the club of my anger.” On הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) see the note on the first phrase of 1:4.
[10:5] 20 tn Heb “a cudgel is he, in their hand is my anger.” It seems likely that the final mem (ם) on בְיָדָם (bÿyadam) is not a pronominal suffix (“in their hand”), but an enclitic mem. If so, one can translate literally, “a cudgel is he in the hand of my anger.”
[10:6] 21 sn Throughout this section singular forms are used to refer to Assyria; perhaps the king of Assyria is in view (see v. 12).
[10:6] 22 tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “impious”; NCV “separated from God.”
[10:6] 23 tn Heb “and against the people of my anger I ordered him.”
[10:6] 24 tn Heb “to make it [i.e., the people] a trampled place.”
[49:1] 25 sn Ammonites. Ammon was a small kingdom to the north and east of Moab which was in constant conflict with the Transjordanian tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh over territorial rights to the lands north and south of the Jabbok River. Ammon mainly centered on the city of Rabbah which is modern Amman. According to Judg 11:13 the Ammonites claimed the land between the Jabbok and the Arnon but this was land taken from them by Sihon and Og and land that the Israelites captured from the latter two kings. The Ammonites attempted to expand into the territory of Israel in the Transjordan in the time of Jephthah (Judg 10-11) and the time of Saul (1 Sam 11). Apparently when Tiglath Pileser carried away the Israelite tribes in Transjordan in 733
[49:1] 26 tc The reading here and in v. 3 follows the reading of the Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions and 1 Kgs 11:5, 33; 2 Kgs 23:13. The Hebrew reads “Malcom” both here, in v. 3, and Zeph 1:5. This god is to be identified with the god known elsewhere as Molech (cf. 1 Kgs 11:7).
[49:1] 27 tn Heb “Does not Israel have any sons? Does not he have any heir [or “heirs” as a collective]? Why [then] has Malcom taken possession of Gad and [why] do his [Malcom’s] people live in his [Gad’s] land?” A literal translation here will not produce any meaning without major commentary. Hence the meaning that is generally agreed on is reflected in an admittedly paraphrastic translation. The reference is to the fact that the Ammonites had taken possession of the cities that had been deserted when the Assyrians carried off the Transjordanian tribes in 733
