Deuteronomy 32:23

32:23 I will increase their ¹  disasters,

I will use up my arrows on them.

Psalms 45:5

45:5 Your arrows are sharp

and penetrate the hearts of the king’s enemies.

Nations fall at your feet. ² 

Psalms 68:23

68:23 so that your feet may stomp ³  in their blood,

and your dogs may eat their portion of the enemies’ corpses.” ⁴ 

Isaiah 34:6-8

34:6 The Lord’s sword is dripping with blood,

it is covered ⁵  with fat;

it drips ⁶  with the blood of young rams and goats

and is covered ⁷  with the fat of rams’ kidneys.

For the Lord is holding a sacrifice ⁸  in Bozrah, ⁹ 

a bloody ¹⁰  slaughter in the land of Edom.

34:7 Wild oxen will be slaughtered ¹¹  along with them,

as well as strong bulls. ¹² 

Their land is drenched with blood,

their soil is covered with fat.

34:8 For the Lord has planned a day of revenge, ¹³ 

a time when he will repay Edom for her hostility toward Zion. ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 16:10

The Lord Promises Exile (But Also Restoration)

16:10 “When you tell these people about all this, ¹⁵  they will undoubtedly ask you, ‘Why has the Lord threatened us with such great disaster? What wrong have we done? What sin have we done to offend the Lord our God?’

Ezekiel 35:6-8

35:6 Therefore, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I will subject you to bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you. 35:7 I will turn Mount Seir into a desolate ruin; ¹⁶  I will cut off ¹⁷  from it the one who passes through or returns. 35:8 I will fill its mountains with its dead; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines, those killed by the sword will fall.

Ezekiel 38:21-22

38:21 I will call for a sword to attack ¹⁸  Gog ¹⁹  on all my mountains, declares the sovereign Lord; every man’s sword will be against his brother. 38:22 I will judge him with plague and bloodshed. I will rain down on him, his troops and the many peoples who are with him a torrential downpour, hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

¹ tn Heb “upon them.”

² 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.

³ tc Some (e.g. NRSV) prefer to emend מָחַץ (makhats, “smash; stomp”; see v. 21) to רָחַץ (rakhats, “bathe”; see Ps 58:10).

⁴ tn Heb “[and] the tongue of your dogs from [the] enemies [may eat] its portion.”

⁵ tn The verb is a rare Hotpaal passive form. See GKC 150 §54.h.

⁶ tn The words “it drips” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁷ tn The words “and is covered” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁸ tn Heb “for there is a sacrifice to the Lord.”

⁹ sn The Lord’s judgment of Edom is compared to a bloody sacrificial scene.

¹⁰ tn Heb “great” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

¹¹ tn Heb “will go down”; NAB “shall be struck down.”

¹² tn Heb “and bulls along with strong ones.” Perhaps this refers to the leaders.

¹³ tn Heb “for a day of vengeance [is] for the Lord.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “a year of repayment for the strife of Zion.” The translation assumes that רִיב (riv) refers to Edom’s hostility toward Zion. Another option is to understand רִיב (riv) as referring to the Lord’s taking up Zion’s cause. In this case one might translate, “a time when he will repay Edom and vindicate Zion.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “all these words/things.”

¹⁶ tc The translation reads with some manuscripts לְשִׁמְמָה וּמְשַׁמָּה (lÿshimmah umÿshammah, “desolate ruin”) as in verse 3 and often in Ezekiel. The majority reading reverses the first mem (מ) with the shin (שׁ) resulting in the repetition of the word desolate: לְשִׁמְמָה וּשְׁמָמָה (lÿshimmah ushÿmamah).

¹⁷ tn Or “kill.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “against.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Gog, cf. v. 18) has been specified in the translation for clarity.