Discovery BoxJeremiah 2:36-37
Context2:36 Why do you constantly go about
changing your political allegiances? 1
You will get no help from Egypt
just as you got no help from Assyria. 2
2:37 Moreover, you will come away from Egypt
with your hands covering your faces in sorrow and shame 3
because the Lord will not allow your reliance on them to be successful
and you will not gain any help from them. 4
Jeremiah 30:13-15
Context30:13 There is no one to plead your cause.
There are no remedies for your wounds. 5
There is no healing for you.
30:14 All your allies have abandoned you. 6
They no longer have any concern for you.
For I have attacked you like an enemy would.
I have chastened you cruelly.
For your wickedness is so great
and your sin is so much. 7
30:15 Why do you complain about your injuries,
that your pain is incurable?
I have done all this to you
because your wickedness is so great
and your sin is so much.
Jeremiah 30:2
Context30:2 “The Lord God of Israel says, 8 ‘Write everything that I am about to tell you in a scroll. 9
Jeremiah 24:7
Context24:7 I will give them the desire to acknowledge that I 10 am the Lord. I will be their God and they will be my people. For they will wholeheartedly 11 return to me.’
Isaiah 20:5-6
Context20:5 Those who put their hope in Cush and took pride in Egypt will be afraid and embarrassed. 12 20:6 At that time 13 those who live on this coast 14 will say, ‘Look what has happened to our source of hope to whom we fled for help, expecting to be rescued from the king of Assyria! How can we escape now?’”
Isaiah 30:1-7
Context30:1 “The rebellious 15 children are as good as dead,” 16 says the Lord,
“those who make plans without consulting me, 17
who form alliances without consulting my Spirit, 18
and thereby compound their sin. 19
30:2 They travel down to Egypt
without seeking my will, 20
seeking Pharaoh’s protection,
and looking for safety in Egypt’s protective shade. 21
30:3 But Pharaoh’s protection will bring you nothing but shame,
and the safety of Egypt’s protective shade nothing but humiliation.
30:4 Though his 22 officials are in Zoan
and his messengers arrive at Hanes, 23
30:5 all will be put to shame 24
because of a nation that cannot help them,
who cannot give them aid or help,
but only shame and disgrace.”
30:6 This is a message 25 about the animals in the Negev:
Through a land of distress and danger,
inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions, 26
by snakes and darting adders, 27
they transport 28 their wealth on the backs of donkeys,
their riches on the humps of camels,
to a nation that cannot help them. 29
30:7 Egypt is totally incapable of helping. 30
For this reason I call her
‘Proud one 31 who is silenced.’” 32
Isaiah 31:1-3
Context31:1 Those who go down to Egypt for help are as good as dead, 33
those who rely on war horses,
and trust in Egypt’s many chariots 34
and in their many, many horsemen. 35
But they do not rely on the Holy One of Israel 36
and do not seek help from the Lord.
31:2 Yet he too is wise 37 and he will bring disaster;
he does not retract his decree. 38
He will attack the wicked nation, 39
and the nation that helps 40 those who commit sin. 41
31:3 The Egyptians are mere humans, not God;
their horses are made of flesh, not spirit.
The Lord will strike with 42 his hand;
the one who helps will stumble
and the one being helped will fall.
Together they will perish. 43
[2:36] 1 tn Heb “changing your way.” The translation follows the identification of the Hebrew verb here as a defective writing of a form (תֵּזְלִי [tezÿli] instead of תֵּאזְלִי [te’zÿli]) from a verb meaning “go/go about” (אָזַל [’azal]; cf. BDB 23 s.v. אָזַל). Most modern English versions, commentaries, and lexicons read it from a root meaning “to treat cheaply [or lightly]” (תָּזֵלִּי [tazelli] from the root זָלַל (zalal); cf. HALOT 261 s.v. זָלַל); hence, “Why do you consider it such a small matter to…”
[2:36] 2 tn Heb “You will be ashamed/disappointed by Egypt, just as you were ashamed/ disappointed by Assyria.”
[2:37] 3 tn Heb “with your hands on your head.” For the picture here see 2 Sam 13:19.
[2:37] 4 tn Heb “The
[30:13] 5 tc The translation of these first two lines follows the redivision of the lines suggested in NIV and NRSV rather than that of the Masoretes who read, “There is no one who pleads your cause with reference to [your] wound.”
[30:14] 6 tn Heb “forgotten you.”
[30:14] 7 tn Heb “attacked you like…with the chastening of a cruel one because of the greatness of your iniquity [and because] your sins are many.” The sentence has been broken down to conform to contemporary English style and better poetic scansion.
