Isaiah 30:13-14

30:13 So this sin will become your downfall.

You will be like a high wall

that bulges and cracks and is ready to collapse;

it crumbles suddenly, in a flash. ¹ 

30:14 It shatters in pieces like a clay jar,

so shattered to bits that none of it can be salvaged. ² 

Among its fragments one cannot find a shard large enough ³ 

to scoop a hot coal from a fire ⁴ 

or to skim off water from a cistern.” ⁵ 

Isaiah 45:7

45:7 I am ⁶  the one who forms light

and creates darkness; ⁷ 

the one who brings about peace

and creates calamity. ⁸ 

I am the Lord, who accomplishes all these things.

Joshua 23:15

23:15 But in the same way every faithful promise the Lord your God made to you has been realized, ⁹  it is just as certain, if you disobey, that the Lord will bring on you every judgment ¹⁰  until he destroys you from this good land which the Lord your God gave you.

Amos 3:6

3:6 If an alarm sounds ¹¹  in a city, do people not fear? ¹² 

If disaster overtakes a ¹³  city, is the Lord not responsible? ¹⁴ 

¹ tn The verse reads literally, “So this sin will become for you like a breach ready to fall, bulging on a high wall, the breaking of which comes suddenly, in a flash.” Their sin produces guilt and will result in judgment. Like a wall that collapses their fall will be swift and sudden.

² tn Heb “Its shattering is like the shattering of a jug of [i.e., “made by”] potters, [so] shattered one cannot save [any of it].”

³ tn The words “large enough” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁴ tn Heb “to remove fire from the place of kindling.”

⁵ tn On the meaning of גֶבֶא (geveh, “cistern”) see HALOT 170 s.v.

⁶ tn The words “I am” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the participle at the beginning of v. 7 stands in apposition to “the Lord” in v. 6.

⁷ tn On the surface v. 7a appears to describe God’s sovereign control over the cycle of day and night, but the following statement suggests that “light” and “darkness” symbolize “deliverance” and “judgment.”

⁸ sn This verses affirms that God is ultimately sovereign over his world, including mankind and nations. In accordance with his sovereign will, he can cause wars to cease and peace to predominate (as he was about to do for his exiled people through Cyrus), or he can bring disaster and judgment on nations (as he was about to do to Babylon through Cyrus).

⁹ tn Heb “and it will be as every good word which the Lord your God spoke to you has come to pass.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “so the Lord will bring every injurious [or “evil”] word [or “thing”] upon you.”

¹¹ tn Heb “If the ram’s horn is blown.”

¹² tn Or “tremble” (NASB, NIV, NCV); or “shake.”

¹³ tn Heb “is in”; NIV, NCV, NLT “comes to.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “has the Lord not acted?”