Isaiah 13

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BOOK TWO


New section. Is this also a new Prophet, a different person bearing the title Yesh'a-Yah ben Amots? If, as I am 90% certain, a "School of Prophets" was simply an ancient form of Yeshiva, then the Rosh Yeshiva would take the name upon appointment (or probably anointment!). We will discern from the text, and from the historical contexts established by the texts, whether it is the same or a later - or fail to do so, if the texts are unhelpful.

13:1 MAS'A BAVEL ASHER CHAZAH YESH'A-YAHU BEN AMOTS

מַשָּׂא בָּבֶל אֲשֶׁר חָזָה יְשַׁעְיָהוּ בֶּן אָמוֹץ 

KJ: The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.

BN: The oracle regarding Bavel, which Yesh'a-Yah ben Amots delivered.


MAS'A: Substance? Material? as in MAS'A U MATAN? We cannot use the word "burden" here, as KJ and many other translators do, because that English word has been used to mean something entirely different, when translating TORACH at 1:14, or SHICHMO at 9:3 and 5, and again at 10:27.

And yet... frequently (click here) we have seen the word MAS'A used for the "burden" of the slaves in Mitsrayim, while elsewhere (same link) it is used for the "tribute" paid by a conquered people; and this is Bavel, so have we gone forward to 586 BCE, and what is left of Yehudah is... but no, it can't be, we haven't travelled that far in time yet, and Y-Y was among those who were dragged off to Bavel. Let's hold on this, as per my note above. 

My sense of this is that the School of Yesha-Yah is an official part of the civil service, its trained priests having the principal task of keeping 24/7 astronomical records, and using them, alongside the reports reaching them from all the available human routes (spies, emissaries, travelling merchants, etc), to provide the leadership with detailed "reports" of the current state of the world, and the likely outcomes in the near future, with advice and recommendations. Which sounds like the job of an ambassador, or a management consultant! Except that, in this priestly world, it was also "angelic" (a MAL'ACH is a "messenger", though it gets translated in Christian texts as "angel"). I have gone for the word "oracle",  but only for lack of anything more precise, and really "oracle" sounds much too Nostradamus-like. 

CHAZAH: See my note at Isaiah 1:1.

Previously the political threat was Tiglath-Pileser III of Ashur (Assyria); see 2 Kings 15:19, and then Retsin, as per Isaiah 7:1; both before Shalman-Ezer V and then Sennacherib - all this in the latter decades of the seven hundreds BCE. 2 Kings 17:1 told us that "in the 12th year of Achaz, king of Yehudah", when Hoshe'a became king of Yisra-El, trouble started with Ashur. Hoshe'a lasted 9 years, and Achaz 16, so Yisra-El fell in the 5th year of Chizki-Yah (Hezekiah), by which time Y-Y must have been well on in years as his first vision was in the year Uzi-Yah (Uzziah) died (6:1), after which Yotam and Achaz both ruled for 16 years and then the 5 of Chizki-Yah – so at a minimum he was in his 50s here. Historically Bavel (Babylon) does not replace Ashur as the major power until the time of Jehoiakim, and in the interim Mitsrayim under Necho had subordinated Yehudah (2 Kings 23). So either Y-Y is predicting Bavel 90 years or even more ahead, or this is a later prophet (a later bearer of the title Y-Y) with the same name. The language here is more oracular than poetic, which also suggests a different writer.

YESH'A-YAHU BEN AMOTS: For an explanation of the meaning of this name, see my note at 1:1.

13:2 AL HAR NISHPEH SE'U NES HARIYMU KOL LAHEM HANIYPHU YAD VE YAVO'U PIT'CHEI NEDIYVIM

עַל הַר נִשְׁפֶּה שְׂאוּ נֵס הָרִימוּ קוֹל לָהֶם הָנִיפוּ יָד וְיָבֹאוּ פִּתְחֵי נְדִיבִים

KJ: Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.

BN: Set up an ensign on the high mountain. Raise up a loud cry. Signal with your hand that they should go into the gates of the willing.

AL HAR NISPEH: Which "high mountain"? Tsi'on presumably (see 8:18), though there the "signs" and "wonders" are OTOT (אֹתוֹת) and MOPHTIM  (מוֹפְתִים). Or is this entire poem metaphorical, and not literal-hiostorical at all?

