“Those who are destined to die of disease will go to death by disease.
Those who are destined to die in war will go to death in war.
Those who are destined to die of starvation will go to death by starvation.
Those who are destined to go into exile will go into exile.” 1
47:6 How long will you cry out, 6 ‘Oh, sword of the Lord,
how long will it be before you stop killing? 7
Go back into your sheath!
Stay there and rest!’ 8
48:2 People will not praise Moab any more.
The enemy will capture Heshbon 9 and plot 10 how to destroy Moab, 11
saying, ‘Come, let’s put an end to that nation!’
City of Madmen, you will also be destroyed. 12
A destructive army will march against you. 13
34:6 The Lord’s sword is dripping with blood,
it is covered 15 with fat;
it drips 16 with the blood of young rams and goats
and is covered 17 with the fat of rams’ kidneys.
For the Lord is holding a sacrifice 18 in Bozrah, 19
a bloody 20 slaughter in the land of Edom.
66:15 For look, the Lord comes with fire,
his chariots come like a windstorm, 21
to reveal his raging anger,
his battle cry, and his flaming arrows. 22
66:16 For the Lord judges all humanity 23
with fire and his sword;
the Lord will kill many. 24
14:17 “Or suppose I were to bring a sword against that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through the land,’ and I were to kill both people and animals.
9:4 Even when their enemies drive them into captivity, 25
from there 26 I will command the sword to kill them.
I will not let them out of my sight;
they will experience disaster, not prosperity.” 27
2:12 “You 28 Ethiopians 29 will also die by my sword!” 30
19:17 Then 31 I saw one angel standing in 32 the sun, and he shouted in a loud voice to all the birds flying high in the sky: 33
“Come, gather around for the great banquet 34 of God,
19:18 to eat 35 your fill 36 of the flesh of kings,
the flesh of generals, 37
the flesh of powerful people,
the flesh of horses and those who ride them,
and the flesh of all people, both free and slave, 38
and small and great!”
19:19 Then 39 I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to do battle with the one who rode the horse and with his army. 19:20 Now 40 the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf 41 – signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur. 42 19:21 The 43 others were killed by the sword that extended from the mouth of the one who rode the horse, and all the birds gorged 44 themselves with their flesh.
1 tn It is difficult to render the rhetorical force of this passage in meaningful English. The text answers the question “Where should we go?” with four brief staccato-like expressions with a play on the preposition “to”: Heb “Who to the death, to the death and who to the sword, to the sword and who to the starvation, to the starvation and who to the captivity, to the captivity.” The word “death” here is commonly understood to be a poetic substitute for “plague” because of the standard trio of sword, famine, and plague (see, e.g., 14:12 and the notes there). This is likely here and in 18:21. For further support see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:440. The nuance “starvation” rather than “famine” has been chosen in the translation because the referents here are all things that accompany war.
2 tn The Hebrew text has a compound object, the two terms of which have been synonyms in vv. 14, 15. G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, and T. G. Smothers (Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 189) make the interesting observation that these two terms (Heb “brother” and “neighbor”) emphasize the relationships that should have taken precedence over their being viewed as mere slaves.
3 sn This is, of course, a metaphorical and ironical use of the term “to grant freedom to.” It is, however, a typical statement of the concept of talionic justice which is quite often operative in God’s judgments in the OT (cf., e.g., Obad 15).
4 tn Heb “Oracle of the
5 sn Compare Jer 15:4; 24:9; 29:18.
6 tn The words “How long will you cry out” are not in the text but some such introduction seems necessary because the rest of the speech assumes a personal subject.
7 tn Heb “before you are quiet/at rest.”
8 sn The passage is highly figurative. The sword of the
9 sn Heshbon was originally a Moabite city but was captured by Sihon king of Og and made his capital (Num 21:26-30). It was captured from Sihon and originally assigned to the tribe of Reuben (Num 32:37; Josh 13:17). Later it was made a Levitical city and was assigned to the tribe of Gad (Josh 21:39). It formed the northern limits of Moab. It was located about eighteen miles east of the northern tip of the Dead Sea.
