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 66:16

66:16 For the Lord judges all humanity ² 

with fire and his sword;

the Lord will kill many. ³ 

Jeremiah 12:12

12:12 A destructive army ⁴  will come marching

over the hilltops in the desert.

For the Lord will use them as his destructive weapon ⁵ 

against ⁶  everyone from one end of the land to the other.

No one will be safe. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 47:6

47:6 How long will you cry out, ⁸  ‘Oh, sword of the Lord,

how long will it be before you stop killing? ⁹ 

Go back into your sheath!

Stay there and rest!’ ¹⁰ 

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

[66:16]  ² tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV “upon all men”; TEV “all the people of the world.”

[66:16]  ³ tn Heb “many are the slain of the Lord.”

[12:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “destroyers.”

[12:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “It is the Lord’s consuming sword.”

[12:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “For a sword of the Lord will devour.” The sword is often symbolic for destructive forces of all kinds. Here and in Isa 34:6; Jer 47:6 it is symbolic of the enemy armies that the Lord uses to carry out destructive punishment against his enemies, hence the translation “his destructive weapon.” A similar figure is use in Isa 10:5 where the figure is more clearly identified; Assyria is the rod/club that the Lord will use to discipline unfaithful Israel.

[12:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “There is no peace to all flesh.”

[47:6]  ⁸ 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.

[47:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “before you are quiet/at rest.”

[47:6]  ¹⁰ sn The passage is highly figurative. The sword of the Lord, which is itself a figure of the destructive agency of the enemy armies, is here addressed as a person and is encouraged in rhetorical questions (the questions are designed to dissuade) to “be quiet,” “be at rest,” “be silent,” all of which is designed to get the Lord to call off the destruction against the Philistines.