NES: For which see my note at 11:10. Once again the "banner". What was it? Remember Nechushtan, which Chizki-Yah (Hezekiah) destroyed in 2 Kings 18:4 (though perhaps we haven't reached that moment in history yet). 

NEDIYVIM: Yes, it can be used to mean nobles, but is that what it means here? Until we read on, and understood what exactly he is describing, and whether it is literal or metaphorical, we cannot know. The root, NADAV, means "generous", and is used for "philanthropy", which is a very noble thing to provide, though one doesn't have to be a member of an aristocracy to do so.

13:3 ANI TSIVEYTI LIMKUDASHAI GAM KARA'TI GIBORAI LE API ALIZEI [ALIZAI] GA'AVATI

אֲ נִי צִוֵּיתִי לִמְקֻדָּשָׁי גַּם קָרָאתִי גִבּוֹרַי לְאַפִּי עַלִּיזֵי גַּאֲוָתִי

KJ: I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.

BN: I have instructed those who I regard as holy, those who rejoice by worshipping me, and I have summoned my mighty warriors as well, to quench my anger.

Very different style from first Y-Y, and I confess, I haven't a clue what he is saying here. I presume he is delivering the oracle, YHVH's words through his mouth... but not so the next verse, so maybe he is speaking for himself?

Part of the problem here is word-order, which is necessary to make the rhymes work: TSIVEYTI LIMKUDASHAI, double-rhymed as KARA'TI GIBORAI, and I strongly suspect that the prosaic Masorete who pointed this failed to note the rhymes, which is why the third of these is mis-rendered as API ALIZEI, when it should be API ALIZAI - the square bracket in the transliteration is my correction; and then a final "I" ending to complete the rhymes by circling back to the first word.

13:4 KOL HAMON BE HARIM DEMUT AM RAV KOL SHE'ON MAMLECHOT GOYIM NE'ESAPHIM YHVH TSEVA'OT MEPHAKED TSEVA MILCHAMAH

קוֹל הָמוֹן בֶּהָרִים דְּמוּת עַם רָב קוֹל שְׁאוֹן מַמְלְכוֹת גּוֹיִם נֶאֱסָפִים יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת מְפַקֵּד צְבָא מִלְחָמָה

KJ: The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.

BN: Listen, a vast noise in the mountains, like that of a vast people! Listen, the uproar of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens is mustering his army for war.

The fulfillment of verse 2. And maybe the mere fact of it happening is all the NES that is required.

As noted previously, YHVH is perceived as theologically changing sides, here not just using the enemy to punish his chosen people, but sending his own "hosts" to undertake the muster. Or maybe they are his human "host", and Y-Y and the people he called in verse 1 are the spokespersons for the Heavenly "host". I remain confused.

Again we need to note the internal rhymes, the verse on this occasion caesura'ed to enable them, though it is easier to see if I present it as:

KOL HAMON
BE HARIM
DEMUT AM RAV
KOL SHE'ON
MAMLECHOT GOYIM
NE'ESAPHIM

and then the final phrase standing apart.

13:5 BA'IM ME ERETS MERCHAK MI KETSEH HA SHAMAYIM YHVH U CHELEY ZA'MO LECHABEL KOL HA ARETS

בָּאִים מֵאֶרֶץ מֶרְחָק מִקְצֵה הַשָּׁמָיִם יְהוָה וּכְלֵי זַעְמוֹ לְחַבֵּל כָּל הָאָרֶץ

KJ: They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.

BN: They come from a far country, from the boundaries of the skies, YHVH, and the weapons of his fury, to destroy the whole Earth.

KETSEH HA SHAMAYIM: I think the intention here is "the distant horizon", a terrestrial geography of considerable distance, rather than anything to do with Heaven or the heavens.

CHELEY ZA'MO: I think "indignation" may be underestimating the extent of YHVH's anger. API in verse 3 was the familiar flaring of the nostrils, associated with bulls in these Biblical texts, probably from the Age of Taurus when the bull-god ruled supreme. But this is ZA'AM, and it isn't just the snorting of the nostrils, there is froth spuming from his mouth - see Proverbs 24:24, Malachi 1:4, Zechar-Yah 1:12- though I have translated it as "indignation" in both of those latter.

