21:1 Here is a message about the Desert by the Sea: 1
Like strong winds blowing in the south, 2
one invades from the desert,
from a land that is feared.
1:13 The Lord again asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a pot of boiling water; it is tipped toward us from the north.” 3 1:14 Then the Lord said, “This means 4 destruction will break out from the north on all who live in the land.
4:6 Raise a signal flag that tells people to go to Zion. 5
Run for safety! Do not delay!
For I am about to bring disaster out of the north.
It will bring great destruction. 6
6:1 “Run for safety, people of Benjamin!
Get out of Jerusalem! 7
Sound the trumpet 8 in Tekoa!
Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem!
For disaster lurks 9 out of the north;
it will bring great destruction. 10
23:19 But just watch! 11 The wrath of the Lord
will come like a storm! 12
Like a raging storm it will rage down 13
on the heads of those who are wicked.
25:32 The Lord who rules over all 21 says,
‘Disaster will soon come on one nation after another. 22
A mighty storm of military destruction 23 is rising up
from the distant parts of the earth.’
1:8 Their horses are faster than leopards
and more alert 24 than wolves in the desert. 25
Their horses 26 gallop, 27
their horses come a great distance;
like a vulture 28 they swoop down quickly to devour their prey. 29
1:9 All of them intend 30 to do violence;
every face is determined. 31
They take prisoners as easily as one scoops up sand. 32
1 sn The phrase is quite cryptic, at least to the modern reader. Verse 9 seems to indicate that this message pertains to Babylon. Southern Mesopotamia was known as the Sealand in ancient times, because of its proximity to the Persian Gulf. Perhaps the reference to Babylon as a “desert” foreshadows the destruction that would overtake the city, making it like a desolate desert.
2 tn Or “in the Negev” (NASB).
3 tn Heb “a blown upon [= heated; boiling] pot and its face from the face of the north [= it is facing away from the north].”
4 tn There is nothing in the Hebrew text for these words but it is implicit in the connection. Once again the significance of the vision is spelled out. Compare the translator’s note on v. 12.
5 tn Heb “Raise up a signal toward Zion.”
6 tn Heb “out of the north, even great destruction.”
7 tn Heb “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem.”
8 tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.
9 tn Heb “leans down” or “looks down.” This verb personifies destruction leaning/looking down from its window in the sky, ready to attack.
10 tn Heb “[It will be] a severe fracture.” The nation is pictured as a limb being fractured.
11 tn Heb “Behold!”
12 tn The syntax of this line has generally been misunderstood, sometimes to the point that some want to delete the word wrath. Both here and in 30:23 where these same words occur the word “anger” stands not as an accusative of attendant circumstance but an apposition, giving the intended referent to the figure. Comparison should be made with Jer 25:15 where “this wrath” is appositional to “the cup of wine” (cf. GKC 425 §131.k).
13 tn The translation is deliberate, intending to reflect the repetition of the Hebrew root which is “swirl/swirling.”
14 tn Heb “Oracle of the
15 sn The many allusions to trouble coming from the north are now clarified: it is the armies of Babylon which included within it contingents from many nations. See 1:14, 15; 4:6; 6:1, 22; 10:22; 13:20 for earlier allusions.
16 sn Nebuchadnezzar is called the
17 tn The word used here was used in the early years of Israel’s conquest for the action of killing all the men, women, and children in the cities of Canaan, destroying all their livestock, and burning their cities down. This policy was intended to prevent Israel from being corrupted by paganism (Deut 7:2; 20:17-18; Josh 6:18, 21). It was to be extended to any city that led Israel away from worshiping God (Deut 13:15) and any Israelite who brought an idol into his house (Deut 7:26). Here the policy is being directed against Judah as well as against her neighbors because of her persistent failure to heed God’s warnings through the prophets. For further usage of this term in application to foreign nations in the book of Jeremiah see 50:21, 26; 51:3.
18 tn Heb “will utterly destroy them.” The referent (this land, its inhabitants, and the nations surrounding it) has been specified in the translation for clarity, since the previous “them” referred to Nebuchadnezzar and his armies.
19 sn The Hebrew word translated “everlasting” is the word often translated “eternal.” However, it sometimes has a more limited time reference. For example it refers to the lifetime of a person who became a “lasting slave” to another person (see Exod 21:6; Deut 15:17). It is also used to refer to the long life wished for a king (1 Kgs 1:31; Neh 2:3). The time frame here is to be qualified at least with reference to Judah and Jerusalem as seventy years (see 29:10-14 and compare v. 12).
20 tn Heb “I will make them an object of horror and a hissing and everlasting ruins.” The sentence has been broken up to separate the last object from the first two which are of slightly different connotation, i.e., they denote the reaction to the latter.
21 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
22 tn Heb “will go forth from nation to nation.”
23 tn The words “of military destruction” have been supplied in the translation to make the metaphor clear. The metaphor has shifted from that of God as a lion, to God as a warrior, to God as a judge, to God as the author of the storm winds of destruction.
24 tn Heb “sharper,” in the sense of “keener” or “more alert.” Some translate “quicker” on the basis of the parallelism with the first line (see HALOT 291 s.v. חדד).
25 tn Heb “wolves of the evening,” that is, wolves that prowl at night. The present translation assumes an emendation to עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “desert”). On this phrase see also Zeph 3:3.
26 tn Or “horsemen,” “cavalry.”
27 tn The precise nuance of the rare verb פָּוַשׁ (parash) is unclear here. Elsewhere it is used of animals jumping or leaping (see Jer 50:11; Mal 4:2).
28 tn Or “eagle” (so NASB, NRSV). The term can refer to either eagles or vultures, but in this context of gruesome destruction and death “vulture” is preferred.
29 tn Heb “they fly like a vulture/an eagle quickly to devour.” The direct object “their prey” is not included in the Hebrew text but is implied, and has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
30 tn Heb “come.”
31 tn Heb “The totality of their faces is to the east” (or “is forward”). The precise meaning of the Hebrew term מְגַמַּת (megammat) is unclear. For a discussion of options see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 93. NEB has “a sea of faces rolls on”; NIV “their hordes advance like a desert wind”; NRSV “with faces pressing forward.”
32 tn Heb “and he gathers like sand, prisoners.”