The Song of Songs 3:3

3:3 The night watchmen found me – the ones who guard the city walls. ¹ 

“Have you seen my beloved?” ² 

The Song of Songs 5:7

5:7 The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city.

They beat me, they bruised me;

they took away my cloak, those watchmen on the walls!

Isaiah 21:5-12

21:5 Arrange the table,

lay out ³  the carpet,

eat and drink! ⁴ 

Get up, you officers,

smear oil on the shields! ⁵ 

21:6 For this is what the sovereign master ⁶  has told me:

“Go, post a guard!

He must report what he sees.

21:7 When he sees chariots,

teams of horses, ⁷ 

riders on donkeys,

riders on camels,

he must be alert,

very alert.”

21:8 Then the guard ⁸  cries out:

“On the watchtower, O sovereign master, ⁹ 

I stand all day long;

at my post

I am stationed every night.

21:9 Look what’s coming!

A charioteer,

a team of horses.” ¹⁰ 

When questioned, he replies, ¹¹ 

“Babylon has fallen, fallen!

All the idols of her gods lie shattered on the ground!”

21:10 O my downtrodden people, crushed like stalks on the threshing floor, ¹² 

what I have heard

from the Lord who commands armies,

the God of Israel,

I have reported to you.

Bad News for Seir

21:11 Here is a message about Dumah: ¹³ 

Someone calls to me from Seir, ¹⁴ 

“Watchman, what is left of the night?

Watchman, what is left of the night?” ¹⁵ 

21:12 The watchman replies,

“Morning is coming, but then night. ¹⁶ 

If you want to ask, ask;

come back again.” ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 56:10

56:10 All their watchmen ¹⁸  are blind,

they are unaware. ¹⁹ 

All of them are like mute dogs,

unable to bark.

They pant, ²⁰  lie down,

and love to snooze.

Isaiah 62:6

62:6 I ²¹  post watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;

they should keep praying all day and all night. ²² 

You who pray to ²³  the Lord, don’t be silent!

Jeremiah 51:12

51:12 Give the signal to attack Babylon’s wall! ²⁴ 

Bring more guards! ²⁵ 

Post them all around the city! ²⁶ 

Put men in ambush! ²⁷ 

For the Lord will do what he has planned.

He will do what he said he would do to the people of Babylon. ²⁸ 

Jeremiah 51:31

51:31 One runner after another will come to the king of Babylon.

One messenger after another will come bringing news. ²⁹ 

They will bring news to the king of Babylon

that his whole city has been captured. ³⁰ 

Ezekiel 33:2-9

33:2 “Son of man, speak to your people, ³¹  and say to them, ‘Suppose I bring a sword against the land, and the people of the land take one man from their borders and make him their watchman. 33:3 He sees the sword coming against the land, blows the trumpet, ³²  and warns the people, ³³  33:4 but there is one who hears the sound of the trumpet yet does not heed the warning. Then the sword comes and sweeps him away. He will be responsible for his own death. ³⁴  33:5 He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, so he is responsible for himself. ³⁵  If he had heeded the warning, he would have saved his life. 33:6 But suppose the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people. Then the sword comes and takes one of their lives. He is swept away for his iniquity, ³⁶  but I will hold the watchman accountable for that person’s death.’ ³⁷ 

33:7 “As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman ³⁸  for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf. 33:8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you must certainly die,’ ³⁹  and you do not warn ⁴⁰  the wicked about his behavior, ⁴¹  the wicked man will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death. ⁴²  33:9 But if you warn the wicked man to change his behavior, ⁴³  and he refuses to change, ⁴⁴  he will die for his iniquity, but you have saved your own life.

[3:3]  ¹ tn Heb “those who go around the city” or “those who go around in the city.” The expression הַסֹּבְבִים בָּעִיר (hassovÿvim ba’ir, “those who go around the city”) probably refers to the watchmen of the city walls rather than night city street patrol (e.g., Ps 127:1; Song 5:7; Isa 21:11; 62:6). The Israelite night watchmen of the walls is paralleled by the Akkadian sahir duri (“one who goes around the wall”) which appears in a lexical text as the equivalent of ma-sar musi (“night watchman”) (CAD 4:192). See M. H. Pope, Song of Songs (AB), 419. There is a wordplay in 3:2-3 between the verb וַאֲסוֹבְבָה (va’asovÿvah, “I will go about”) and הַסֹּבְבִים (hassovÿvim, “those who go around”). This wordplay draws attention to the ironic similarity between the woman’s action and the action of the city’s watchmen. Ironically, she failed to find her beloved as she went around in the city, but the city watchmen found her. Rather than finding the one she was looking for, she was found.

[3:3]  ² tn Heb “the one whom my soul loves – have you seen [him]?” The normal Hebrew word-order (verb-subject-direct object) is reversed in 3:3 (direct object-verb-subject) to emphasize the object of her search: אֵת שֶׁאָהֲבָה נַפְשִׁי רְאִיתֶם (’et she’ahavah nafshi rÿ’item, “The one whom my soul loves – have you seen [him]?”).

[21:5]  ³ tn The precise meaning of the verb in this line is debated. Some prefer to derive the form from the homonymic צָפֹה (tsafoh, “keep watch”) and translate “post a guard” (cf. KJV “watch in the watchtower”; ASV “set the watch”).