ARETS: Land, Earth or earth? The middle of those, on this occasion.

samech break


13:6 HEYLILU KI KAROV YOM YHVH KE SHOD MI SHADAI YAVO

הֵילִילוּ כִּי קָרוֹב יוֹם יְהוָה כְּשֹׁד מִשַּׁדַּי יָבוֹא

KJ: Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

BN: Howl. For the day of YHVH is near. In the form of destruction from the hand of Shadai shall it come.

Eschatology drawn from astrology – this is definitely oracular. Does Drummond have anything say about this this? Why is it always Nichretah (though actually he hasn't used the word even once - yet)?

HEYLILU is splendid; I want to translate that as HOWLELU, so that people who know no Yehudit can get the full impact of the word-play, the inversion of HALELU, which is the "praise" we are familiar with from the Psalms; this comes from the root YALAL, and it really does mean "howl", or "wail" in a contexct of mourning, and it is used with regularity by almost all the Prophets, not just Y-Y: a full list here.

KE SHOD is even more interesting, because, unpointed, it looks like KESED, which is an alternative name for Bavel (Babylonia) - as in Ur Kasdim, Ur of the Chaldees; and indeed it will be given this name in verse 19. But the use here is poetical again, making a splendid link to the name of the deity... see below.

SHADAI: unusual to have Y-Y use this name, which was Av-Ram's name for his god when he lived in Ur Kasdim (Genesis 17:1). Thus Av-Ram came from precisely the place where this army is being mustered, so the invocation of his god makes perfect sense. It was precisely the total destruction of his holy city of Ur that forced Av-Ram's family to flee, seeking refuge in Padan-Aram. And ironic that it will be in precisely the region of Ur that this generation will soon find itself in captivity (see Psalm 137, but also note why today's Tel Aviv is so-named).

This verse offers some help in clarifying our dates. The invasion from Bavel is indeed the one that took Yehudah into exile in 586 BCE, though it started a decade or two before that.


13:7 AL KEN KOL YADAYIM TIRPEYNAH VE CHOL LEVAV ENOSH YIMAS

עַל כֵּן כָּל יָדַיִם תִּרְפֶּינָה וְכָל לְבַב אֱנוֹשׁ יִמָּס

KJ: Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:

BN: Therefore shall all hands become slack, and every human heart shall melt.


YADAYIM: Why are YADAYIM plural, but LEVAV is singular?

13:8 VE NIVHALU TSIYRIM VA CHAVALIM YO'CHEZUN KA YOLEDAH YECHIYLUN ISH EL RE'EHU YITMAHU PENEY LEHAVIM PENEYHEM

וְנִבְהָלוּ צִירִים וַחֲבָלִים יֹאחֵזוּן כַּיּוֹלֵדָה יְחִילוּן אִישׁ אֶל רֵעֵהוּ יִתְמָהוּ פְּנֵי לְהָבִים פְּנֵיהֶם

KJ: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

BN: And they shall be frightened. Pangs and throes shall take hold of them. They shall be in pain like a woman in labour. They shall look aghast at one another. Their faces shall be faces of flame.

CHAVALIM: Reflecting Chavah's (Eve's) punishment at the end of the Eden myth (Genesis 3), both in the simile and in the choice of homophone (Chavah-Chavalim)

13:9 HINEH YOM YHVH BA ACHZARI VE EVRAH VA CHARON APH LASUM HA ARETS LESHAMAH VE CHATA'EYHA YASHMID MIMENAH

הִנֵּה יוֹם יְהוָה בָּא אַכְזָרִי וְעֶבְרָה וַחֲרוֹן אָף לָשׂוּם הָאָרֶץ לְשַׁמָּה וְחַטָּאֶיהָ יַשְׁמִיד מִמֶּנָּה

KJ: Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

BN: Behold, the day of YHVH is near - cruel, and full of wrath and fierce anger - to make the Earth a desolation, and to destroy its sinners from it.

Whereas the "day of YHVH" at the end of Book One was very much the start of the Messianic Age, when everything will be wonderful in the human world.

