Deuteronomy 28:49

28:49 The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth ¹  as the eagle flies, ²  a nation whose language you will not understand,

Joshua 9:6

9:6 They came to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land. Make a treaty with us.”

Joshua 9:9

9:9 They told him, “Your subjects ³  have come from a very distant land because of the reputation ⁴  of the Lord your God, for we have heard the news about all he did in Egypt ⁵ 

Isaiah 13:5

13:5 They come from a distant land,

from the horizon. ⁶ 

It is the Lord with his instruments of judgment, ⁷ 

coming to destroy the whole earth. ⁸ 

¹ tn Heb “from the end of the earth.”

² tn Some translations understand this to mean “like an eagle swoops down” (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), comparing the swift attack of an eagle to the attack of the Israelites’ enemies.

³ tn Or “servants.”

⁴ tn Heb “name.”

⁵ tn Heb “the report about him, all that he did in Egypt.”

⁶ tn Heb “from the end of the sky.”

⁷ tn Or “anger”; cf. KJV, ASV “the weapons of his indignation.”

⁸ tn Or perhaps, “land” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NLT). Even though the heading and subsequent context (see v. 17) indicate Babylon’s judgment is in view, the chapter has a cosmic flavor that suggests that the coming judgment is universal in scope. Perhaps Babylon’s downfall occurs in conjunction with a wider judgment, or the cosmic style is poetic hyperbole used to emphasize the magnitude and importance of the coming event.