Psalms 79:12

79:12 Pay back our neighbors in full! ¹ 

May they be insulted the same way they insulted you, O Lord! ² 

Jeremiah 16:18

16:18 Before I restore them ³  I will punish them in full ⁴  for their sins and the wrongs they have done. For they have polluted my land with the lifeless statues of their disgusting idols. They have filled the land I have claimed as my own ⁵  with their detestable idols.” ⁶ 

Ezekiel 11:21

11:21 But those whose hearts are devoted to detestable things and abominations, I hereby repay them for what they have done, ⁷  says the sovereign Lord.”

Ezekiel 22:31

22:31 So I have poured my anger on them, and destroyed them with the fire of my fury. I hereby repay them for what they have done, ⁸  declares the sovereign Lord.”

Joel 3:4

3:4 Why are you doing these things to me, Tyre and Sidon? ⁹ 

Are you trying to get even with me, land of Philistia? ¹⁰ 

I will very quickly repay you for what you have done! ¹¹ 

¹ tn Heb “Return to our neighbors sevenfold into their lap.” The number seven is used rhetorically to express the thorough nature of the action. For other rhetorical/figurative uses of the Hebrew phrase שִׁבְעָתַיִם (shiv’atayim, “seven times”) see Gen 4:15, 24; Ps 12:6; Prov 6:31; Isa 30:26.

² tn Heb “their reproach with which they reproached you, O Lord.”

³ tn Heb “First.” Many English versions and commentaries delete this word because it is missing from the Greek version and is considered a gloss added by a postexilic editor who is said to be responsible also for vv. 14-16. This is not the place to resolve issues of authorship and date. It is the task of the translator to translate the “original” which in this case is the MT supported by the other versions. The word here refers to order in rank or order of events. Compare Gen 38:28; 1 Kgs 18:25. Here allusion is made to the restoration previously mentioned. First in order of events is the punishment of destruction and exile, then restoration.

⁴ tn Heb “double.” However, usage in Deut 15:18 and probably Isa 40:2 argues for “full compensation.” This is supported also by usage in a tablet from Alalakh in Syria. See P. C. Craigie, P. H. Kelley, J. F. Drinkard, Jeremiah 1-25 (WBC), 218, for bibliography.

⁵ tn Heb “my inheritance.”

⁶ tn Many of the English versions take “lifeless statues of their detestable idols” with “filled” as a compound object. This follows the Masoretic punctuation but violates usage. The verb “fill” never takes an object preceded by the preposition בְּ (bet).

⁷ tn Heb “their way on their head I have placed.”

⁸ tn Heb “their way on their head I have placed.”

⁹ tn Heb “What [are] you [doing] to me, O Tyre and Sidon?”

¹⁰ tn Or “districts.”

¹¹ tn Heb “quickly, speedily, I will return your recompense on your head.” This is an idiom for retributive justice and an equitable reversal of situation.