1 Chronicles 21:16

21:16 David looked up and saw the Lord’s messenger standing between the earth and sky with his sword drawn and in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. David and the leaders, covered with sackcloth, threw themselves down with their faces to the ground. ¹ 

Isaiah 5:25

5:25 So the Lord is furious ²  with his people;

he lifts ³  his hand and strikes them.

The mountains shake,

and corpses lie like manure ⁴  in the middle of the streets.

Despite all this, his anger does not subside,

and his hand is ready to strike again. ⁵ 

Isaiah 9:12

9:12 Syria from the east,

and the Philistines from the west,

they gobbled up Israelite territory. ⁶ 

Despite all this, his anger does not subside,

and his hand is ready to strike again. ⁷ 

Isaiah 9:17

9:17 So the sovereign master was not pleased ⁸  with their young men,

he took no pity ⁹  on their orphans and widows;

for the whole nation was godless ¹⁰  and did wicked things, ¹¹ 

every mouth was speaking disgraceful words. ¹² 

Despite all this, his anger does not subside,

and his hand is ready to strike again. ¹³ 

Isaiah 9:21

9:21 Manasseh fought against ¹⁴  Ephraim,

and Ephraim against Manasseh;

together they fought against Judah.

Despite all this, his anger does not subside,

and his hand is ready to strike again. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 10:4

10:4 You will have no place to go, except to kneel with the prisoners,

or to fall among those who have been killed. ¹⁶ 

Despite all this, his anger does not subside,

and his hand is ready to strike again. ¹⁷ 

Lamentations 2:4-5

ד (Dalet)

2:4 He prepared his bow ¹⁸  like an enemy;

his right hand was ready to shoot. ¹⁹ 

Like a foe he killed everyone,

even our strong young men; ²⁰ 

he has poured out his anger like fire

on the tent ²¹  of Daughter Zion.

ה (He)

2:5 The Lord, ²²  like an enemy,

destroyed ²³  Israel.

He destroyed ²⁴  all her palaces;

he ruined her ²⁵  fortified cities.

He made everyone in Daughter Judah

mourn and lament. ²⁶ 

Lamentations 2:8

ח (Khet)

2:8 The Lord was determined to tear down

Daughter Zion’s wall.

He prepared to knock it down; ²⁷ 

he did not withdraw his hand from destroying. ²⁸ 

He made the ramparts and fortified walls lament;

together they mourned their ruin. ²⁹ 

Lamentations 3:3

3:3 He repeatedly ³⁰  attacks me,

he turns his hand ³¹  against me all day long. ³² 

[21:16]  ¹ tn Heb “and David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces.”

[5:25]  ² tn Heb “the anger of the Lord rages.”

[5:25]  ³ tn Or “extends”; KJV, ASV “he hath stretched forth.”

[5:25]  ⁴ tn Or “garbage” (NCV, CEV, NLT); NAB, NASB, NIV “refuse.”

[5:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “in all this his anger is not turned, and still his hand is outstretched.”

[9:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they devoured Israel with all the mouth”; NIV “with open mouth”; NLT “With bared fangs.”

[9:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “in all this his anger is not turned, and still his hand is outstretched.” One could translate in the past tense here (and in 9:17b and 21b), but the appearance of the refrain in 10:4b, where it follows a woe oracle prophesying a future judgment, suggests it is a dramatic portrait of the judge which did not change throughout this period of past judgment and will remain unchanged in the future. The English present tense is chosen to best reflect this dramatic mood. (See also 5:25b, where the refrain appears following a dramatic description of coming judgment.)

[9:17]  ⁸ tn The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has לא יחמול (“he did not spare”) which is an obvious attempt to tighten the parallelism (note “he took no pity” in the next line). Instead of taking שָׂמַח (samakh) in one of its well attested senses (“rejoice over, be pleased with”), some propose, with support from Arabic, a rare homonymic root meaning “be merciful.”

[9:17]  ⁹ tn The translation understands the prefixed verbs יִשְׂמַח (yismakh) and יְרַחֵם (yÿrakhem) as preterites without vav (ו) consecutive. (See v. 11 and the note on “he stirred up.”)

[9:17]  ¹⁰ tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “profaned”; NIV “ungodly.”

[9:17]  ¹¹ tn מֵרַע (mera’) is a Hiphil participle from רָעַע (ra’a’, “be evil”). The intransitive Hiphil has an exhibitive force here, indicating that they exhibited outwardly the evidence of an inward condition by committing evil deeds.

[9:17]  ¹² tn Or “foolishness” (NASB), here in a moral-ethical sense.

[9:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “in all this his anger is not turned, and still his hand is outstretched.”

[9:21]  ¹⁴ tn The words “fought against” are supplied in the translation both here and later in this verse for stylistic reasons.

[9:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in all this his anger is not turned, and still his hand is outstretched” (KJV and ASV both similar); NIV “his hand is still upraised.”

[10:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “except one kneels in the place of the prisoner, and in the place of the slain [who] fall.” On the force of בִּלְתִּי (bilti, “except”) and its logical connection to what precedes, see BDB 116 s.v. בֵלֶת. On the force of תַּחַת (takhat, “in the place of”) here, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:258, n. 6.