10 sn There is a wordplay in Hebrew on the word “Heshbon” and the word “plot” (חָשְׁבוּ, khoshvu).
11 tn Heb “In Heshbon they plot evil against her [i.e., Moab].” The “they” is undefined, but it would scarcely be Moabites living in Heshbon. Hence TEV and CEV are probably correct in seeing a reference to the enemy which would imply the conquest of this city which lay on the northern border of Moab.
12 tn The meaning of this line is somewhat uncertain. The translation here follows all the modern English versions and commentaries in reading the place name “Madmen” even though the place is otherwise unknown and the Greek, Syriac, and Latin version all read this word as an emphasizing infinitive absolute of the following verb “will be destroyed,” i.e. דָּמוֹם יִדֹּמּוּ (damom yiddommu). Some see this word as a variant of the name Dimon in Isa 15:9 which in turn is a playful variant of the place name Dibon. There is once again a wordplay on the word “Madmen” and “will be destroyed”: מַדְמֵן (madmen) and יִדֹּמּוּ (yiddommu). For the meaning of the verb = “perish” or “be destroyed” see Jer 8:14; Ps 31:18.
13 tn Heb “A sword will follow after you.” The sword is again figurative of destructive forces, here the army of the Babylonians.
14 tn Heb “and I will empty sword” (see HALOT 1228 s.v. ריק 3).
15 tn The verb is a rare Hotpaal passive form. See GKC 150 §54.h.
16 tn The words “it drips” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
17 tn The words “and is covered” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
18 tn Heb “for there is a sacrifice to the Lord.”
19 sn The Lord’s judgment of Edom is compared to a bloody sacrificial scene.
20 tn Heb “great” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
21 sn Chariots are like a windstorm in their swift movement and in the way that they kick up dust.
22 tn Heb “to cause to return with the rage of his anger, and his battle cry [or “rebuke”] with flames of fire.”
23 tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV “upon all men”; TEV “all the people of the world.”
24 tn Heb “many are the slain of the Lord.”
25 tn Heb “Even if they go into captivity before their enemies.”
26 tn Or perhaps simply, “there,” if the מ (mem) prefixed to the adverb is dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem).
27 tn Heb “I will set my eye on them for disaster, not good.”
28 sn Though there is no formal introduction, these words are apparently spoken by the
29 tn Heb “Cushites.” This is traditionally assumed to refer to people from the region south of Egypt, i.e., Nubia or northern Sudan, referred to as “Ethiopia” by classical authors (not the more recent Abyssinia).
30 tn Heb “Also you Cushites, who lie dead by my sword.”
31 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
32 tn The precise significance of ἐν (en) here is difficult to determine.
33 tn On μεσουρανήματι (mesouranhmati) here see L&N 1.10: “high in the sky, midpoint in the sky, directly overhead, straight above in the sky.” The birds mentioned here are carrion birds like vultures, circling high overhead, and now being summoned to feast on the corpses.
34 tn This is the same Greek word (δεῖπνον, deipnon) used in 19:9.
35 tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause, insofar as it is related to the first imperative, has the force of an imperative.
36 tn The idea of eating “your fill” is evident in the context with the use of χορτάζω (cortazw) in v. 21.
37 tn Grk “chiliarchs”; normally a chiliarch was a military officer commanding a thousand soldiers, but here probably used of higher-ranking commanders like generals (see L&N 55.15; cf. Rev 6:15).
38 tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.
39 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
40 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the introduction of an unexpected development in the account: The opposing armies do not come together in battle; rather the leader of one side is captured.
41 tn For this meaning see BDAG 342 s.v. ἐνώπιον 4.b, “by the authority of, on behalf of Rv 13:12, 14; 19:20.”
42 tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”
43 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
44 tn On the translation of ἐχορτάσθησαν (ecortasqhsan) BDAG 1087 s.v. χορτάζω 1.a states, “of animals, pass. in act. sense πάντα τὰ ὄρνεα ἐχορτάσθησαν ἐκ τῶν σαρκῶν αὐτῶν all the birds gorged themselves with their flesh Rv 19:21 (cp. TestJud. 21:8).”