Indictment of Judah and the Nations (25:1-38) 263
cities are cited in 47:4, where also the LXX and T say that they will be de-
stroyed (see Note for 47:4). Both cities were represented at the Jerusalem con-
ference in 594 B.C., at which time rebellion against Babylon was discussed
(27:1-3). Sidon ended up submitting to Nebuchadnezzar before the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem; Tyre resisted and was besieged by the Babylonian king for
13 years (ca. 585-573 B.c.), at the end of which all but the island portion of the
city had been taken. Classical sources tell of other attacks against Tyre and
Sidon during the same period by Pharaoh Apries ( = Hophra) of Egypt, who
reigned from 589-570 B.C. Herodotus (ii 161) says thatApries suffered defeat in
both campaigns, the naval battle at Tyre perhaps being an Egyptian attempt to
help break the Babylonian siege. Diodorus of Sicily (i 68) reports that Apries
took Sidon by storm, also terrifying other Phoenician cities into submission.
the kings of the coastlands that are across the sea. An extension of the judg-
ment on Tyre and Sidon. The LXX: "the kings who were on the other side (taus
en to peran) of the sea." Aquila, Theod, and T have "of the island"; Vg has "of
the islands" plural. Hebrew >1 is a collective noun meaning either "island(s)"
or "coastland(s)" (cf. 2: 10). Reference here is to the Phoenician colonies in the
western Mediterranean, of which Carthage in North Africa is the best known
(Calvin; Giesebrecht; Cornill). Legend has it that Carthage (in modern Tuni-
sia) was founded by settlers from Tyre in the late ninth century B.C. Modern
archaeological work, however, dates Phoenician expansion in the western
Mediterranean as beginning ca. 750 B.C., and it could be earlier. Other Phoe-
nician colonies existed on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, also along the
coast of Spain (OEANE 4: 327). How judgment was to come upon kings of
such distant colonies is unclear; it could hardly have been from Nebuchad-
nezzar and the Babylonians.
- Dedan. A caravan center at an oasis in northwest Arabia, identified with
the ruins of al-Khuraybah, just north of the modern village of aI-<Ula. Dedan
receives a word of judgment in one of Jeremiah's Edom oracles (see Note for
49:8), which may have been fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar raided desert
camps of the Arabs in 599-598 B.C. (see Note for 49:28).
Terna. Another caravan center and oasis in northwest Arabia (Job 6:19;
Isa 21:14), on the trade route from Babylon to Dedan (Eph<al 1982: 15), not
to be confused with Teman, which is a northeast region of Edom (cf. 49:7,
20). The identification of Terna' with modern Tayma' ( = Teima) is widely ac-
cepted. Terna' is where Nabonidus took up residence for ten years while ex-
iled from Babylon (ca. 553-543 B.C.; cf. Isa 21:13-17), and it is mentioned in
the earlier Calah Inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser III (745-727 B.c.) as one
among many Arab tribes bringing tribute of gold, silver, camels, and spices to
the Assyrian king (Tadmor 1994: 142-43 [ 4:27]; 168-69 [7:3 reverse); Lucken-
bill 1926: 287 [#799]; 293 [#818);ANET^3 283-84; CS II 288-89). Four (of 45)
inscriptions found on the summit of Jabal Ghunaym, about 14 kilometers
south of Tayma', correlate well with the Hanan Inscription of Nabonidus in doc-
umenting Babylonian military activity against Dedan and other cities of the area
(Winnett and Reed 1970: 88-92, 102-3). On Nabonidus's Hanan Inscriptions,
