Lamentations 4:9

ט (Tet)

4:9 Those who died by the sword ¹  are better off

than those who die of hunger, ² 

those who ³  waste away, ⁴ 

struck down ⁵  from lack of ⁶  food. ⁷ 

Genesis 19:25

19:25 So he overthrew those cities and all that region, ⁸  including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation that grew ⁹  from the ground.

Daniel 9:12

9:12 He has carried out his threats ¹⁰  against us and our rulers ¹¹  who were over ¹²  us by bringing great calamity on us – what has happened to Jerusalem has never been equaled under all heaven!

Matthew 24:21

24:21 For then there will be great suffering ¹³  unlike anything that has happened ¹⁴  from the beginning of the world until now, or ever will happen.

¹ tn Heb “those pierced of the sword.” The genitive-construct denotes instrumentality: “those pierced by the sword” (חַלְלֵי־חֶרֶב, khalle-kherev). The noun חָלָל (khalal) refers to a “fatal wound” and is used substantivally to refer to “the slain” (Num 19:18; 31:8, 19; 1 Sam 17:52; 2 Sam 23:8, 18; 1 Chr 11:11, 20; Isa 22:2; 66:16; Jer 14:18; 25:33; 51:49; Lam 4:9; Ezek 6:7; 30:11; 31:17, 18; 32:20; Zeph 2:12).

² tn Heb “those slain of hunger.” The genitive-construct denotes instrumentality: “those slain by hunger,” that is, those who are dying of hunger.

³ tn Heb “who…” The antecedent of the relative pronoun שֶׁהֵם (shehem, “who”) are those dying of hunger in the previous line: מֵחַלְלֵי רָעָב (mekhalle ra’av, “those slain of hunger”).

⁴ tn Heb “they flow away.” The verb זוּב (zuv, “to flow, gush”) is used figuratively here, meaning “to pine away” or “to waste away” from hunger. See also the next note.

⁵ tn Heb “pierced through and through.” The term מְדֻקָּרִים (mÿduqqarim), Pual participle masculine plural from דָּקַר (daqar, “to pierce”), is used figuratively. The verb דָּקַר (daqar, “to pierce”) usually refers to a fatal wound inflicted by a sword or spear (Num 25:8; Judg 9:54; 1 Sam 31:4; 1 Chr 10:4; Isa 13:15; Jer 37:10; 51:4; Zech 12:10; 13:3). Here, it describes people dying from hunger. This is an example of hypocatastasis: an implied comparison between warriors being fatally pierced by sword and spear and the piercing pangs of hunger and starvation. Alternatively “those who hemorrhage (זוּב [zuv, “flow, gush”]) [are better off] than those pierced by lack of food” in parallel to the structure of the first line.

⁶ tn The preposition מִן (min, “from”) denotes deprivation: “from lack of” something (BDB 580 s.v. 2.f; HALOT 598 s.v. 6).

⁷ tn Heb “produce of the field.”

⁸ tn Or “and all the plain”; Heb “and all the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

⁹ tn Heb “and the vegetation of the ground.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “he has fulfilled his word(s) which he spoke.”

¹¹ tn Heb “our judges.”

¹² tn Heb “who judged.”

¹³ tn Traditionally, “great tribulation.”

¹⁴ sn Suffering unlike anything that has happened. Some refer this event to the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. While the events of a.d. 70 may reflect somewhat the comments Jesus makes here, the reference to the scope and severity of this judgment strongly suggest that much more is in view. Most likely Jesus is referring to the great end-time judgment on Jerusalem in the great tribulation.