Yesaya 14:28-32

The Lord Will Judge the Philistines

14:28 In the year King Ahaz died, ¹  this message was revealed: ² 

14:29 Don’t be so happy, all you Philistines,

just because the club that beat you has been broken! ³ 

For a viper will grow out of the serpent’s root,

and its fruit will be a darting adder. ⁴ 

14:30 The poor will graze in my pastures; ⁵ 

the needy will rest securely.

But I will kill your root by famine;

it will put to death all your survivors. ⁶ 

14:31 Wail, O city gate!

Cry out, O city!

Melt with fear, ⁷  all you Philistines!

For out of the north comes a cloud of smoke,

and there are no stragglers in its ranks. ⁸ 

14:32 How will they respond to the messengers of this nation? ⁹ 

Indeed, the Lord has made Zion secure;

the oppressed among his people will find safety in her.

Zefanya 2:4-7

Judgment on Surrounding Nations

2:4 Indeed, ¹⁰  Gaza will be deserted ¹¹ 

and Ashkelon will become a heap of ruins. ¹² 

Invaders will drive away the people of Ashdod by noon, ¹³ 

and Ekron will be overthrown. ¹⁴ 

2:5 Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete, ¹⁵  are as good as dead. ¹⁶ 

The Lord has decreed your downfall, ¹⁷  Canaan, land of the Philistines:

“I will destroy everyone who lives there!” ¹⁸ 

2:6 The seacoast ¹⁹  will be used as pasture lands ²⁰  by the shepherds

and as pens for their flocks.

2:7 Those who are left from the kingdom of Judah ²¹  will take possession of it. ²² 

By the sea ²³  they ²⁴  will graze,

in the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down in the evening,

for the Lord their God will intervene for them ²⁵  and restore their prosperity. ²⁶ 

[14:28]  ¹ sn Perhaps 715 b.c., but the precise date is uncertain.

[14:28]  ² tn Heb “this oracle came.”

[14:29]  ³ sn The identity of this “club” (also referred to as a “serpent” in the next line) is uncertain. It may refer to an Assyrian king, or to Ahaz. For discussion see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:331-32. The viper/adder referred to in the second half of the verse is his successor.

[14:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “flying burning one.” The designation “burning one” may allude to the serpent’s appearance or the effect of its poisonous bite. (See the note at 6:2.) The qualifier “flying” probably refers to the serpent’s quick, darting movements, though one might propose a homonym here, meaning “biting.” (See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:332, n. 18.) Some might think in terms of a mythological flying, fire breathing dragon (cf. NAB “a flying saraph”; CEV “a flying fiery dragon”), but this proposal does not make good sense in 30:6, where the phrase “flying burning one” appears again in a list of desert animals.

[14:30]  ⁵ tc The Hebrew text has, “the firstborn of the poor will graze.” “Firstborn” may be used here in an idiomatic sense to indicate the very poorest of the poor. See BDB 114 s.v. בְּכוֹר. The translation above assumes an emendation of בְּכוֹרֵי (bÿkhorey, “firstborn of”) to בְּכָרַי (bekharay, “in my pastures”).

[14:30]  ⁶ tn Heb “your remnant” (so NAB, NRSV).

[14:31]  ⁷ tn Or “despair” (see HALOT 555 s.v. מוג). The form נָמוֹג (namog) should be taken here as an infinitive absolute functioning as an imperative. See GKC 199-200 §72.v.

[14:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “and there is no one going alone in his appointed places.” The meaning of this line is uncertain. בּוֹדֵד (boded) appears to be a participle from בָּדַד (badad, “be separate”; see BDB 94 s.v. בָּדַד). מוֹעָד (mo’ad) may mean “assembly” or, by extension, “multitude” (see HALOT 558 s.v. *מוֹעָד), but the referent of the third masculine pronominal suffix attached to the noun is unclear. It probably refers to the “nation” mentioned in the next line.

[14:32]  ⁹ sn The question forces the Philistines to consider the dilemma they will face – surrender and oppression, or battle and death.

[2:4]  ¹⁰ tn Or “for” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[2:4]  ¹¹ tn There is a sound play here in the Hebrew text: the name Gaza (עַזָּה, ’azzah) sounds like the word translated “deserted” (עֲזוּבָה, ’azuvah).

[2:4]  ¹² tn Or “a desolate place.”

[2:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “[As for] Ashdod, at noon they will drive her away.”

[2:4]  sn The reference to noon may suggest a sudden, quick defeat (see Jer 6:4; 15:8).

[2:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “uprooted.” There is a sound play here in the Hebrew text: the name “Ekron” (עֶקְרוֹן, ’eqron) sounds like the word translated “uprooted” (תֵּעָקֵר, te’aqer).

[2:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Kerethites,” a people settled alongside the Philistines in the coastal areas of southern Palestine (cf. 1 Sam 30:14; Ezek 25:16). They originally came from the island of Crete.

[2:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Woe, inhabitants of the coast of the sea, nation of Kerethites.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “ah, woe”), is used to mourn the dead and express outwardly one’s sorrow (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5). By using it here the prophet mourns in advance the downfall of the Philistines, thereby emphasizing the certainty of their demise (“as good as dead”). Some argue the word does not have its earlier connotation here and is simply an attention-getting interjection, equivalent to “Hey!”

[2:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the word of the Lord is against you.”

[2:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I will destroy you so there is no inhabitant [remaining].”

[2:6]  ¹⁹ tn The NIV here supplies the phrase “where the Kerethites dwell” (“Kerethites” is translated in v. 5 as “the people who came from Crete”) as an interpretive gloss, but this phrase is not in the MT. The NAB likewise reads “the coastland of the Cretans,” supplying “Cretans” here.

[2:6]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew phrase here is נְוֹת כְּרֹת (nÿvot kÿrot). The first word is probably a plural form of נָוָה (navah, “pasture”). The meaning of the second word is unclear. It may be a synonym of the preceding word (cf. NRSV “pastures, meadows for shepherds”); there is a word כַּר (kar, “pasture”) in biblical Hebrew, but elsewhere it forms its plural with a masculine ending. Some have suggested the meaning “wells” or “caves” used as shelters (cf. NEB “shepherds’ huts”); in this case, one might translate, “The seacoast will be used for pasturelands; for shepherds’ wells/caves.”

[2:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “the remnant of the house of Judah.”

[2:7]  ²² tn Or “the coast will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah.”

[2:7]  ²³ tc Heb “on them,” but the antecedent of the masculine pronoun is unclear. It may refer back to the “pasture lands,” though that noun is feminine. It is preferable to emend the text from עֲלֵיהֶם (’alehem) to עַל־הַיָּם (’al-hayyam, “by the sea”) an emendation that assumes a misdivision and transposition of letters in the MT (cf. NEB “They shall pasture their flocks by the sea”). See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 192.

[2:7]  ²⁴ tn The referent of the pronominal subject (“they”) is unclear. It may refer (1) to the shepherds (in which case the first verb should be translated, “pasture their sheep,” cf. NEB), or (2) to the Judahites occupying the area, who are being compared to sheep (cf. NIV, “there they will find pasture”).

[2:7]  ²⁵ tn Or “will care for them.”

[2:7]  ²⁶ tn Traditionally, “restore their captivity,” i.e., bring back their captives, but it is more likely the expression means “restore their fortunes” in a more general sense (cf. NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).