Yeremia 50:46

50:46 The people of the earth will quake when they hear Babylon has been captured.

Her cries of anguish will be heard by the other nations.” ¹ 

Yesaya 14:4-15

14:4 you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words: ² 

“Look how the oppressor has met his end!

Hostility ³  has ceased!

14:5 The Lord has broken the club of the wicked,

the scepter of rulers.

14:6 It ⁴  furiously struck down nations

with unceasing blows. ⁵ 

It angrily ruled over nations,

oppressing them without restraint. ⁶ 

14:7 The whole earth rests and is quiet;

they break into song.

14:8 The evergreens also rejoice over your demise, ⁷ 

as do the cedars of Lebanon, singing, ⁸ 

‘Since you fell asleep, ⁹ 

no woodsman comes up to chop us down!’ ¹⁰ 

14:9 Sheol ¹¹  below is stirred up about you,

ready to meet you when you arrive.

It rouses ¹²  the spirits of the dead for you,

all the former leaders of the earth; ¹³ 

it makes all the former kings of the nations

rise from their thrones. ¹⁴ 

14:10 All of them respond to you, saying:

‘You too have become weak like us!

You have become just like us!

14:11 Your splendor ¹⁵  has been brought down to Sheol,

as well as the sound of your stringed instruments. ¹⁶ 

You lie on a bed of maggots,

with a blanket of worms over you. ¹⁷ 

14:12 Look how you have fallen from the sky,

O shining one, son of the dawn! ¹⁸ 

You have been cut down to the ground,

O conqueror ¹⁹  of the nations! ²⁰ 

14:13 You said to yourself, ²¹ 

“I will climb up to the sky.

Above the stars of El ²² 

I will set up my throne.

I will rule on the mountain of assembly

on the remote slopes of Zaphon. ²³ 

14:14 I will climb up to the tops ²⁴  of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High!” ²⁵ 

14:15 But you were brought down ²⁶  to Sheol,

to the remote slopes of the pit. ²⁷ 

Yehezkiel 26:15-18

26:15 “This is what the sovereign Lord says to Tyre: Oh, how the coastlands will shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, at the massive slaughter in your midst! 26:16 All the princes of the sea will vacate ²⁸  their thrones. They will remove their robes and strip off their embroidered clothes; they will clothe themselves with trembling. They will sit on the ground; they will tremble continually and be shocked at what has happened to you. ²⁹  26:17 They will sing this lament over you: ³⁰ 

“‘How you have perished – you have vanished ³¹  from the seas,

O renowned city, once mighty in the sea,

she and her inhabitants, who spread their terror! ³² 

26:18 Now the coastlands will tremble on the day of your fall;

the coastlands by the sea will be terrified by your passing.’ ³³ 

Yehezkiel 21:16

21:16 Cut sharply on the right!

Swing to ³⁴  the left,

wherever your edge ³⁵  is appointed to strike.

Yehezkiel 32:10

32:10 I will shock many peoples with you,

and their kings will shiver with horror because of you.

When I brandish my sword before them,

every moment each one will tremble for his life, on the day of your fall.

Wahyu 18:10

18:10 They will stand a long way off because they are afraid of her torment, and will say,

“Woe, woe, O great city,

Babylon the powerful city!

For in a single hour your doom ³⁶  has come!”

[50:46]  ¹ tn Heb “among the nations.” With the exception of this phrase, the different verb in v. 46a, the absence of a suffix on the word for “land” in v. 45d, the third plural suffix instead of the third singular suffix on the verb for “chase…off of,” this passage is identical with 49:19-21 with the replacement of Babylon or the land of the Chaldeans for Edom. For the translation notes explaining the details of the translation here see the translator’s notes on 49:19-21.

[50:46]  sn This passage is virtually identical with Jer 49:19-21 with the replacement of Babylon, land of Babylonia for Edom. As God used Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians to destroy Edom, so he would use Cyrus and the Medes and Persians and their allies to destroy Babylon (cf. 25:13, 14). As Nebuchadnezzar was God’s servant to whom all would be subject (25:9; 27:6), so Cyrus is called in Isaiah “his anointed one,” i.e., his chosen king whom he will use to shatter other nations and set Israel free (Isa 45:1-4).

[14:4]  ² tn Heb “you will lift up this taunt over the king of Babylon, saying.”

[14:4]  ³ tc The word in the Hebrew text (מַדְהֵבָה, madhevah) is unattested elsewhere and of uncertain meaning. Many (following the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a) assume a dalet-resh (ד-ר) confusion and emend the form to מַרְהֵבָה (marhevah, “onslaught”). See HALOT 548 s.v. II *מִדָּה and HALOT 633 s.v. *מַרְהֵבָה.

[14:6]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps, “he” (cf. KJV; NCV “the king of Babylon”). The present translation understands the referent of the pronoun (“it”) to be the “club/scepter” of the preceding line.

[14:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “it was striking down nations in fury [with] a blow without ceasing.” The participle (“striking down”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.

[14:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “it was ruling in anger nations [with] oppression without restraint.” The participle (“ruling”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.