13:10 KI CHOCHVEY HA SHAMAYIM U CHESIYLEYHEM LO YAHELU ORAM CHASHACH HA SHEMESH BE TSE'TO VE YARE'ACH LO YAGIY'AH ORO

כִּי כוֹכְבֵי הַשָּׁמַיִם וּכְסִילֵיהֶם לֹא יָהֵלּוּ אוֹרָם חָשַׁךְ הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ בְּצֵאתוֹ וְיָרֵחַ לֹא יַגִּיהַּ אוֹרוֹ

KJ: For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

BN: For the stars in the heavens and their constellations shall withhold their light. The sun shall orbit in darkness, and the moon shall hold back her light from shining.

But this is not just another Flood, not even Global Warming, this is Total Apocalypse, a switching off of the lights in the heavens, a re-establishing of Genesis 1 and the rule of Tohu and Bohu, Tehom and Choshech, a familiar Isaiac ruse, but one which conflicts with Genesis 9:9-17, where Elohim stated very clearly, and sealed it with the covenant of the rainbow, that destruction of this scale and order would never be repeated. So this presents a challenge: as a person of faith, which Y-Y calls upon one to be, how can both Genesis 9:9-17 and Isaiah 13:10 be accepted; and as the Torah has the greatest weight, do we then reject Isaiah's teaching? Not necessarily a question for us today, but surely one for his listener at the time.

Note the primitivity of his scientific understanding! And this is important for our understanding of his theology: we now know that the moon is entirely subsidiary to the sun, when it comes to light, a mere dark rock reflecting the sun's light (as is the Earth, of course, to the moon and other planets). The ancients regarded the moon as being another star, which is to say intrinsically capable of generating light, and this may explain why she had equal status with the sun as husband-wife rulers of the Cosmos. (How different might the ancient religions have been, how much more subordinate the female to the male, had they known what we now know!) And of course the sun does not orbit; that is the Earth's privilege, as a subordinate planet on the periphery of the Cosmos; but then (and still today, in many parts of the world) the Geocentric Universe still prevailed.


13:11 U PHAKADETI AL TEVEL RA'AH VE AL RESHA'IM AVONAM VE HISHBATI GE'ON ZEDIM VE GA'AVAT ARIYTSIM ASHPIL

וּפָקַדְתִּי עַל תֵּבֵל רָעָה וְעַל רְשָׁעִים עֲו‍ֹנָם וְהִשְׁבַּתִּי גְּאוֹן זֵדִים וְגַאֲוַת עָרִיצִים אַשְׁפִּיל 

KJ: And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

BN: And I will visit their own evil upon the world, their own iniquity upon the wicked; and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the tyrants.

Punishes, again in spite of the No'achic rainbow and without an Av-Raham to plead à la Sedom (Genesis 18:17 ff). But also a conflict with Genesis 1:27).


13:12 OKIR ENOSH MI PAZ VE ADAM MI KETEM OPHIR

אוֹקִיר אֱנוֹשׁ מִפָּז וְאָדָם מִכֶּתֶם אוֹפִיר

KJ: I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

BN: I will make Mankind more rare than fine gold, and individual men than the pure gold of Ophir.

This needs a translation which makes the same distinction as the original between ENOSH and ADAM, and I am not convinced that mine has managed it.

OPHIR: See the link.


13:13 AL KEN SHAMAYIM ARGIZ VE TIR'ASH HA ARETS MI MEKOMAH BE EVRAT YHVH TSEVA'OT U VE YOM CHARON APO

עַל כֵּן שָׁמַיִם אַרְגִּיז וְתִרְעַשׁ הָאָרֶץ מִמְּקוֹמָהּ בְּעֶבְרַת יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת וּבְיוֹם חֲרוֹן אַפּוֹ

KJ: Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

BN: Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the Earth shall be shaken out of her place, for the wrath of YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, and for the day of his fierce anger.


MI MEKOMAH: Or MIMKOMAH? There have been a number of these over the chapters, but I made the decision after pointing out so many in previous books not to become an addict to the habit.

13:14 VE HAYAH KI TSEVI MUDACH U CHE TSON VE EYN MEKABETS ISH EL AMO YIPHNU VE ISH EL ARTSO YANUSU

וְהָיָה כִּצְבִי מֻדָּח וּכְצֹאן וְאֵין מְקַבֵּץ אִישׁ אֶל עַמּוֹ יִפְנוּ וְאִישׁ אֶל אַרְצוֹ יָנוּסוּ

KJ: And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.

