2 Kings 17:5

17:5 The king of Assyria marched through ¹  the whole land. He attacked Samaria and besieged it for three years.

2 Kings 18:9

18:9 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s reign (it was the seventh year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea, son of Elah), King Shalmaneser of Assyria marched ²  up against Samaria ³  and besieged it.

2 Kings 25:1

25:1 So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside ⁴  it. They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign. ⁵ 

Deuteronomy 28:52

28:52 They will besiege all of your villages ⁶  until all of your high and fortified walls collapse – those in which you put your confidence throughout the land. They will besiege all your villages throughout the land the Lord your God has given you.

Deuteronomy 28:1

The Covenant Blessings

28:1 “If you indeed ⁷  obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving ⁸  you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.

Deuteronomy 20:1

Laws Concerning War with Distant Enemies

20:1 When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry ⁹  and troops ¹⁰  who outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you.

Deuteronomy 22:1

Laws Concerning Preservation of Life

22:1 When you see ¹¹  your neighbor’s ¹²  ox or sheep going astray, do not ignore it; ¹³  you must return it without fail ¹⁴  to your neighbor.

Ecclesiastes 9:14

9:14 There was once ¹⁵  a small city with a few men in it,

and a mighty king attacked it, besieging ¹⁶  it and building strong ¹⁷  siege works against it.

[17:5]  ¹ tn Heb “went up against.”

[18:9]  ² tn Heb “went” (also in v. 13).

[18:9]  ³ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[25:1]  ⁴ tn Or “against.”

[25:1]  ⁵ sn This would have been Jan 15, 588 b.c. The reckoning is based on the calendar that begins the year in the spring (Nisan = March/April).

[28:52]  ⁶ tn Heb “gates,” also in vv. 55, 57.

[28:1]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”

[28:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).

[20:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “horse and chariot.”

[20:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “people.”

[22:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “you must not see,” but, if translated literally into English, the statement is misleading.

[22:1]  ¹² tn Heb “brother’s” (also later in this verse). In this context it is not limited to one’s siblings, however; cf. NAB “your kinsman’s.”

[22:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “hide yourself.”

[22:1]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with the words “without fail.”

[9:14]  ¹⁵ tn The verbs in this section function either as past definite actions (describing a past situation) or as hypothetical past actions (describing an imaginary hypothetical situation for the sake of illustration). The LXX uses subjunctives throughout vv. 14-15 to depict the scenario as a hypothetical situation: “Suppose there was a little city, and a few men [lived] in it; and there should come against it a great king, and surround it, and build great siege-works against it; and should find in it a poor wise man, and he should save the city through his wisdom; yet no man would remember that poor man.”

[9:14]  ¹⁶ tn The two perfect tense verbs וְסָבַב (vÿsavav, “he besieged”) and וּבָנָה (uvanah, “he built”) may be taken in a complementary sense, qualifying the action of the main perfect tense verb וּבָא (uva’, “he attacked it”).

[9:14]  ¹⁷ tn The root גדל (“mighty; strong; large”) is repeated in 9:13b for emphasis: “a mighty (גָדוֹל, gadol) king…building strong (גְדֹלִים, gÿdolim) siege works.” This repetition highlights the contrast between the vast power and resources of the attacking king, and the meager resources of the “little” (קְטַנָּה, qÿtannah) city with “few” (מְעָט, mÿ’at) men in it to defend it.