HarperCollins Study Bible
Page 256
12Where now are your sages?
Let them tell you and make known
what the Lord of hosts has planned against Egypt.
13The princes of Zoan have become fools,
and the princes of Memphis are deluded;
those who are the cornerstones of its tribes
have led Egypt astray.
14The Lord has poured into thema
a spirit of confusion;
and they have made Egypt stagger in all its doings
as a drunkard staggers around in vomit.
15Neither head nor tail, palm branch or reed,
will be able to do anything for Egypt.
16On that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand that the LORD of hosts raises against them. 17And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the plan that the LORD of hosts is planning against them.
Egypt, Assyria, and Israel Blessed
18On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of hosts. One of these will be called the City of the Sun.
19On that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the center of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border. 20It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; when they cry to the LORD because of oppressors, he will send them a savior, and will defend and deliver them. 21The LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians; and the Egyptians will know the LORD on that day, and will worship with sacrifice and burnt offering, and they will make vows to the LORD and perform them. 22The LORD will strike Egypt, striking and healing; they will return to the LORD, and he will listen to their supplications and heal them.
23On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
24On that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage.”
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a Gk Compare Tg: Heb it
19.1–15 The Lord will bring judgment on Egypt’s gods, its leaders, and its people.
19.1–4 The internal conflict in Egypt may reflect the period before the Ethiopian Piankhi, founder of the twenty-fifth dynasty, united Egypt under his rule beginning ca. 727 BCE or the later imposition of Ethiopian rule over the delta rulers by Shabaqo ca.715. If the latter, the oracle would come from the period of Ashdod’s revolt (see ch. 20).
19.4 Hard master, either Piankhi or Shabaqo of Ethiopia (see note on 19.1–4) or possibly Sargon II of Assyria.
19.5–10 Egypt’s collapse is portrayed using the imagery of the drying up of the Nile, Egypt’s source of life and economic well-being.
19.11–15 Despite their reputation for wisdom, the leaders of Egypt have proven themselves foolish and incompetent.
19.11 Zoan, Greek Tanis, an important Egyptian city in the Delta region.
19.13 Memphis, ancient capital of Lower Egypt.
19.14 Cf. 28.7–8.
19.15 Palm branch, reed, metaphors for the ruler and the ruled (9.14–15).
19.16–25 Five prose sayings, each beginning with on that day, expand on the preceding oracle against Egypt.
19.16–17 Egypt will fear Judah because of God’s plan against Egypt.
19.18 Language of Canaan, Canaanite, of which Hebrew is a dialect. City of the Sun, perhaps Heliopolis (cf. Jer 43.13).
19.19–22 The Egyptians will come to know and worship the Lord even as Israel does.
19.23 Assyria will join Egypt in this worship.
19.24–25 Egypt, Assyria, and Israel will all be blessed by God in that day (cf. Gen 12.3).
ISAIAH 20
Isaiah Dramatizes the Conquest of Egypt and Ethiopia
1In the year that the commander-in-chief, who was sent by King Sargon of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and took it—2at that time the LORD had spoken to Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your loins and take your sandals off your feet,” and he had done so, walking naked and barefoot. 3Then the LORD said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Ethiopia,a 4so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as captives and the Ethiopiansb as exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. 5And they shall be dismayed and confounded because of Ethiopiac their hope and of Egypt their boast. 6In that day the inhabitants of this coastland will say, ‘See, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’”
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a Or Nubia; Heb Cush
b Or Nubians; Heb Cushites
c Or Nubia; Heb Cush
20.1–6 In 715 BCE, Sargon II replaced the rebellious Azuri of Ashdod with his brother Ahimeti. Sometime after the Assyrian army withdrew, however, the inhabitants of Ashdod drove Ahimeti out and replaced him with a commoner variously called Yamani or Yadna, perhaps variant nicknames meaning “Greek” or “Cypriot.” He promptly wrote letters to the surrounding states inviting them to join a revolt against Assyria, promising the support of Egypt and far-off Ethiopia. Isaiah tried to dissuade Hezekiah from joining the revolt by demonstrating naked in front of the palace, thus symbolizing the shameful captivity that would first befall the expected Egyptian and Ethiopian relief troops, leaving Ashdod and any other allies without hope. Apparently Isaiah was successful. Hezekiah did not join the revolt, the promised help from Egypt and Ethiopia did not materialize, and in 711 Sargon’s general captured Ashdod, exiled its population, and resettled it with foreigners. Yamani escaped to the border of Ethiopia, however, and did not fall into Assyrian hands until four years later when Ethiopia extradited him to Assyria.
