Ezekiel 12:19

12:19 Then say to the people of the land, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says about the inhabitants of Jerusalem and of the land of Israel: They will eat their bread with anxiety and drink their water in fright, for their land will be stripped bare of all it contains because of the violence of all who live in it.

Ezekiel 30:12

30:12 I will dry up the waterways

and hand the land over to ¹  evil men.

I will make the land and everything in it desolate by the hand of foreigners.

I, the Lord, have spoken!

Amos 6:8

6:8 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his very own life. ² 

The Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking:

“I despise Jacob’s arrogance;

I hate their ³  fortresses.

I will hand over to their enemies ⁴  the city of Samaria ⁵  and everything in it.”

Micah 1:2

The Judge is Coming

1:2 Listen, all you nations! ⁶ 

Pay attention, all inhabitants of earth! ⁷ 

The sovereign Lord will testify ⁸  against you;

the Lord will accuse you ⁹  from his majestic palace. ¹⁰ 

¹ tn Heb “and I will sell the land into the hand of.”

² tn Heb “swears by his life”; or “swears by himself.”

³ tn Heb “his,” referring to Jacob, which stands here for the nation of Israel.

⁴ tn The words “to their enemies” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁵ tn Heb “the city”; this probably refers to the city of Samaria (cf. 6:1), which in turn, by metonymy, represents the entire northern kingdom.

⁶ tn Heb “O peoples, all of them.”

⁷ tn Heb “O earth and all its fullness”; KJV “and all that therein is.”

⁸ tn Heb “May the sovereign Lord testify against you.” The verb וִיהִי (vihiy) is jussive, which normally conveys a volitional sense of an urgent request or prayer (“may he testify!”). However, GKC 325-26 §109.k notes that here the jussive form is used without any volitional sense for the ordinary imperfect, as a rhythmic shortening at the beginning of a sentence, thus removed as far as possible from the principal accent (cf. Gen 49:17; Deut 28:8; 1 Sam 10:5; 2 Sam 5:24; Hos 6:1; 11:4; Amos 5:14; Zeph 2:13; Zech 9:5; Pss 72:16-17; 104:31; Job 18:12; 20:23, 26, 28; 27:8; 33:21; 34:37; Ruth 3:4). Thus, the translation here renders the jussive as an ordinary imperfect. Some translations render it in a traditional jussive sense: (1) urgent request: “And let my Lord God be your accuser” (NJPS); or (2) dependent purpose/result: “that the Sovereign Lord may witness against you” (NIV).

⁹ tn Heb “the Lord from his majestic palace.” Since the verb is omitted it is unclear whether the implied term be supplied from the preceding line (“he will testify against you”) or the following line (“he is leaving”). So the line may be rendered “the Lord will accuse you from his majestic temple” or “the Lord will come forth from his majestic temple.” Most translations render it literally, but some remove the ambiguity: “the Lord God accuses you from his holy temple” (CEV); “He speaks from his holy temple” (TEV).

¹⁰ tn Or “his holy temple” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). This refers to the Lord’s dwelling in heaven, however, rather than the temple in Jerusalem (note the following verse, which describes a theophany).