2 Samuel 8:2

8:2 He defeated the Moabites. He made them lie on the ground and then used a rope to measure them off. He put two-thirds of them to death and spared the other third. ¹  The Moabites became David’s subjects and brought tribute. ² 

2 Samuel 8:2

8:2 He defeated the Moabites. He made them lie on the ground and then used a rope to measure them off. He put two-thirds of them to death and spared the other third. ³  The Moabites became David’s subjects and brought tribute. ⁴ 

2 Samuel 21:13

21:13 David ⁵  brought the bones of Saul and of Jonathan his son from there; they also gathered up the bones of those who had been executed.

Isaiah 28:17

28:17 I will make justice the measuring line,

fairness the plumb line;

hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge, ⁶ 

the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place.

Isaiah 34:11

34:11 Owls and wild animals ⁷  will live there, ⁸ 

all kinds of wild birds ⁹  will settle in it.

The Lord ¹⁰  will stretch out over her

the measuring line of ruin

and the plumb line ¹¹  of destruction. ¹² 

Amos 7:7-8

7:7 He showed me this: I saw ¹³  the sovereign One ¹⁴  standing by a tin ¹⁵  wall holding tin in his hand. 7:8 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” I said, “Tin.” The sovereign One then said,

“Look, I am about to place tin among my people Israel.

I will no longer overlook their sin. ¹⁶ 

[8:2]  ¹ tn Heb “and he measured [with] two [lengths] of rope to put to death and [with] the fullness of the rope to keep alive.”

[8:2]  ² tn Heb “and the Moabites were servants of David, carriers of tribute.”

[8:2]  ³ tn Heb “and he measured [with] two [lengths] of rope to put to death and [with] the fullness of the rope to keep alive.”

[8:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the Moabites were servants of David, carriers of tribute.”

[21:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “[the] refuge, [the] lie.” See v. 15.

[34:11]  ⁷ tn קָאַת (qa’at) refers to some type of bird (cf. Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (see Zeph 2:14). קִפּוֹד (qippod) may also refer to a type of bird (NAB “hoot owl”; NIV “screech owl”; TEV “ravens”), but some have suggested a rodent may be in view (cf. NCV “small animals”; ASV “porcupine”; NASB, NRSV “hedgehog”).

[34:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “will possess it” (so NIV).

[34:11]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text has יַנְשׁוֹף וְעֹרֵב (yanshof vÿ’orev). Both the יַנְשׁוֹף (“owl”; see Lev 11:17; Deut 14:16) and עֹרֵב (“raven”; Lev 11:15; Deut 14:14) were types of wild birds.

[34:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “stones,” i.e., the stones used in a plumb bob.

[34:11]  ¹² sn The metaphor in v. 11b emphasizes that God has carefully planned Edom’s demise.

[7:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[7:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here and in the following verse is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[7:7]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew word אֲנָךְ (’anakh, “tin”) occurs only in this passage (twice in this verse and twice in the following verse). (Its proposed meaning is based on an Akkadian cognate annaku.) The tin wall of the vision, if it symbolizes Israel, may suggest weakness and vulnerability to judgment. See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 233-35. The symbolic significance of God holding tin in his hand and then placing tin among the people is unclear. Possibly the term אֲנָךְ in v. 8b is a homonym meaning “grief” (this term is attested in postbiblical Hebrew). In this case there is a wordplay, the אֲנָךְ (“tin”) of the vision suggesting the אֲנָךְ (“grief”) that judgment will bring upon the land. See F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos (AB), 759. Another option is to maintain the meaning “tin” and understand that the Lord has ripped off a piece of the tin wall and placed it in front of all to see. Their citadels, of which the nation was so proud and confident, are nothing more than tin fortresses. The traditional interpretation of these verses (reflected in many English versions) understands the term אֲנָךְ to mean “lead,” and by extension, “plumb line.” In this case, one may translate: “I saw the sovereign one standing by a wall built true to plumb holding a plumb line in his hand. The Lord said to me, ‘What do you see, Amos?’ I said, ‘A plumb line.’ The sovereign one then said, ‘Look, I am about to place a plumb line among my people…’” According to this view, the plumb line symbolizes God’s moral standards by which he will measure Israel to see if they are a straight or crooked wall.

[7:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “And I will no longer pass over him.”