translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: ISA

label: NET study note

text: has תראה (“[my sword] appeared [in the heavens]”), but this is apparently an attempt to make sense out of a difficult metaphor. Cf. NIV “My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens.” In v. 4 the “host of the heaven” refers to the heavenly luminaries (stars and planets, see, among others, Deut 4:19; 17:3 ; 2 Kgs 17:16; 21:3, 5; 23:4-5 ; 2 Chr 33:3, 5 ) that populate the divine/heavenly assembly in mythological and prescientific Israelite thought (see Job 38:7 ; Isa 14:13 ). As in 24:21 , they are viewed here as opposing God and being defeated in battle.


text: Edom is mentioned here as epitomizing the hostile nations that oppose God.


text: The Lord’s judgment of Edom is compared to a bloody sacrificial scene.


text: The metaphor in v. 11 b emphasizes that God has carefully planned Edom’s demise.