Yesaya 14:28-29

The Lord Will Judge the Philistines

14:28 In the year King Ahaz died, ¹  this message was revealed: ² 

14:29 Don’t be so happy, all you Philistines,

just because the club that beat you has been broken! ³ 

For a viper will grow out of the serpent’s root,

and its fruit will be a darting adder. ⁴ 

[14:28]  ¹ sn Perhaps 715 b.c., but the precise date is uncertain.

[14:28]  ² tn Heb “this oracle came.”

[14:29]  ³ sn The identity of this “club” (also referred to as a “serpent” in the next line) is uncertain. It may refer to an Assyrian king, or to Ahaz. For discussion see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:331-32. The viper/adder referred to in the second half of the verse is his successor.

[14:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “flying burning one.” The designation “burning one” may allude to the serpent’s appearance or the effect of its poisonous bite. (See the note at 6:2.) The qualifier “flying” probably refers to the serpent’s quick, darting movements, though one might propose a homonym here, meaning “biting.” (See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:332, n. 18.) Some might think in terms of a mythological flying, fire breathing dragon (cf. NAB “a flying saraph”; CEV “a flying fiery dragon”), but this proposal does not make good sense in 30:6, where the phrase “flying burning one” appears again in a list of desert animals.