[30:2] 8 tn Heb “Thus says Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel, saying….” For significance of the title “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel” see the note at 2:19.
[30:2] 9 tn Heb “Write all the words which I speak to you in a scroll.” The verb “which I speak” is the instantaneous use of the perfect tense (cf. GKC 311-12 §106.i or IBHS 488-89 §30.5.1d). The words that the
[24:7] 10 tn Heb “I will give them a heart to know me that I am the
[24:7] 11 tn Heb “with all their heart.”
[20:5] 12 tn Heb “and they will be afraid and embarrassed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their beauty.”
[20:6] 13 tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).
[20:6] 14 sn This probably refers to the coastal region of Philistia (cf. TEV).
[30:1] 15 tn Or “stubborn” (NCV); cf. NIV “obstinate.”
[30:1] 16 tn Heb “Woe [to] rebellious children.”
[30:1] 17 tn Heb “making a plan, but not from me.”
[30:1] 18 tn Heb “and pouring out a libation, but not [from] my spirit.” This translation assumes that the verb נָסַךְ (nasakh) means “pour out,” and that the cognate noun מַסֵּכָה (massekhah) means “libation.” In this case “pouring out a libation” alludes to a ceremony that formally ratifies an alliance. Another option is to understand the verb נָסַךְ as a homonym meaning “weave,” and the cognate noun מַסֵּכָה as a homonym meaning “covering.” In this case forming an alliance is likened to weaving a garment.
[30:1] 19 tn Heb “consequently adding sin to sin.”
[30:2] 20 tn Heb “those who go to descend to Egypt, but [of] my mouth they do not inquire.”
[30:2] 21 tn Heb “to seek protection in the protection of Pharaoh, and to seek refuge in the shade of Egypt.”
[30:4] 22 sn This probably refers to Judah’s officials and messengers.
[30:4] 23 sn Zoan was located in the Egyptian delta in the north; Hanes was located somewhere in southern region of lower Egypt, south of Memphis; the exact location is debated.
[30:5] 24 tn The present translation follows the marginal (Qere) reading of the Hebrew text; the consonantal text (Kethib) has “made to stink, decay.”
[30:6] 25 tn Traditionally, “burden” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “oracle.”
[30:6] 26 tc Heb “[a land of] a lioness and a lion, from them.” Some emend מֵהֶם (mehem, “from them”) to מֵהֵם (mehem), an otherwise unattested Hiphil participle from הָמַם (hamam, “move noisily”). Perhaps it would be better to take the initial mem (מ) as enclitic and emend the form to הֹמֶה (homeh), a Qal active participle from הָמָה (hamah, “to make a noise”); cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:542, n. 9.
[30:6] 27 tn Heb “flying fiery one.” See the note at 14:29.
[30:6] 28 tn Or “carry” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
[30:6] 29 sn This verse describes messengers from Judah transporting wealth to Egypt in order to buy Pharaoh’s protection through a treaty.
[30:7] 30 tn Heb “As for Egypt, with vanity and emptiness they help.”
[30:7] 31 tn Heb “Rahab” (רַהַב, rahav), which also appears as a name for Egypt in Ps 87:4. The epithet is also used in the OT for a mythical sea monster symbolic of chaos. See the note at 51:9. A number of English versions use the name “Rahab” (e.g., ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) while others attempt some sort of translation (cf. CEV “a helpless monster”; TEV, NLT “the Harmless Dragon”).
[30:7] 32 tn The MT reads “Rahab, they, sitting.” The translation above assumes an emendation of הֵם שָׁבֶת (hem shavet) to הַמָּשְׁבָּת (hammashbat), a Hophal participle with prefixed definite article, meaning “the one who is made to cease,” i.e., “destroyed,” or “silenced.” See HALOT 444-45 s.v. ישׁב.
[31:1] 33 tn Heb “Woe [to] those who go down to Egypt for help.”
[31:1] 34 tn Heb “and trust in chariots for they are many.”
[31:1] 35 tn Heb “and in horsemen for they are very strong [or “numerous”].”
[31:1] 36 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
[31:2] 37 sn This statement appears to have a sarcastic tone. The royal advisers who are advocating an alliance with Egypt think they are wise, but the Lord possesses wisdom as well and will thwart their efforts.
[31:2] 38 tn Heb “and he does not turn aside [i.e., “retract”] his words”; NIV “does not take back his words.”
[31:2] 39 tn Heb “and he will arise against the house of the wicked.”
[31:2] 41 tn Heb “and against the help of the doers of sin.”
[31:3] 42 tn Heb “will extend”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV “stretch out.”
[31:3] 43 tn Heb “together all of them will come to an end.”
