Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 14 describes the king of Babylon trying to rise above the heavens and challenge divine rule. The Aramaic translation in Targum Jonathan changes this so the king no longer wants to challenge God and instead wants to dominate the people of God.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 14:13
Hebrew Bible
12 “Look how you have fallen from the sky, O shining one, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O conqueror of the nations! 13 You said to yourself, ‘I will climb up to the sky. Above the stars of El I will set up my throne. I will rule on the mountain of assembly on the remote slopes of Zaphon. 14 I will climb up to the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High!’
Jonathan Isaiah 14:13
Targum
12 How you are cast down from on high, you who shone among the sons of men like the planet Venus among the stars! You are dashed down to the earth, you who slaughtered among the nations. 13 And you, you said in your heart, ‘I will climb up the heavens; I will set the throne of my kingdom above the people of God, and I will sit on the mountain of the solemn assembly, on the far reaches of the north; 14 I will ascend above all peoples; I will be higher than all of them.’
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Notes and References
"... “The house of Jacob” is promised the addition of “proselytes” in a land in which the “Shekhinah” is restored (vv. 1, 2), while Babylon is the butt of a taunt against the broken strength of its sinful mastery (verses 4–6). Particular relief is expressed by rich rulers (verse 8), who presumably have borne the economic brunt of tyranny. But any such relief is to be short-lived, in that the rich are also named as the principal inhabitants of Sheol (verse 9) ...imagery of 14:12 may have influenced Luke 10:18. The arrogance of the king of Babylon is spelled out in verses 13–14, and the Targumic innovation is to replace the idea of his challenging God in the Masoretic text with the motif of his attempt to dominate “the people of God” ..."
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