Daniel 2:10

2:10 The wise men replied to the king, “There is no man on earth who is able to disclose the king’s secret, ¹  for no king, regardless of his position and power, has ever requested such a thing from any magician, astrologer, or wise man.

Yesaya 19:3

19:3 The Egyptians will panic, ² 

and I will confuse their strategy. ³ 

They will seek guidance from the idols and from the spirits of the dead,

from the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, and from the magicians. ⁴ 

Yesaya 44:25

44:25 who frustrates the omens of the empty talkers ⁵ 

and humiliates ⁶  the omen readers,

who overturns the counsel of the wise men ⁷ 

and makes their advice ⁸  seem foolish,

[2:10]  ¹ tn Aram “matter, thing.”

[19:3]  ² tn Heb “and the spirit of Egypt will be laid waste in its midst.”

[19:3]  ³ tn The verb בָּלַע (bala’, “confuse”) is a homonym of the more common בָּלַע (bala’, “swallow”); see HALOT 135 s.v. I בלע.

[19:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “they will inquire of the idols and of the spirits of the dead and of the ritual pits and of the magicians.” Hebrew אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. See the note on “incantations” in 8:19.

[44:25]  ⁵ tc The Hebrew text has בַּדִּים (baddim), perhaps meaning “empty talkers” (BDB 95 s.v. III בַּד). In the four other occurrences of this word (Job 11:3; Isa 16:6; Jer 48:30; 50:36) the context does not make the meaning of the term very clear. Its primary point appears to be that the words spoken are meaningless or false. In light of its parallelism with “omen readers,” some have proposed an emendation to בָּרִים (barim, “seers”). The Mesopotamian baru-priests were divination specialists who played an important role in court life. See R. Wilson, Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel, 93-98. Rather than supporting an emendation, J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:189, n. 79) suggests that Isaiah used בַּדִּים purposively as a derisive wordplay on the Akkadian word baru (in light of the close similarity of the d and r consonants).

[44:25]  ⁶ tn Or “makes fools of” (NIV, NRSV); NAB and NASB both similar.

[44:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “who turns back the wise” (so NRSV); NIV “overthrows the learning of the wise”; TEV “The words of the wise I refute.”

[44:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “their knowledge” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).