BN: And it shall come to pass that, like the chased gazelle, and like the sheep that no man can gather in, so every man shall turn to his own people, and every man shall flee to his own land.

Unlike Book One, where Y-Y was addressing an actual historical predicament with thought-through responses and strategems, all this is merely a TV evangelist doing his stunts in fire and brimstone, no different really from Senator Joe saying the Commies are coming, or Enoch Powell prophesying rivers of blood, or Donald Trump trying to buy the White House. Follow me or the entire banking system may collapse, the Chinese could invade, COVID could wipe out the entire population between the ages of seventeen and forty-three... whatever rubbish you choose to make up, that works on people's proneness to hysteria, and gets you votes. Y-Y spoke earlier of fearing the deity (see 11:3 especially), and we saw a very clear distinction between PACHAD and YIR'AT; and here he is now, 2nd Y-Y we have to start calling him because this is now clearly a later version, here he is now, applying PACHAD where 1st Y-Y was only interested in YIR'AT.

13:15 KOL HA NIMTSAH YIDAKER VE CHOL HA NISPEH YIPOL BE CHAREV

כָּל הַנִּמְצָא יִדָּקֵר וְכָל הַנִּסְפֶּה יִפּוֹל בֶּחָרֶב

KJ: Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword.

BN: Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is caught shall fall by the sword.

Though actually the promises of Messianic wonderfulness were just as fantastical.


13:16 VE OLELEYHEM YERUT'SHU LE EYNEYHEM YISHASU BATEYHEM U NESHEYHEM TISHAGALNAH 

וְעֹלְלֵיהֶם יְרֻטְּשׁוּ לְעֵינֵיהֶם יִשַּׁסּוּ בָּתֵּיהֶם וּנְשֵׁיהֶם תִּשָּׁגַלְנָה (תִּשָּׁכַֽבְנָה)

KJ: Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.

BN: Their infants too shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.

Whereas this, sad to say, is simply the standard norm of male behaviour in war.

I am unclear why the Mechon-Mamre version disputes TISHAGALNAH and believes it should be TISHACHAVNAH (תִּשָּׁכַבְנָה). The answer is Masoretic, which M-M has simply borrowed, and I am struck that exactly the same parenthesised correction occurs at Deuteronomy 28:30 (the second of the "blessings and cursings" episodes between Mount Eyval and Mount Gerizim, echoed in the Muslim Haj; the other version is at Deuteronomy 11), which is also the chapter that you should read if you want deeper understanding of these contrasts in the two Y-Y passages: the first 15 verses all depict the Messianic wonderfulness, the next set do what our current chapter is doing - and most of the Y-Y is word-for-word.

As to the "correction". The SHEGAL was the queen consort, the wife of the king; and no, not a concubine, but the full Queen - see Daniel 5:2 for that, but also Psalm 45:10 and Nehemiah 2:6. It is hard to see how a verb could be made from this to describe rape, whereas TISHACHAVNAH comes from the root SHACHAV, "to lie down", from which the "bedding" is easily rooted.


13:17 HINENI ME'IR ALEYHEM ET MADAI ASHER KESEPH LO YACHSHOVU VE ZAHAV LO YACHPETSU VO

הִנְנִי מֵעִיר עֲלֵיהֶם אֶת מָדָי אֲשֶׁר כֶּסֶף לֹא יַחְשֹׁבוּ וְזָהָב לֹא יַחְפְּצוּ בוֹ

KJ: Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.

BN: Behold, I will stir up the Madai against them, who will have no regard silver, and as for gold, they will find no delight in it.

I promised at the start of the chapter that I would try to find evidence to date this, and at last we have something more substantial. This verse leaves me convinced that this chapter must be a very much later text, because Y-Y of Book One, at the time of Hoshe'a, could not have predicted the defeat of Bavel (Babylon) by the MADAI, which is to say the Medes, 140 years hence. For more on the Medes, and especially the dates at which they came to prominence, click here.

13:18 U KESHATOT NE'ARIM TERATASHNAH U PHERI VETEN LO YERACHEMU AL BANIM LO TACHUS EYNAM

וּקְשָׁתוֹת נְעָרִים תְּרַטַּשְׁנָה וּפְרִי בֶטֶן לֹא יְרַחֵמוּ עַל בָּנִים לֹא תָחוּס עֵינָם

KJ: Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.

BN: But their bows shall dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.