[21:5]  ⁴ tn The verbal forms in the first three lines are infinitives absolute, which are functioning here as finite verbs. It is uncertain if the forms should have an imperatival or indicative/descriptive force here.

[21:5]  ⁵ sn Smearing the shields with oil would make them more flexible and effective in battle. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:394.

[21:6]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 8, 16 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[21:7]  ⁷ tn Or “a pair of horsemen.”

[21:8]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text has, “the lion,” but this makes little sense here. אַרְיֵה (’aryeh, “lion”) is probably a corruption of an original הָרֹאֶה (haro’eh, “the one who sees”), i.e., the guard mentioned previously in v. 6.

[21:8]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay). Some translations take this to refer to the Lord (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV), while others take it to refer to the guard’s human master (“my lord”; cf. NIV, NLT).

[21:9]  ¹⁰ tn Or “[with] teams of horses,” or perhaps, “with a pair of horsemen.”

[21:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he answered and said” (so KJV, ASV).

[21:10]  ¹² tn Heb “My trampled one, and the son of the threshing floor.”

[21:11]  ¹³ tn The noun דּוּמָה (dumah) means “silence,” but here it is a proper name, probably referring to a site in northern Arabia or to the nation of Edom. See BDB 189 s.v. II דּוּמָה. If Dumah was an area in northern Arabia, it would be of interest to the Edomites because of its strategic position on trade routes which they used. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:398.

[21:11]  ¹⁴ sn Seir is another name for Edom. See BDB 973 s.v. שֵׂעִיר.

[21:11]  ¹⁵ sn The “night” probably here symbolizes distress and difficult times. See BDB 539 s.v. לַיְלָה.

[21:12]  ¹⁶ sn Dumah will experience some relief, but it will be short-lived as night returns.

[21:12]  ¹⁷ sn The point of the watchman’s final instructions (“if you want to ask, ask; come again”) is unclear. Perhaps they are included to add realism to the dramatic portrayal. The watchman sends the questioner away with the words, “Feel free to come back and ask again.”

[56:10]  ¹⁸ sn The “watchmen” are probably spiritual leaders, most likely prophets and priests, responsible for giving the people moral direction.

[56:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “they do not know”; KJV “they are all ignorant”; NIV “they all lack knowledge.”

[56:10]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew text has הֹזִים (hozim), which appears to be derived from an otherwise unattested verbal root הָזָה (hazah). On the basis of alleged cognates, BDB 223 s.v. הָזָה offers the definition “dream, rave” while HALOT 243 s.v. הזה lists “pant.” In this case the dog metaphor of the preceding lines continues. The reference to dogs at the beginning of v. 11 favors the extension of the metaphor. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has חזים (“seers”) here. In this case the “watchmen” are directly identified as prophets and depicted as lazy.

[62:6]  ²¹ sn The speaker here is probably the prophet.

[62:6]  ²² tn Heb “all day and all night continually they do not keep silent.” The following lines suggest that they pray for the Lord’s intervention and restoration of the city.

[62:6]  ²³ tn Or “invoke”; NIV “call on”; NASB, NRSV “remind.”

[51:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon.”

[51:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Strengthen the watch.”

[51:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Station the guards.”

[51:12]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Prepare ambushes.”

[51:12]  ²⁸ tn Heb “For the Lord has both planned and done what he said concerning the people living in Babylon,” i.e., “he has carried out what he planned.” Here is an obvious case where the perfects are to be interpreted as prophetic; the commands imply that the attack is still future.

[51:31]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Runner will run to meet runner and…” The intent is to portray a relay of runners carrying the news that follows on in vv. 31d-33 to the king of Babylon. The present translation attempts to spell out the significance.

[51:31]  ³⁰ tn Heb “Runner will run to meet runner and messenger to meet messenger to report to the king of Babylon that his city has been taken in [its] entirety.” There is general agreement among the commentaries that the first two lines refer to messengers converging on the king of Babylon from every direction bringing news the sum total of which is reported in the lines that follow. For the meaning of the last phrase see BDB 892 s.v. קָצֶה 3 and compare the usage in Gen 19:4 and Isa 56:11. The sentence has been broken down and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style.

[33:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “sons of your people.”

[33:3]  ³² tn Heb “shofar,” a ram’s horn rather than a brass instrument (so throughout the chapter).

[33:3]  ³³ tn Sounding the trumpet was a warning of imminent danger (Neh 4:18-20; Jer 4:19; Amos 3:6).

[33:4]  ³⁴ tn Heb “his blood will be on his own head.”

[33:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “his blood will be on him.”

[33:6]  ³⁶ tn Or “in his punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity/punishment” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and in vv. 8 and 9; 3:18, 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment” for iniquity or “guilt” of iniquity.

[33:6]  ³⁷ tn Heb “his blood from the hand of the watchman I will seek.”

[33:7]  ³⁸ sn Jeremiah (Jer 6:17) and Habakkuk (Hab 2:1) also served in the role of a watchman.

[33:8]  ³⁹ tn The same expression occurs in Gen 2:17.

[33:8]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and you do not speak to warn.”

[33:8]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “way.”

[33:8]  ⁴² tn Heb “and his blood from your hand I will seek.”

[33:9]  ⁴³ tn Heb “from his way to turn from it.”

[33:9]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and he does not turn from his way.”