316 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTSgrandson" is not to be taken literally; it simply denotes three generations (cf.
Exod 34:7), like the "70 years" of 25:11-12 and 29:10. And the time period is
indefinite. Ehrlich ( 1912: 312) says "son and grandson" is an expression for de-
scendants through all generations (cf. Judg 8:22), which goes too far. Nebu-
chadnezzar, as far as we know, did not have a grandson who ruled. When he
died, in 562 B.C., he was succeeded by his son Evil-merodach (Amel-marduk),
who reigned two years. After him, Neriglissar (560-556 B.c.) and Nabonidus
(556-539 B.c.) occupied the throne until Babylon fell to Cyrus, the Persian,
and neither was a blood relative of Nebuchadnezzar. The suggestion has thus
been made that the present verse may have been omitted in the LXX because
it was not literally fulfilled (Hyatt; Bright).
until the time of his land comes-even he! I.e., until judgment comes upon
Nebuchdnezzar's land. The expression <ad «n ("until the time") is again a lim-
ited but unspecified time (Dan 11 :24; cf. Leviticus Rab bah 21: 7). The final
gam-hu>, "even he!" which the modern Versions do not translate, makes the
point that even Nebuchadnezzar's land will come in for a day of reckoning.
Compare gam-hemmfl ("even them!"), referring to the Babylonians, in the par-
allel verse of 25:14a.
Then many nations and great kings shall make him serve! Service is a leit-
motiv in the chapter, the verb <bd having just occurred at the beginning of the
verse with its usual meaning. Now with we<abedu comes a wordplay and
ironic understatement. The verb <bd + be in the Qal can mean "make serve"
(see Note for 25:14). Nations and kings will at some future time make the
Babylonian king their servant, just as the Babylonian king is now making
them his servant (T: "many nations and mighty kings shall enslave him"). The
same prediction occurs in 2 5: l 4a, only there it is the king and the entire Baby-
lonian nation that will be enslaved by "many nations and great kings." Cornill
and others suggest emending b6 ("with him") to bah ("with it"), which antic-
ipates judgment on the Babylonian nation, not on Nebuchadnezzar person-
ally. But the context requires "with him," even though, as things turned out, it
was Babylon, not Nebuchadnezzar (or a son or grandson), that reaped the
judgment. One will note another play on <bd in v 11, where the meaning is "to
work (the soil)."
- And it shall be that the nation or the kingdom who does not serve him, that
is, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Here in vv 8-11 is an antithesis similar to
those in chaps. 18 and 24: first, nations unwilling to serve the king of Babylon
are told the outcome of their action; then, nations willing to serve are told the
outcome of their action (Krafovec 1984: 89-90). Compare the antithesis in
Bar 2:21-23.
And it shall be. Hebrew wehaya. The LXX omits the verb (without waw),
which can be attributed to haplography (homoeoarcton: h ... h). The T has
the verb; so do Aq and Theod (estai). Tov ( 1979: 79) concurs that the LXX
omission does not include the waw.
serve him, that is, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and who will not. The
LXX lacks these words also, and while some commentators delete, the loss is