Yesaya 14:13-14

14:13 You said to yourself, ¹ 

“I will climb up to the sky.

Above the stars of El ² 

I will set up my throne.

I will rule on the mountain of assembly

on the remote slopes of Zaphon. ³ 

14:14 I will climb up to the tops ⁴  of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High!” ⁵ 

Obaja 1:3-4

1:3 Your presumptuous heart ⁶  has deceived you –

you who reside in the safety of the rocky cliffs, ⁷ 

whose home is high in the mountains. ⁸ 

You think to yourself, ⁹ 

‘No one can ¹⁰  bring me down to the ground!’ ¹¹ 

1:4 Even if you were to soar high like an eagle, ¹² 

even if you ¹³  were to make your nest among the stars,

I can bring you down even from there!” says the Lord.

[14:13]  ¹ tn Heb “you, you said in your heart.”

[14:13]  ² sn In Canaanite mythology the stars of El were astral deities under the authority of the high god El.

[14:13]  ³ sn Zaphon, the Canaanite version of Olympus, was the “mountain of assembly” where the gods met.

[14:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “the high places.” This word often refers to the high places where pagan worship was conducted, but here it probably refers to the “backs” or tops of the clouds. See HALOT 136 s.v. בָּמָה.

[14:14]  ⁵ sn Normally in the OT the title “Most High” belongs to the God of Israel, but in this context, where the mythological overtones are so strong, it probably refers to the Canaanite high god El.

[1:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “the presumption of your heart”; NAB, NIV “the pride of your heart”; NASB “arrogance of your heart.”

[1:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the concealed places of the rock”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “in the clefts of the rock”; NCV “the hollow places of the cliff”; CEV “a mountain fortress.”

[1:3]  sn The word rock in Hebrew (סֶלַע, sela’) is a wordplay on Sela, the name of a prominent Edomite city. Its impregnability was a cause for arrogance on the part of its ancient inhabitants.

[1:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “on high (is) his dwelling”; NASB “in the loftiness of your dwelling place”; NRSV “whose dwelling (abode NAB) is in the heights.”

[1:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “the one who says in his heart.”

[1:3]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew imperfect verb used here is best understood in a modal sense (“Who can bring me down?”) rather than in the sense of a simple future (“Who will bring me down?”). So also in v. 4 (“I can bring you down”). The question is not so much whether this will happen at some time in the future, but whether it even lies in the realm of possible events. In their hubris the Edomites were boasting that no one had the capability of breaching their impregnable defenses. However, their pride caused them to fail to consider the vast capabilities of Yahweh as warrior.

[1:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Who can bring me down?” This rhetorical question implies a negative answer: “No one!”

[1:4]  ¹² sn The eagle was often used in the ancient Near East as a symbol of strength and swiftness.

[1:4]  ¹³ tc The present translation follows the reading תָּשִׂים (tasim; active) rather than שִׁים (sim; passive) of the MT (“and your nest be set among the stars,” NAB). Cf. LXX, Syriac, Vg.