Reference
Description and usage
The broom was a longer or shorter stick to one end of which was attached some flexible material such as small branches. The broom was used to sweep dirt from the floor.
Translation
The Hebrew word mat’ate’ appears only in ISA 14:23, although it is known from extra-biblical literature. In the Isaiah reference it is an instrument of destruction and judgment, and most translations render literally “broom of destruction” (RSV, NIV). Where an equivalent implement is not known, or where a destructive broom might seem too strange, translators may follow CEV, which renders the last half of the verse as “The LORD will sweep out the people.”