Ayub 27:23

27:23 It claps ¹  its hands at him in derision

and hisses him away from his place. ² 

Yesaya 14:8-21

14:8 The evergreens also rejoice over your demise, ³ 

as do the cedars of Lebanon, singing, ⁴ 

‘Since you fell asleep, ⁵ 

no woodsman comes up to chop us down!’ ⁶ 

14:9 Sheol ⁷  below is stirred up about you,

ready to meet you when you arrive.

It rouses ⁸  the spirits of the dead for you,

all the former leaders of the earth; ⁹ 

it makes all the former kings of the nations

rise from their thrones. ¹⁰ 

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 ¹¹  has been brought down to Sheol,

as well as the sound of your stringed instruments. ¹² 

You lie on a bed of maggots,

with a blanket of worms over you. ¹³ 

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

O shining one, son of the dawn! ¹⁴ 

You have been cut down to the ground,

O conqueror ¹⁵  of the nations! ¹⁶ 

14:13 You said to yourself, ¹⁷ 

“I will climb up to the sky.

Above the stars of El ¹⁸ 

I will set up my throne.

I will rule on the mountain of assembly

on the remote slopes of Zaphon. ¹⁹ 

14:14 I will climb up to the tops ²⁰  of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High!” ²¹ 

14:15 But you were brought down ²²  to Sheol,

to the remote slopes of the pit. ²³ 

14:16 Those who see you stare at you,

they look at you carefully, thinking: ²⁴ 

“Is this the man who shook the earth,

the one who made kingdoms tremble?

14:17 Is this the one who made the world like a desert,

who ruined its ²⁵  cities,

and refused to free his prisoners so they could return home?”’ ²⁶ 

14:18 ²⁷ As for all the kings of the nations,

all of them ²⁸  lie down in splendor, ²⁹ 

each in his own tomb. ³⁰ 

14:19 But you have been thrown out of your grave

like a shoot that is thrown away. ³¹ 

You lie among ³²  the slain,

among those who have been slashed by the sword,

among those headed for ³³  the stones of the pit, ³⁴ 

as if you were a mangled corpse. ³⁵ 

14:20 You will not be buried with them, ³⁶ 

because you destroyed your land

and killed your people.

The offspring of the wicked

will never be mentioned again.

14:21 Prepare to execute ³⁷  his sons

for the sins their ancestors have committed. ³⁸ 

They must not rise up and take possession of the earth,

or fill the surface of the world with cities.” ³⁹ 

Ratapan 2:15

ס (Samek)

2:15 All who passed by on the road

clapped their hands to mock you. ⁴⁰ 

They sneered and shook their heads

at Daughter Jerusalem.

“Ha! Is this the city they called ⁴¹ 

‘The perfection of beauty, ⁴² 

the source of joy of the whole earth!’?” ⁴³ 

Yehezkiel 25:6

25:6 For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you clapped your hands, stamped your feet, and rejoiced with intense scorn ⁴⁴  over the land of Israel,

Wahyu 18:20

18:20 (Rejoice over her, O heaven,

and you saints and apostles and prophets,

for God has pronounced judgment ⁴⁵  against her on your behalf!) ⁴⁶ 

[27:23]  ¹ tn If the same subject is to be carried through here, it is the wind. That would make this a bold personification, perhaps suggesting the force of the wind. Others argue that it is unlikely that the wind claps its hands. They suggest taking the verb with an indefinite subject: “he claps” means “one claps. The idea is that of people rejoicing when the wicked are gone. But the parallelism is against this unless the second line is changed as well. R. Gordis (Job, 296) has “men will clap their hands…men will whistle upon him.”

[27:23]  ² tn Or “hisses at him from its place” (ESV).

[14:8]  ³ tn Heb “concerning you.”

[14:8]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “lay down” (in death); cf. NAB “laid to rest.”

[14:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “the [wood]cutter does not come up against us.”

[14:9]  ⁷ sn Sheol is the proper name of the subterranean world which was regarded as the land of the dead.

[14:9]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Or “pride” (NCV, CEV); KJV, NIV, NRSV “pomp.”

[14:11]  ¹² tn Or “harps” (NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[14:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “under you maggots are spread out, and worms are your cover.”

[14:12]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “you, you said in your heart.”

