Mazmur 137:7

137:7 Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did

on the day Jerusalem fell. ¹ 

They said, “Tear it down, tear it down, ² 

right to its very foundation!”

Yesaya 34:5

34:5 He says, ³  “Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers. ⁴ 

Look, it now descends on Edom, ⁵ 

on the people I will annihilate in judgment.”

[137:7]  ¹ tn Heb “remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom, the day of Jerusalem.”

[137:7]  ² tn Heb “lay [it] bare, lay [it] bare.”

[34:5]  ³ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Lord speaks at this point.

[34:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “indeed [or “for”] my sword is drenched in the heavens.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has תראה (“[my sword] appeared [in the heavens]”), but this is apparently an attempt to make sense out of a difficult metaphor. Cf. NIV “My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens.”

[34:5]  sn In v. 4 the “host of the heaven” refers to the heavenly luminaries (stars and planets, see, among others, Deut 4:19; 17:3; 2 Kgs 17:16; 21:3, 5; 23:4-5; 2 Chr 33:3, 5) that populate the divine/heavenly assembly in mythological and prescientific Israelite thought (see Job 38:7; Isa 14:13). As in 24:21, they are viewed here as opposing God and being defeated in battle.

[34:5]  ⁵ sn Edom is mentioned here as epitomizing the hostile nations that oppose God.