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,

Job 39:27-30

39:27 Is it at your command ³  that the eagle soars,

and builds its nest on high?

39:28 It lives on a rock and spends the night there,

on a rocky crag ⁴  and a fortress. ⁵ 

39:29 From there it spots ⁶  its prey, ⁷ 

its eyes gaze intently from a distance.

39:30 And its young ones devour the blood,

and where the dead carcasses ⁸  are,

there it is.”

Jeremiah 16:16

16:16 But for now I, the Lord, say: ⁹  “I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks. ¹⁰ 

Amos 9:1-4

9:1 I saw the sovereign One ¹¹  standing by the altar ¹²  and he said, “Strike the tops of the support pillars, ¹³  so the thresholds shake!

Knock them down on the heads of all the people, ¹⁴ 

and I will kill the survivors ¹⁵  with the sword.

No one will be able to run away; ¹⁶ 

no one will be able to escape. ¹⁷ 

9:2 Even if they could dig down into the netherworld, ¹⁸ 

my hand would pull them up from there.

Even if they could climb up to heaven,

I would drag them down from there.

9:3 Even if they were to hide on the top of Mount Carmel,

I would hunt them down and take them from there.

Even if they tried to hide from me ¹⁹  at the bottom of the sea,

from there ²⁰  I would command the Sea Serpent ²¹  to bite them.

9:4 Even when their enemies drive them into captivity, ²² 

from there ²³  I will command the sword to kill them.

I will not let them out of my sight;

they will experience disaster, not prosperity.” ²⁴ 

Luke 17:37

17:37 Then ²⁵  the disciples ²⁶  said ²⁷  to him, “Where, ²⁸  Lord?” He replied to them, “Where the dead body ²⁹  is, there the vultures ³⁰  will gather.” ³¹ 

[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.

[39:27]  ³ tn Heb “your mouth.”

[39:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “upon the tooth of a rock.”

[39:28]  ⁵ tn The word could be taken as the predicate, but because of the conjunction it seems to be adding another description of the place of its nest.

[39:29]  ⁶ tn The word means “search,” but can be used for a wide range of matters, including spying.

[39:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “food.”

[39:30]  ⁸ tn The word חֲלָלִים (khalalim) designates someone who is fatally wounded, literally the “pierced one,” meaning anyone or thing that dies a violent death.

[16:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” The Lord has been speaking; the first person has been utilized in translation to avoid a shift which might create confusion.

[16:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Behold I am about to send for many fishermen and they will catch them. And after that I will send for many hunters and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the cracks in the rocks.”

[9:1]  ¹¹ tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:1]  ¹² sn The altar is perhaps the altar at Bethel.

[9:1]  ¹³ tn Or “the capitals.” The Hebrew singular form is collective.

[9:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “cut them off on the head of all of them.” The translation assumes the objective suffix on the verb refers to the tops of the pillars and that the following prepositional phrase refers to the people standing beneath. Another option is to take this phrase as referring to the pillars, in which case one could translate, “Knock all the tops of the pillars off.”

[9:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the remnant of them.” One could possibly translate, “every last one of them” (cf. NEB “to the last man”). This probably refers to those who survive the collapse of the temple, which may symbolize the northern kingdom.

[9:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a fugitive belonging to them will not run away.”

[9:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a survivor belonging to them will not escape.”

[9:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “into Sheol” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV), that is, the land of the dead localized in Hebrew thought in the earth’s core or the grave. Cf. KJV “hell”; NCV, NLT “the place of the dead”; NIV “the depths of the grave.”

[9:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “from before my eyes.”

[9:3]  ²⁰ tn Or perhaps simply, “there,” if the מ (mem) prefixed to the adverb is dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem).

[9:3]  ²¹ sn If the article indicates a definite serpent, then the mythological Sea Serpent, symbolic of the world’s chaotic forces, is probably in view. See Job 26:13 and Isa 27:1 (where it is also called Leviathan). Elsewhere in the OT this serpent is depicted as opposing the Lord, but this text implies that even this powerful enemy of God is ultimately subject to his sovereign will.

[9:4]  ²² tn Heb “Even if they go into captivity before their enemies.”

[9:4]  ²³ tn Or perhaps simply, “there,” if the מ (mem) prefixed to the adverb is dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem).

[9:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “I will set my eye on them for disaster, not good.”

[17:37]  ²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[17:37]  ²⁶ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the disciples, v. 22) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:37]  ²⁷ tn Grk “answering, they said to him.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified in the translation.

[17:37]  ²⁸ sn The question “Where, Lord?” means, “Where will the judgment take place?”

[17:37]  ²⁹ tn Or “corpse.”

[17:37]  ³⁰ tn The same Greek term can refer to “eagles” or “vultures” (L&N 4.42; BDAG 22 s.v. ἀετός), but in this context it must mean vultures, because the gruesome image is one of dead bodies being consumed by scavengers.

[17:37]  ³¹ tn Grk “will be gathered.” The passive construction has been translated as an active one in English.