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14 Look, they are like straw,
that the fire burns up;
they cannot rescue themselves
from the heat[a] of the flames.
There are no coals to warm them,
no firelight to enjoy.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 47:14 tn Heb “hand,” here a metaphor for the strength or power of the flames.
  2. Isaiah 47:14 tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “there is no coal [for?] their food, light to sit before it.” Some emend לַחְמָם (lakhmam, “their food”) to לְחֻמָּם (lekhummam, “to warm them”; see HALOT 328 s.v. חמם). This statement may allude to Isa 44:16, where idolaters are depicted warming themselves over a fire made from wood, part of which was used to form idols. The fire of divine judgment will be no such campfire; its flames will devour and destroy.