[10:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in all this his anger was not turned, and still his hand was outstretched”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “his had is stretched out still.”

[2:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “bent His bow.” When the verb דָּרַךְ (darakh) is used with the noun קֶשֶׁת (qeshet, “archer-bow”), it means “to bend [a bow]” to string it in preparation for shooting arrows (1 Chr 5:18; 8:40; 2 Chr 14:7; Jer 50:14, 29; 51:3). This idiom is used figuratively to describe the assaults of the wicked (Pss 11:2; 37:14) and the judgments of the Lord (Ps 7:13; Lam 2:4; 3:12) (BDB 202 s.v. דָּרַךְ 4). The translation “he prepared his bow” is the slightly more general modern English idiomatic equivalent of the ancient Hebrew idiom “he bent his bow” – both refer to preparations to get ready to shoot arrows.

[2:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “His right hand is stationed.”

[2:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the ones who were pleasing to the eye.”

[2:4]  ²¹ tn The singular noun אֹהֶל (’ohel, “tent”) may function as a collective, referring to all tents in Judah. A parallel expression occurs in verse 2 using the plural: “all the dwellings of Jacob” (כָּל־נְאוֹת יַעֲקֹב, kol-nÿ’ot ya’aqov). The singular “tent” matches the image of “Daughter Zion.” On the other hand, the singular “the tent of Daughter Zion” might be a hyperbolic synecdoche of container (= tent) for contents (= inhabitants of Zion).

[2:5]  ²² tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.

[2:5]  ²³ tn Heb “swallowed up.”

[2:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “swallowed up.”

[2:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “his.” For consistency this has been translated as “her.”

[2:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “He increased in Daughter Judah mourning and lamentation.”

[2:8]  ²⁷ tn Heb “he stretched out a measuring line.” In Hebrew, this idiom is used (1) literally: to describe a workman’s preparation of measuring and marking stones before cutting them for building (Job 38:5; Jer 31:39; Zech 1:16) and (2) figuratively: to describe the Lord’s planning and preparation to destroy a walled city, that is, to mark off for destruction (2 Kgs 21:13; Isa 34:11; Lam 2:8). It is not completely clear how a phrase from the vocabulary of building becomes a metaphor for destruction; however, it might picture a predetermined and carefully planned measure from which God will not deviate.

[2:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “He did not return His hand from swallowing.” That is, he persisted until it was destroyed.

[2:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “they languished together.” The verbs אָבַּלּ (’aval, “to lament”) and אָמַל (’amal, “languish, mourn”) are often used in contexts of funeral laments in secular settings. The Hebrew prophets often use these terms to describe the aftermath of the Lord’s judgment on a nation. Based on parallel terms, אָמַל (’amal) may describe either mourning or deterioration and so makes for a convenient play on meaning when destroyed objects are personified. Incorporating this play into the translation, however, may obscure the parallel between this line and the deterioration of the gates beginning in v. 9.

[3:3]  ³⁰ tn The two verbs יָשֻׁב יַהֲפֹךְ (yashuv yahafokh, “he returns, he turns”) form a verbal hendiadys: the second verb retains its full verbal sense, while the first functions adverbially: “he repeatedly turns…” The verb שׁוּב (shuv, lit., “to return”) functions adverbially to denote repetition: “to do repeatedly, do again and again” (GKC 386-87 §120.d, g) (Gen 26:18; 30:31; Num 11:4; Judg 19:7; 1 Sam 3:5, 6; 1 Kgs 13:33; 19:6; 21:3; 2 Chr 33:3; Job 10:16; 17:10; Ps 7:13; Jer 18:4; 36:28; Lam 3:3; Dan 9:25; Zech 5:1; 6:1; Mal 1:4).

[3:3]  ³¹ tn The idiom “to turn the hand against” someone is a figurative expression denoting hostility. The term “hand” (יָד, yad) is often used in idioms denoting hostility (Exod 9:3, 15; Deut 2:15; Judg 2:15; 1 Sam 5:3, 6, 9; 6:9; 2 Sam 24:16; 2 Chr 30:12; Ezra 7:9; Job 19:21; Ps 109:27; Jer 15:17; 16:21; Ezek 3:14). The reference to God’s “hand” is anthropomorphic.

[3:3]  ³² tn Heb “all of the day.” The idiom כָּל־הַיּוֹם (kol-hayom, “all day”) means “continually” or “all day long” (Gen 6:5; Deut 28:32; 33:12; Pss 25:5; 32:3; 35:28; 37:26; 38:7, 13; 42:4, 11; 44:9, 16, 23; 52:3; 56:2, 3, 6; 71:8, 15, 24; 72:15; 73:14; 74:22; 86:3; 88:18; 89:17; 102:9; 119:97; Prov 21:26; 23:17; Isa 28:24; 51:13; 52:5; 65:2, 5; Jer 20:7, 8; Lam 1:13, 14, 62; Hos 12:2).