Indictment of Judah and the Nations (25:1-38) 271speaking. In Amos 1:2 and Joel 4:16[Eng 3:16], the lion's roar is from Zion;
here it comes from Yahweh's heavenly abode. The Amos passage most likely
lies behind the present one, since in both, Yahweh roars against his own
people and also against other nations.
on high. Hebrew mar6m. This is Yahweh's dwelling place in the heavens
(Ps 7:8[Eng 7:7]), where the "throne of glory" has been from the beginning
(see Note for 17:12). But mar6m in 3l:l2 is the place of Yahweh's earthly
Temple in Zion.
from his holy abode. Hebrew mimme'6n qodsu. Again, Yahweh's heavenly
sanctuary (Deut 26:15; Ps 68:6[Eng 68:5]; Isa 63:15; 2 Chr 30:27). The LX:Xhas
simply apo tou agiou autou ("from his sanctuary").
He will roar mightily against his pasture. Heaven's roar is against earth and
the people of earth. Hebrew naweh ("pasture") should not be confused with
nal)ala, which is "hereditary property" given by Yahweh to Israel and other na-
tions (see Note for 2:7). The term naweh simply means "pasture," where a shep-
herd grazes and rests his sheep (33:12; Ps 23:1-2). The pasture here is called
Yahweh's because he, like a lion, will make it his own when attacking the
sheep that reside there. This pasture is not confined to Judah, as in 10:25; 23:3;
and 50:19 (pace Peake). It is pastures of the earth and nations of the earth.
Compare 49: 19-20 and 50:44-45, where Yahweh will come similarly against
the pastures of Teman (Edom) and Babylon.
a shout like the treaders will ring out. The metaphor now shifts from a roaring
lion to treaders in a wine press. Grapes were treaded by foot, and those doing
the treading would typically sing or shout robustly as they worked. Musicians
provided accompaniment and rhythm. Virgil (Georgics ii 417) says: "Now the
last vine-dresser sings of his finished rows" (Loeb). For pictures of Egyptian
men treading grapes, in some cases accompanied by musicians, see ANEP^2 26
#90; 48 #15 5, #156; and Lesko 1977: 16; 1996: 217, 220. The same kind of sing-
ing was done in American cotton fields of the South, and it can be heard the
world over where men and women join together in common labor. That the
shouting of treaders will reach deafening proportions is clear from this verse.
Yahweh's roar is also deafening when he speaks judgment. It is, then, the voice
of Yahweh that we are hearing, not the voices of those suffering the divine fury.
The LXX translates the Hebrew verb 'nh as "answer," assuming that people on
earth are doing the shouting. It translates: kai aided asper trugontes apokrithe-
sontai, "And these, like men gathering grapes, shall answer." But this verb 'nh
does not mean "answer" (Rashi); it means "ring out, shout" (BOB 'nh IV; KB^3
'nh IV), and it is Yahweh's voice that is ringing out. The NEB attempted to
translate 'nh as "answer," with Yahweh still being the speaking voice ("an echo
comes back like the shout of men treading grapes"). Holladay accepts the
"echo" interpretation, but the REB abandons the translation. Whereas a com-
parison is made here to the shout of men treading grapes, the shout is in fact a
battle shout. The two meanings of hedad, the shout of treaders and the shout of
battle, appear together in Isa 16:9-10. The suggestion has also been made that
there is an allusion to the Canaanite storm god, Hadad, in the present verse