Jeremiah 46:5

46:5 What do I see?” ¹  says the Lord. ² 

“The soldiers ³  are terrified.

They are retreating.

They have been defeated.

They are overcome with terror; ⁴ 

they desert quickly

without looking back.

Jeremiah 46:21

46:21 Even her mercenaries ⁵ 

will prove to be like pampered, ⁶  well-fed calves.

For they too will turn and run away.

They will not stand their ground

when ⁷  the time for them to be destroyed comes,

the time for them to be punished.

Jude 1:20-21

1:20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit, ⁸  1:21 maintain ⁹  yourselves in the love of God, while anticipating ¹⁰  the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that brings eternal life. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 66:15-16

66:15 For look, the Lord comes with fire,

his chariots come like a windstorm, ¹² 

to reveal his raging anger,

his battle cry, and his flaming arrows. ¹³ 

66:16 For the Lord judges all humanity ¹⁴ 

with fire and his sword;

the Lord will kill many. ¹⁵ 

¹ tn Heb “Why do I see?” The rendering is that of J. A. Thompson (Jeremiah [NICOT], 685, 88) and J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 301; TEV; NIV). The question is not asking for information but is expressing surprise or wonder (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 951).

² tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.” This phrase, which is part of a messenger formula (i.e., that the words that are spoken are from him), are actually at the end of the verse. They have been put here for better poetic balance and to better identify the “I.”

³ tn Heb “Their soldiers.” These words are actually at the midpoint of the stanza as the subject of the third of the five verbs. However, as G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, and T. G. Smothers (Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 291) note, this is the subject of all five verbs “are terrified,” “are retreating,” “have been defeated,” “have run away,” and “have not looked back.” The subject is put at the front to avoid an unidentified “they.”

⁴ tn Heb “terror is all around.”

⁵ tn Heb “her hirelings in her midst.”

⁶ tn The word “pampered” is not in the text. It is supplied in the translation to explain the probable meaning of the simile. The mercenaries were well cared for like stall-fed calves, but in the face of the danger they will prove no help because they will turn and run away without standing their ground. Some see the point of the simile to be that they too are fattened for slaughter. However, the next two lines do not fit that interpretation too well.

⁷ tn The temporal use of the particle כִּי (ki; BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 2.a) seems more appropriate to the context than the causal use.

⁸ tn The participles in v. 20 have been variously interpreted. Some treat them imperativally or as attendant circumstance to the imperative in v. 21 (“maintain”): “build yourselves up…pray.” But they do not follow the normal contours of either the imperatival or attendant circumstance participles, rendering this unlikely. A better option is to treat them as the means by which the readers are to maintain themselves in the love of God. This both makes eminently good sense and fits the structural patterns of instrumental participles elsewhere.

⁹ tn Or “keep.”

¹⁰ tn Or “waiting for.”

¹¹ tn Grk “unto eternal life.”

¹² sn Chariots are like a windstorm in their swift movement and in the way that they kick up dust.

¹³ tn Heb “to cause to return with the rage of his anger, and his battle cry [or “rebuke”] with flames of fire.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV “upon all men”; TEV “all the people of the world.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “many are the slain of the Lord.”