ISAIAH 21
Oracles concerning Babylon, Edom, and Arabia
1The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.
As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
it comes from the desert,
from a terrible land.
2A stern vision is told to me;
the betrayer betrays,
and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O Elam,
lay siege, O Media;
all the sighing she has caused
I bring to an end.
3Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
pangs have seized me,
like the pangs of a woman in labor;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear,
I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
4My mind reels, horror has appalled me;
the twilight I longed for
has been turned for me into trembling.
5They prepare the table,
they spread the rugs,
they eat, they drink.
Rise up, commanders,
oil the shield!
6For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, post a lookout,
let him announce what he sees.
7When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
very diligently.”
8Then the watchera called out:
“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,
continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
throughout the night.
9Look, there they come, riders,
horsemen in pairs!”
Then he responded,
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
and all the images of her gods
lie shattered on the ground.”
10O my threshed and winnowed
one,
what I have heard from the LORD of hosts,
the God of Israel, I announce to you.
11The oracle concerning Dumah.
One is calling to me from Seir,
“Sentinel, what of the night?
Sentinel, what of the night?”
12The sentinel says:
“Morning comes, and also the night.
If you will inquire, inquire;
come back again.”
13The oracle concerning the desert plain.
In the scrub of the desert plain you will lodge,
O caravans of Dedanites.
14Bring water to the thirsty,
meet the fugitive with bread,
O inhabitants of the land of Tema.
15For they have fled from the swords,
from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
and from the stress of battle.
16For thus the Lord said to me: Within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end; 17and the remaining bows of Kedar’s warriors will be few; for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.
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a Q Ms: MT a lion
21.1–17 These three oracles all seem to presuppose the Assyrian struggle to gain control of southern Mesopotamia against the Chaldean rulers of Babylon and their Elamite, Aramean, and Arab allies in 691–689 BCE. Following the bloody battle at Halule (691), which pitted Sennacherib’s Assyrian army against a large coalition led by the king of Elam, Assyria regrouped and continued to campaign against Babylon and its allies, eventually destroying Babylon completely in 689.
21.1–10 Announcement of the fall of Babylon.
21.1 Wilderness of the sea, probably a reference to the steppe regions in lower Mesopotamia, which was known as the Sealand. Negeb, steppe region in southern Palestine.
21.2 Betrayer, destroyer, probably a reference to Assyria (16.4; 33.1). Elam led the large anti-Assyrian coalition, which included contingents from Persia and perhaps Media.
21.3–4 The vision dismays the prophet because it reveals the fall of Babylon, Israel’s ally (39.1–4), rather than the fall of Assyria he longed for.
21.5 Oil the shield, to keep the leather supple (cf. 2 Sam 1.21).
21.6–8 Lookout…watcher. For this image of the prophet as a sentinel, see v. 11; Ezek 3.17; Hab 2.1.
21.9 The images of her gods lie shattered. In shocking contrast to their normal practice, the victorious Assyrians destroyed the images of the Babylonian gods when Babylon fell to Sennacherib in 689 BCE.
21.11–12 There is as yet no clear answer on the fate of Dumah.
21.11 Dumah, Adummatu in the northern Arabian desert, plundered by Sennacherib in connection with his campaign against Babylon. Seir. There is a Seir in Edom, but the present context suggests another site of the same name in the northern Arabian desert.
21.13–17 Other Arab groups are urged to give comfort to those Arabs who must flee Sennacherib’s attacks.
21.13 Dedanites, a northern Arabian group (Ezek 25.13).
21.14 Tema, an oasis in northwest Arabia (Jer 25.23).
21.16 Kedar, a seminomadic tribal group of the northern Arabian desert (42.11; Ezek 27.21).
ISAIAH 22
A Warning of Destruction of Jerusalem
1The oracle concerning the valley of vision.
What do you mean that you have gone up,
all of you, to the housetops,
2you that are full of shoutings,
tumultuous city, exultant town?
Your slain are not slain by the sword,
nor are they dead in battle.
3Your rulers have all fled together;
they were captured without the use of a bow.a
All of you who were found were captured,
though they had fled far away.b
4Therefore I said:
Look away from me,
let me weep bitter tears;
do not try to comfort me
for the destruction of my beloved people.