[14:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “concerning you.”

[14:8]  ⁸ tn The word “singing” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. Note that the personified trees speak in the second half of the verse.

[14:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “lay down” (in death); cf. NAB “laid to rest.”

[14:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the [wood]cutter does not come up against us.”

[14:9]  ¹¹ sn Sheol is the proper name of the subterranean world which was regarded as the land of the dead.

[14:9]  ¹² tn Heb “arousing.” The form is probably a Polel infinitive absolute, rather than a third masculine singular perfect, for Sheol is grammatically feminine (note “stirred up”). See GKC 466 §145.t.

[14:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “all the rams of the earth.” The animal epithet is used metaphorically here for leaders. See HALOT 903 s.v. *עַתּוּד.

[14:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “lifting from their thrones all the kings of the nations.” הֵקִים (heqim, a Hiphil perfect third masculine singular) should be emended to an infinitive absolute (הָקֵים, haqem). See the note on “rouses” earlier in the verse.

[14:11]  ¹⁵ tn Or “pride” (NCV, CEV); KJV, NIV, NRSV “pomp.”

[14:11]  ¹⁶ tn Or “harps” (NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[14:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “under you maggots are spread out, and worms are your cover.”

[14:12]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew text has הֵילֵל בֶּן־שָׁחַר (helel ben-shakhar, “Helel son of Shachar”), which is probably a name for the morning star (Venus) or the crescent moon. See HALOT 245 s.v. הֵילֵל.

[14:12]  sn What is the background for the imagery in vv. 12-15? This whole section (vv. 4b-21) is directed to the king of Babylon, who is clearly depicted as a human ruler. Other kings of the earth address him in vv. 9ff., he is called “the man” in v. 16, and, according to vv. 19-20, he possesses a physical body. Nevertheless the language of vv. 12-15 has led some to see a dual referent in the taunt song. These verses, which appear to be spoken by other pagan kings to a pagan king (cf. vv. 9-11), contain several titles and motifs that resemble those of Canaanite mythology, including references to Helel son of Shachar, the stars of El, the mountain of assembly, the recesses of Zaphon, and the divine title Most High. Apparently these verses allude to a mythological story about a minor god (Helel son of Shachar) who tried to take over Zaphon, the mountain of the gods. His attempted coup failed and he was hurled down to the underworld. The king of Babylon is taunted for having similar unrealized delusions of grandeur. Some Christians have seen an allusion to the fall of Satan here, but this seems contextually unwarranted (see J. Martin, “Isaiah,” BKCOT, 1061).

[14:12]  ¹⁹ tn Some understand the verb to from חָלַשׁ (khalash, “to weaken”), but HALOT 324 s.v. II חלשׁ proposes a homonym here, meaning “to defeat.”

[14:12]  ²⁰ sn In this line the taunting kings hint at the literal identity of the king, after likening him to the god Helel and a tree. The verb גָדַע (gada’, “cut down”) is used of chopping down trees in 9:10 and 10:33.

[14:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “you, you said in your heart.”

[14:13]  ²² sn In Canaanite mythology the stars of El were astral deities under the authority of the high god El.

[14:13]  ²³ sn Zaphon, the Canaanite version of Olympus, was the “mountain of assembly” where the gods met.

[14:14]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the high places.” This word often refers to the high places where pagan worship was conducted, but here it probably refers to the “backs” or tops of the clouds. See HALOT 136 s.v. בָּמָה.

[14:14]  ²⁵ sn Normally in the OT the title “Most High” belongs to the God of Israel, but in this context, where the mythological overtones are so strong, it probably refers to the Canaanite high god El.

[14:15]  ²⁶ tn The prefixed verb form is taken as a preterite. Note the use of perfects in v. 12 to describe the king’s downfall.

[14:15]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew term בּוּר (bor, “cistern”) is sometimes used metaphorically to refer to the place of the dead or the entrance to the underworld.

[26:16]  ²⁸ tn Heb “descend from.”

[26:16]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and they will be astonished over you.”

[26:17]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and they will lift up over you a lament and they will say to you.”

[26:17]  ³¹ tn Heb “O inhabitant.” The translation follows the LXX and understands a different Hebrew verb, meaning “cease,” behind the consonantal text. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 2:72, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:43.

[26:17]  ³² tn Heb “she and her inhabitants who placed their terror to all her inhabitants.” The relationship of the final prepositional phrase to what precedes is unclear. The preposition probably has a specifying function here, drawing attention to Tyre’s inhabitants as the source of the terror mentioned prior to this. In this case, one might paraphrase verse 17b: “she and her inhabitants, who spread their terror; yes, her inhabitants (were the source of this terror).”

[26:18]  ³³ tn Heb “from your going out.”

[21:16]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Put to.”

[21:16]  ³⁵ tn Heb “face.”

[18:10]  ³⁶ tn Or “judgment,” condemnation,” “punishment.” BDAG 569 s.v. κρίσις 1.a.β states, “The word oft. means judgment that goes against a person, condemnation, and the sentence that follows…ἡ κ. σου your judgment Rv 18:10.”