2 Samuel 2:18

2:18 The three sons of Zeruiah were there – Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. (Now Asahel was as quick on his feet as one of the gazelles in the field.)

Deuteronomy 28:49

28:49 The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth ¹  as the eagle flies, ²  a nation whose language you will not understand,

Deuteronomy 28:1

The Covenant Blessings

28:1 “If you indeed ³  obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving ⁴  you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.

Deuteronomy 12:8

12:8 You must not do like we are doing here today, with everyone ⁵  doing what seems best to him,

Job 9:26

9:26 They glide by ⁶  like reed ⁷  boats,

like an eagle that swoops ⁸  down on its prey. ⁹ 

Jeremiah 4:13

4:13 Look! The enemy is approaching like gathering clouds. ¹⁰ 

The roar of his chariots is like that of a whirlwind. ¹¹ 

His horses move more swiftly than eagles.”

I cry out, ¹²  “We are doomed, ¹³  for we will be destroyed!”

Lamentations 4:19

ק (Qof)

4:19 Those who pursued us were swifter

than eagles ¹⁴  in the sky. ¹⁵ 

They chased us over the mountains;

they ambushed us in the wilderness.

[28:49]  ¹ tn Heb “from the end of the earth.”

[28:49]  ² tn Some translations understand this to mean “like an eagle swoops down” (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), comparing the swift attack of an eagle to the attack of the Israelites’ enemies.

[28:1]  ³ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”

[28:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).

[12:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “a man.”

[9:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “they flee.”

[9:26]  ⁷ tn The word אֵבֶה (’eveh) means “reed, papyrus,” but it is a different word than was in 8:11. What is in view here is a light boat made from bundles of papyrus that glides swiftly along the Nile (cf. Isa 18:2 where papyrus vessels and swiftness are associated).

[9:26]  ⁸ tn The verb יָטוּשׂ (yatus) is also a hapax legomenon; the Aramaic cognate means “to soar; to hover in flight.” The sentence here requires the idea of swooping down while in flight.

[9:26]  ⁹ tn Heb “food.”

[4:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he is coming up like clouds.” The words “The enemy” are supplied in the translation to identify the referent and the word “gathering” is supplied to try to convey the significance of the simile, i.e., that of quantity and of an approaching storm.

[4:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “his chariots [are] like a whirlwind.” The words “roar” and “sound” are supplied in the translation to clarify the significance of the simile.

[4:13]  ¹² tn The words “I cry out” are not in the text, but the words that follow are obviously not the Lord’s. They are either those of the people or of Jeremiah. Taking them as Jeremiah’s parallels the interjection of Jeremiah’s response in 4:10 which is formally introduced.

[4:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “Woe to us!” The words “woe to” are common in funeral laments and at the beginning of oracles of judgment. In many contexts they carry the connotation of hopelessness or apprehensiveness of inevitable doom.

[4:19]  ¹⁴ tn The bird referred to here could be one of several species of eagles, but more likely is the griffin-vulture (cf. NEB “vultures”). However, because eagles are more commonly associated with swiftness than vultures in contemporary English, “eagles” was used in the translation.

[4:19]  ¹⁵ tn Or “in the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.