Speaking of Kings (21:1-23:8) 101- Thus said Yahweh, God of Israel. The LXX lacks "God of Israel." Rudolph
thinks the LXX abbreviates; Janzen (1973: 43) disagrees, saying a prophetic cli-
che has been expanded.
T will tum around the weapons of war that are in your hand. The verb is sbb,
which can also be translated "turn back." Yahweh will turn the weapons
against those wielding them. Kim]:ii says the fighters will have no power to
wage war, making their weapons useless. The ANE treaties contain curses that
call upon the gods to break and turn around the treaty-breaker's weapons, usu-
ally the bow (cf. Hos 1:5; Jer 49:35; Ezek 39:3). From a treaty of Esarhaddon
(#543; Hillers 1964: 60):
May they break your bow ...
May they reverse the direction of the bow in your hand.Again, from an Esarhaddon treaty (#573-75; Wiseman 1958a: 71-72; Borger
1961: 193;ANET^3 540; H. Weippert 1970: 402-8; 1973: 84-85), is this curse:May they shatter your bow and cause you to sit beneath your enemy
May they cause the bow to come away from your hand
May they cause your chariots to be turned upside down.In ANET^3 line #575 is translated: "May they turn backward your chariots" (so
also Borger). Weippert sees the present situation as holy war in reverse, where
Yahweh brings confusion to the ranks of Jerusalem's soldiers, and they are de-
feated (cf. Deut 28:20). From the Code of Hammurabi is a curse stating that
the goddess Inanna will bring about confusion and defeat to fighting warriors
(ANET^3 179, rev. xxviii; CS II 353):
May she [i.e., Inanna] shatter his weapons on the field of battle and conflict
May she create confusion (and) revolt for him
May she strike down his warriors (and) water the earth with their blood!that are in your hand. The LXX omits, which can be attributed to haplogra-
phy (whole-word: )Sr ... )sr). Here Janzen (1973: 43) agrees. The phrase is
present in Symm.
the king of Babylon and. The LXX omits, which is doubtless more haplogra-phy (whole-word: Jt ... Jt). The words are not MT expansion (pace Janzen
1973: 43; Holladay). Aquila, Symm, and Theod all have them.
Chaldeans. Chaldeans =Babylonians. On Chaldea and the Chaldeans, see
Note for 50:1.
who are besieging you from outside the wall. The le on la/:zOmd ("wall") is a
genitive: "of the wall" (GKC $129b). Some commentators (Ewald; Duhm;
Peake; Streane; Volz; Bright; Thompson; Boadt) think that the Chaldeans are
not yet up to the city wall but still in the open field. This mistaken interpreta-
tion appears to derive from the T (see below).