32:23 I will increase their 1 disasters,
I will use up my arrows on them.
32:42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword will devour flesh –
the blood of the slaughtered and captured,
the chief 2 of the enemy’s leaders!’”
21:12 For you make them retreat 3
when you shoot your arrows at them. 4
45:5 Your arrows are sharp
and penetrate the hearts of the king’s enemies.
Nations fall at your feet. 5
50:9 For I will rouse into action and bring against Babylon
a host of mighty nations 6 from the land of the north.
They will set up their battle lines against her.
They will come from the north and capture her. 7
Their arrows will be like a skilled soldier 8
who does not return from the battle empty-handed. 9
1 tn Heb “upon them.”
2 tn Or “head” (the same Hebrew word can mean “head” in the sense of “leader, chieftain” or “head” in the sense of body part).
3 tn Heb “you make them a shoulder,” i.e., “you make them turn and run, showing the back of their neck and shoulders.”
4 tn Heb “with your bowstrings you fix against their faces,” i.e., “you fix your arrows on the bowstrings to shoot at them.”
5 tn Heb “your arrows are sharp – peoples beneath you fall – in the heart of the enemies of the king.” The choppy style reflects the poet’s excitement.
6 sn Some of these are named in Jer 51:27-28.
7 tn Heb “She will be captured from there (i.e., from the north).”
8 tc Read Heb ַָמשְׂכִּיל (moskil) with a number of Hebrew
9 tn Or more freely, “Their arrows will be as successful at hitting their mark // as a skilled soldier always returns from battle with plunder.”