32:23 I will increase their 1 disasters,
I will use up my arrows on them.
32:24 They will be starved by famine,
eaten by plague, and bitterly stung; 2
I will send the teeth of wild animals against them,
along with the poison of creatures that crawl in the dust.
32:25 The sword will make people childless outside,
and terror will do so inside;
they will destroy 3 both the young man and the virgin,
the infant and the gray-haired man.
11:6 May the Lord rain down 4 burning coals 5 and brimstone 6 on the wicked!
A whirlwind is what they deserve! 7
24:17 Terror, pit, and snare
are ready to overtake you inhabitants of the earth! 8
24:18 The one who runs away from the sound of the terror
will fall into the pit; 9
the one who climbs out of the pit,
will be trapped by the snare.
For the floodgates of the heavens 10 are opened up 11
and the foundations of the earth shake.
3:47 Panic and pitfall 12 have come upon us,
devastation and destruction. 13
1 tn Heb “upon them.”
2 tn The Hebrew term קֶטֶב (qetev) is probably metaphorical here for the sting of a disease (HALOT 1091-92 s.v.).
3 tn A verb is omitted here in the Hebrew text; for purposes of English style one suitable to the context is supplied.
4 tn The verb form is a jussive, indicating that the statement is imprecatory (“May the
5 tc The MT reads “traps, fire, and brimstone,” but the image of God raining traps, or snares, down from the sky is bizarre and does not fit the fire and storm imagery of this verse. The noun פַּחִים (pakhim, “traps, snares”) should be emended to פַּחֲמֵי (pakhamey, “coals of [fire]”). The rare noun פֶּחָם (pekham, “coal”) occurs in Prov 26:21 and Isa 44:12; 54:16.
6 sn The image of God “raining down” brimstone on the objects of his judgment also appears in Gen 19:24 and Ezek 38:22.
7 tn Heb “[may] a wind of rage [be] the portion of their cup.” The precise meaning of the rare noun זִלְעָפוֹת (zil’afot) is uncertain. It may mean “raging heat” (BDB 273 s.v. זַלְעָפָה) or simply “rage” (HALOT 272 s.v. זַלְעָפָה). If one understands the former sense, then one might translate “hot wind” (cf. NEB, NRSV). The present translation assumes the latter nuance, “a wind of rage” (the genitive is attributive) referring to a “whirlwind” symbolic of destructive judgment. In this mixed metaphor, judgment is also compared to an allotted portion of a beverage poured into one’s drinking cup (see Hab 2:15-16).
8 tn Heb “[are] upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.” The first line of v. 17 provides another classic example of Hebrew wordplay. The names of the three instruments of judgment (פָח,פַחַת,פַּחַד [pakhad, fakhat, fakh]) all begin with the letters פח (peh-khet) and the first two end in dental consonants (ת/ד, tet/dalet). Once again the repetition of sound draws attention to the statement and contributes to the theme of the inescapability of judgment. As their similar-sounding names suggest, terror, pit, and snare are allies in destroying the objects of divine wrath.
9 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
10 tn Heb “from the height”; KJV “from on high.”
11 sn The language reflects the account of the Noahic Flood (see Gen 7:11).
12 tn The similar sounding nouns פַּחַד וָפַחַת (pakhad vafakhat, “panic and pitfall”) are an example of paronomasia.
13 tn Similar to the paronomasia in the preceding line, the words הַשֵּׁאת וְהַשָּׁבֶר (hashe’t vÿhashaver, “devastation and destruction”) form an example of alliteration: the beginning of the words sound alike.