[14:13]  ¹⁸ sn In Canaanite mythology the stars of El were astral deities under the authority of the high god El.

[14:13]  ¹⁹ sn Zaphon, the Canaanite version of Olympus, was the “mountain of assembly” where the gods met.

[14:14]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ 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]  ²² 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]  ²³ 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.

[14:16]  ²⁴ tn The word “thinking” is supplied in the translation in order to make it clear that the next line records their thoughts as they gaze at him.

[14:17]  ²⁵ tc The pronominal suffix is masculine, even though its antecedent appears to be the grammatically feminine noun “world.” Some have suggested that the form עָרָיו (’arayv, plural noun with third masculine singular suffix) should be emended to עָרֶיהָ (’areha, plural noun with third feminine singular suffix). This emendation may be unnecessary in light of other examples of lack of agreement a suffix and its antecedent noun.

[14:17]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and his prisoners did not let loose to [their] homes.” This really means, “he did not let loose his prisoners and send them back to their homes.’ On the elliptical style, see GKC 366 §117.o.

[14:18]  ²⁷ sn It is unclear where the quotation of the kings, begun in v. 10b, ends. However, the reference to the “kings of the nations” in v. 18 (see also v. 9) seems to indicate that the quotation has ended at this point and that Israel’s direct taunt (cf. vv. 4b-10a) has resumed. In fact the references to the “kings of the nations” may form a stylistic inclusio or frame around the quotation.

[14:18]  ²⁸ tc The phrase “all of them” does not appear in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a.

[14:18]  ²⁹ sn This refers to the typically extravagant burial of kings.

[14:18]  ³⁰ tn Heb “house” (so KJV, ASV), but in this context a tomb is in view. Note the verb “lie down” in the preceding line and the reference to a “grave” in the next line.

[14:19]  ³¹ tn Heb “like a shoot that is abhorred.” The simile seems a bit odd; apparently it refers to a small shoot that is trimmed from a plant and tossed away. Some prefer to emend נֵצֶר (netser, “shoot”); some propose נֵפֶל (nefel, “miscarriage”). In this case one might paraphrase: “like a horrible-looking fetus that is delivered when a woman miscarries.”

[14:19]  ³² tn Heb “are clothed with.”

[14:19]  ³³ tn Heb “those going down to.”

[14:19]  ³⁴ tn בּוֹר (bor) literally means “cistern”; cisterns were constructed from stones. On the metaphorical use of “cistern” for the underworld, see the note at v. 15.

[14:19]  ³⁵ tn Heb “like a trampled corpse.” Some take this line with what follows.

[14:20]  ³⁶ tn Heb “you will not be united with them in burial” (so NASB).

[14:21]  ³⁷ tn Or “the place of slaughter for.”

[14:21]  ³⁸ tn Heb “for the sin of their fathers.”

[14:21]  ³⁹ sn J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:320, n. 10) suggests that the garrison cities of the mighty empire are in view here.

[2:15]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “clap their hands at you.” Clapping hands at someone was an expression of malicious glee, derision and mockery (Num 24:10; Job 27:23; Lam 2:15).

[2:15]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “of which they said.”

[2:15]  ⁴² tn Heb “perfection of beauty.” The noun יֹפִי (yofi, “beauty”) functions as a genitive of respect in relation to the preceding construct noun: Jerusalem was perfect in respect to its physical beauty.

[2:15]  ⁴³ tn Heb “the joy of all the earth.” This is similar to statements found in Pss 48:2 and 50:2.

[25:6]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “with all your scorn in (the) soul.”

[18:20]  ⁴⁵ tn On the phrase “pronounced judgment” BDAG 567 s.v. κρίμα 4.b states, “The OT is the source of the expr. κρίνειν τὸ κρ. (cp. Zech 7:9; 8:16; Ezk 44:24) ἔκρινεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ κρίμα ὑμῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς God has pronounced judgment for you against her or God has pronounced on her the judgment she wished to impose on you (HHoltzmann, Hdb. 1893 ad loc.) Rv 18:20.”

[18:20]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “God has judged a judgment of you of her.” Verse 20 is set in parentheses because in it the saints, etc. are addressed directly in the second person.

[18:20]  sn This verse forms a parenthetical aside in the narrative.