Ezekiel 9:1

The Execution of Idolaters

9:1 Then he shouted in my ears, “Approach, ¹  you who are to visit destruction on the city, each with his destructive weapon in his hand!”

Ezekiel 9:5

9:5 While I listened, he said to the others, ²  “Go through the city after him and strike people down; do no let your eye pity nor spare ³  anyone!

Ezekiel 32:18

32:18 “Son of man, wail ⁴  over the horde of Egypt. Bring it down; ⁵  bring ⁶  her ⁷  and the daughters of powerful nations down to the lower parts of the earth, along with those who descend to the pit.

Jeremiah 1:10

1:10 Know for certain that ⁸  I hereby give you the authority to announce to nations and kingdoms that they will be ⁹  uprooted and torn down, destroyed and demolished, rebuilt and firmly planted.” ¹⁰ 

Revelation 11:3-6

11:3 And I will grant my two witnesses authority ¹¹  to prophesy for 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth. 11:4 (These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.) ¹²  11:5 If ¹³  anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths ¹⁴  and completely consumes ¹⁵  their enemies. If ¹⁶  anyone wants to harm them, they must be killed this way. 11:6 These two have the power ¹⁷  to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the time ¹⁸  they are prophesying. They ¹⁹  have power ²⁰  to turn the waters to blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague whenever they want.

¹ tc Heb “they approached.” Reading the imperative assumes the same consonantal text but different vowels.

² tn Heb “to these he said in my ears.”

³ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.

⁴ tn The Hebrew verb is used as a response to death (Jer 9:17-19; Amos 5:16).

⁵ sn Through this prophetic lament given by God himself, the prophet activates the judgment described therein. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:217, and L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:136-37.

⁶ tn Heb “Bring him down, her and the daughters of the powerful nations, to the earth below.” The verb “bring down” appears in the Hebrew text only once. Because the verb takes several objects here, the repetition of the verb in the translation improves the English style.

⁷ tn This apparently refers to personified Egypt.

⁸ tn Heb “See!” The Hebrew imperative of the verb used here (רָאָה, ra’ah) functions the same as the particle in v. 9. See the translator’s note there.

⁹ tn Heb “I appoint you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot….” The phrase refers to the Lord giving Jeremiah authority as a prophet to declare what he, the Lord, will do; it does not mean that Jeremiah himself will do these things. The expression involves a figure of speech where the subject of a declaration is stated instead of the declaration about it. Compare a similar use of the same figure in Gen 41:13.

¹⁰ sn These three pairs represent the twofold nature of Jeremiah’s prophecies, prophecies of judgment and restoration. For the further programmatic use of these pairs for Jeremiah’s ministry see 18:7-10 and 31:27-28.

¹¹ tn The word “authority” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. “Power” would be another alternative that could be supplied here.

¹² sn This description is parenthetical in nature.

¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹⁴ tn This is a collective singular in Greek.

¹⁵ tn See L&N 20.45 for the translation of κατεσθίω (katesqiw) as “to destroy utterly, to consume completely.”

¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹⁷ tn Or “authority.”

¹⁸ tn Grk “the days.”

¹⁹ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

²⁰ tn Or “authority.”