Deuteronomy 4:27-28

4:27 Then the Lord will scatter you among the peoples and there will be very few of you among the nations where the Lord will drive you. 4:28 There you will worship gods made by human hands – wood and stone that can neither see, hear, eat, nor smell.

Leviticus 26:33

26:33 I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste.

Nehemiah 1:8

1:8 Please recall the word you commanded your servant Moses: ‘If you act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the nations.

Jeremiah 16:13

16:13 So I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. There you must worship other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.’”

Jeremiah 50:17

50:17 “The people of Israel are like scattered sheep

which lions have chased away.

First the king of Assyria devoured them.

Now last of all King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has gnawed their bones.

Ezekiel 11:16-17

11:16 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Although I have removed them far away among the nations and have dispersed them among the countries, I have been a little sanctuary for them among the lands where they have gone.’

11:17 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When I regather you from the peoples and assemble you from the lands where you have been dispersed, I will give you back the country of Israel.’

Luke 21:24

21:24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away as captives among all nations. Jerusalem 10  will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. 11 


tn Heb “you will be left men (i.e., few) of number.”

tn Heb “and I will empty sword” (see HALOT 1228 s.v. ריק 3).

tn Heb “peoples.”

sn The king of Assyria devoured them. This refers to the devastation wrought on northern Israel by the kings of Assyria beginning in 738 b.c. when Tiglath Pileser took Galilee and the Transjordanian territories and ending with the destruction and exile of the people of Samaria by Sargon in 722 b.c.

tn The verb used here only occurs this one time in the Hebrew Bible. It is a denominative from the Hebrew word for “bones” (עֶצֶם, ’etsem). BDB 1126 s.v. עֶָצַם, denom Pi, define it as “break his bones.” HALOT 822 s.v. II עָצַם Pi defines it as “gnaw on his bones.”

tn Or “have been partially a sanctuary”; others take this as temporal (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV “a little while”).

tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

tn Grk “by the mouth of the sword” (an idiom for the edge of a sword).

sn Here is the predicted judgment against the nation until the time of Gentile rule has passed: Its people will be led away as captives.

10 tn Grk “And Jerusalem.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

11 sn Until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled implies a time when Israel again has a central role in God’s plan.