It was the war between the Medes and the Babylonians which brought the end of exile for the Beney Yehudah, dragged off to Bavel in 586 BCE, liberated within Bavel in 536 BCE, and shortly afterwards the first returnees, as described in the five books of the return from exile. It was the Medean kings Koresh (Cyrus) and Achashverosh (Ahasuerus) who supported Zeru-Bavel, Ezra and Nechem-Yah when they wanted to take the Yehudim back to Yeru-Shala'im and rebuild it.

TERATSHENAH is surely too multi-rooted to be a Yehudit word. But in fact not so, and actually we have already encountered, just two verses ago: יְרֻטְּשׁוּ - YERUT'SHU, at verse 16.


13:19 VE HAYETAH VAVEL TSEVI MAMLACHOT TIPH'ERET GE'ON KASDIM KE MAHPECHAT ELOHIM ET SEDOM VE ET AMORAH

וְהָיְתָה בָבֶל צְבִי מַמְלָכוֹת תִּפְאֶרֶת גְּאוֹן כַּשְׂדִּים כְּמַהְפֵּכַת אֱלֹהִים אֶת סְדֹם וְאֶת עֲמֹרָה

KJ: And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

BN: And Bavel, the glory of kingdoms, the pride and beauty of Kasdim, shall be as when Elohim overthrew Sedom and Amorah.

Bavel defeated (and again the parallel is the destruction of the Cities of the Plain). So we can confirm our epoch, even if not our precise date.


13:20 LO TESHEV LA NETSACH VE LO TISHKON AD DOR VA DOR VE LO YAHEL SHAM ARAVI VE RO'IM LO YARBITSU SHAM

לֹא תֵשֵׁב לָנֶצַח וְלֹא תִשְׁכֹּן עַד דּוֹר וָדוֹר וְלֹא יַהֵל שָׁם עֲרָבִי וְרֹעִים לֹא יַרְבִּצוּ שָׁם

KJ: It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.

BN: It will remain uninhabited in perpetuity, unsettled from generation to generation; neither the Arab will pitch tent there, nor the shepherds set up their fold there.


NETSACH...TISHKON... DOR VA DOR: The form is symmetrical, but not so much so as the choice of language, creating symmetries of a very different kind: phrases that are central to Temple liturgy, as though merely to restate them now is sufficient to ensure their future restoration. Bavel is defeated... the return to Yeru-Shala'im is only a matter of time, and especially faith. TISHKON stands out amongst these, alongside the tents of the shepherds - the allusion to the MISHKAN, the Tent in which YHVH was carried out of his previous exile, the one in the Egyptian desert with Mosheh and then Yehoshu'a, the one that stood beside that other tent, the OHEL MO'ED.

13:21 VE RAVTSU SHAM TSI'IM U MAL'U VATEYHEM OCHIM VE SHACHNU SHAM BENOT YA'ANAH U SE'IYRIM YERAKDU SHAM

וְרָבְצוּ שָׁם צִיִּים וּמָלְאוּ בָתֵּיהֶם אֹחִים וְשָׁכְנוּ שָׁם בְּנוֹת יַעֲנָה וּשְׂעִירִים יְרַקְּדוּ שָׁם

KJ: But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.

BN: But wild-cats shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of ferrets; and ostriches shall dwell there, and goats shall dance there.

Returns Bavel to nature, with the hyenas and jackals ruling it (or are they metaphorical too?)

SE'IYRIM: translating it as "satyrs" is naughty. Se'ir is Esav's city in Edom. These are regular goats.


13:22 VE ANAH IYIM BE ALMENOTAV VE TANIM BE HEYCHLEY ONEG VE KAROV LAVO ITAH VE YAMEYHA LO YIMASHECHU

וְעָנָה אִיִּים בְּאַלְמְנוֹתָיו וְתַנִּים בְּהֵיכְלֵי עֹנֶג וְקָרוֹב לָבוֹא עִתָּהּ וְיָמֶיהָ לֹא יִמָּשֵׁכוּ

KJ: And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

BN: And jackals shall howl in their castles, and wild-dogs in the pleasant palaces; because her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

Which latter seems to suggest a date somewhere between 586 and 536 BCE, the same period in which Psalm 137 was written. And if so, then this too must have been written in Tel Abib, in Bavel.



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