5For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day
of tumult and trampling and confusion
in the valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
and a cry for help to the mountains.
6Elam bore the quiver
with chariots and cavalry,c
and Kir uncovered the shield.
7Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
and the cavalry took their stand at the gates.
8He has taken away the covering of Judah.
On that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest, 9and you saw that there were many breaches in the city of David, and you collected the waters of the lower pool. 10You counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or have regard for him who planned it long ago.
12In that day the Lord GOD of hosts
called to weeping and mourning,
to baldness and putting on sackcloth;
13but instead there was joy and festivity,
killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,
eating meat and drinking wine.
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
14The LORD of hosts has revealed himself in my ears:
Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,
says the Lord GOD of hosts.
Denunciation of Self-Seeking Officials
15Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is master of the household, and say to him: 16What right do you have here? Who are your relatives here, that you have cut out a tomb here for yourself, cutting a tomb on the height, and carving a habitation for yourself in the rock? 17The LORD is about to hurl you away violently, my fellow. He will seize firm hold on you, 18whirl you round and round, and throw you like a ball into a wide land; there you shall die, and there your splendid chariots shall lie, O you disgrace to your master’s house! 19I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your post.
20On that day I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah, 21and will clothe him with your robe and bind your sash on him. I will commit your authority to his hand, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and no one shall shut; he shall shut, and no one shall open. 23I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his ancestral house. 24And they will hang on him the whole weight of his ancestral house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. 25On that day, says the LORD of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way; it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will perish, for the LORD has spoken.
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a Or without their bows
b Gk Syr Vg: Heb fled from far away
c Meaning of Heb uncertain
22.1–14 The occasion for this oracle may have been news of Sennacherib’s successful first campaign against Babylon (703 BCE), Judah’s ally, that freed the Assyrian king to attack Judah in the west (701).
22.1 Valley of vision, possibly a reference to the Babylonian plain seen only in the prophet’s vision.
22.2–3 In Sennacherib’s first campaign, Merodach-baladan, king of Babylon, fled the battlefield, and his Elamite, Chaldean, and Aramaic allies were routed and many prisoners taken.
22.4 My beloved people, Judah, exposed to attack because of the collapse of its allies in the east.
22.5 Day. See note on 2.11–12.
22.6 Elam, Babylon’s major ally against Assyria (see note on 11.11). Kir, the Aramean allies of Babylon (Am 1.5; 9.7); this Kir is not the one mentioned in 15.1.
22.7 Choicest valleys
, the gates, perhaps referring to the major engagements at the Babylonian cities of Kutha and Kish.
22.8a The covering of Judah, the protection provided by its allies on the Babylonian front.
22.8b–11 News of Babylon’s fall led to frenzied military preparations in Judah against the threat of Assyrian invasion, but God was ignored in these preparations (cf. 30.1–2, 15–16).
22.8b House of the Forest, the royal palace with its armory (1 Kings 7.2; 10.17).
22.9 City of David, the oldest (southeastern) section of Jerusalem. Collected the waters, perhaps a reference to Hezekiah’s excavation of the Siloam tunnel (2 Kings 20.20).
22.12–14 God was angered by the Judean leaders’ failure to turn to him, by the cynical fatalism with which they faced imminent disaster (see 28.14–15).
22.15–25 Shebna, Hezekiah’s majordomo, has overreached his authority and is threatened with the loss of his office.
22.15–16 Shebna’s tomb has been plausibly identified with the tomb cut out of rock at Silwan in the Kidron Valley with a late eighth-century BCE inscription giving the fuller form of the name: “This is [the grave of Sheban]yahu who was master of the household.”
22.20–23 Shebna’s office is promised to Eliakim, who apparently replaced Shebna before the siege of Jerusalem (36.3; 2 Kings 18.18).
22.24–25 Eventually Eliakim, weighed down by his family’s claims, also proved to be a disappointment.
ISAIAH 23
An Oracle concerning Tyre
1The oracle concerning Tyre.
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your fortress is destroyed.a
When they came in from Cyprus
they learned of it.
2Be still, O inhabitants of the coast,
O merchants of Sidon,
your messengers crossed over the seab
3and were on the mighty waters;
your revenue was the grain of Shihor,
the harvest of the Nile;
you were the merchant of the nations.