318 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTSBabylon who are speaking lies in Yahweh's name (29:8-9). Diviners and divi-
nation come under even stronger attack from Ezekiel, who brands both practi-
tioners and the practice as false, pronouncing upon diviners and other like
individuals-both men and women-Yahweh's sure judgment (Ezek 12:24,
28; 13:1-23).
your dreamers. The MT has f:zalomOtekem ("your dreams"), but commenta-
tors generally go with "dreamers," which is in the Versions and which must be
the original reading (T has "the dreams of your dreamers"). Ehrlich ( 1912:
312-313) revocalizes to f:zalomotekem ("your dreamers") on the basis of a Mish-
naic parallel; Duhm achieves the same result by emending to f:zolemekem. See
again 29:8. Oppenheim ( 1956: 240) says that these individuals, like the "master
of dreams" (ba<a[ haf:zalom6t) in Gen 37: 19 and the "dreamer of dreams"
(f:zolem f:zal6m) in Deut l 3:2[Eng 13: I], habitually received dream-revelations.
Jeremiah has the strongest polemic anywhere in the OT against dreamers in
23:25-32. For a broader discussion on dreams and dreamers in the OT and in
the ANE, see Note for 23:25.
your soothsayers. Hebrew <onenekem. The term is a Pole! participle of the
verb <nn, whose meaning is uncertain. KB^3 gives "to interpret signs" as a defi-
nition for the root. Arabic <anna means "to appear suddenly, show oneself, to
intervene as a hindrance" (Kopf 1958: 190). An Ugaritic cognate <nn is also at-
tested, but all that can be said here is that it appears in contexts concerning dei-
ties (UT 458 #1885). The secret art possessed by soothsaying men and women
(Isa 57:3: "sons of a soothsaying woman") may have consisted of telling for-
tunes based on observations of natural phenomena (<anan means "clouds"),
but this is unconfirmed. On astrology in Babylon, see Note for 10:2. According
to the Bible, soothsayers were indigenous to Canaanite culture (Deut 18: 14),
being attested also among the Philistines (Isa 2:6). In Israel they were banned
(Deut 18: IO; Lev 19:26), but they existed anyway, particularly when legalized
by King Manasseh (2 Kgs 21:6; 2 Chr 33:6).
your sorcerers. Hebrew kassapekem. This noun is a hapax legomenon in the
OT but comes from an attested verb, kissep, meaning "to practice sorcery." An-
other noun, kesep, "sorcery," also exists. Akkadian kasapu (CAD 8: 284; AHw 1:
461) is probably close in meaning to the Hebrew verb: "to bewitch, cast an evil
spell." Hebrew kassap also has a parallel in Akk kassapu, "sorcerer" (CAD 8:
292; AHw 1: 463). The Pharaoh of Egypt had sorcerers working magic at the
time of the Exodus (Exod 7:11), and later in Dan 2:2 they are called upon in
Babylon to interpret dreams. The Covenant Code specifies capital punish-
ment for a sorceress (Exod 22:17[Eng 22:18]), and a ban on the dark practice
exists also in Deut 18:10; nevertheless, sorcery was legalized in the North by
Jezebel (2 Kgs 9:22) and in the South by Manasseh (2 Chr 33:6). Yahweh's
judgment on such practitioners is not left in doubt by the prophets. A "mistress
of sorcery" (ba<a[at kesapfm) will be blamed for all the dead bodies in Nineveh
(Nah 3:4). Babylon, too, will fall, despite its many sorceries (Isa 47:9, 12). A
bleak future for Judah's sorcerers and sorceries is predicted in Mic 5: 11 [Eng
5:12] and Mal 3:5.