Deuteronomy 28:59

28:59 then the Lord will increase your punishments and those of your descendants – great and long-lasting afflictions and severe, enduring illnesses.

Deuteronomy 29:22-28

29:22 The generation to come – your descendants who will rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who will come from distant places – will see ¹  the afflictions of that land and the illnesses that the Lord has brought on it. 29:23 The whole land will be covered with brimstone, salt, and burning debris; it will not be planted nor will it sprout or produce grass. It will resemble the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger. ²  29:24 Then all the nations will ask, “Why has the Lord done all this to this land? What is this fierce, heated display of anger ³  all about?” 29:25 Then people will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 29:26 They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they did not know and that he did not permit them to worship. ⁴  29:27 That is why the Lord’s anger erupted against this land, bringing on it all the curses ⁵  written in this scroll. 29:28 So the Lord has uprooted them from their land in anger, wrath, and great rage and has deported them to another land, as is clear today.”

Isaiah 65:12-15

65:12 I predestine you to die by the sword, ⁶ 

all of you will kneel down at the slaughtering block, ⁷ 

because I called to you, and you did not respond,

I spoke and you did not listen.

You did evil before me; ⁸ 

you chose to do what displeases me.”

65:13 So this is what the sovereign Lord says:

“Look, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry!

Look, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty!

Look, my servants will rejoice, but you will be humiliated!

65:14 Look, my servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts! ⁹ 

But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts; ¹⁰ 

you will wail because your spirits will be crushed. ¹¹ 

65:15 Your names will live on in the curse formulas of my chosen ones. ¹² 

The sovereign Lord will kill you,

but he will give his servants another name.

Lamentations 1:12

ל (Lamed)

1:12 Is it nothing to you, ¹³  all you who pass by on the road? ¹⁴ 

Look and see!

Is there any pain like mine?

The Lord ¹⁵  has afflicted me, ¹⁶ 

he ¹⁷  has inflicted it on me

when ¹⁸  he burned with anger. ¹⁹ 

Lamentations 2:13

מ (Mem)

2:13 With what can I equate ²⁰  you?

To what can I compare you, O Daughter Jerusalem?

To what can I liken you ²¹ 

so that ²²  I might comfort you, O Virgin Daughter Zion?

Your wound is as deep ²³  as the sea. ²⁴ 

Who can heal you? ²⁵ 

Lamentations 4:6

ו (Vav)

4:6 The punishment ²⁶  of my people ²⁷ 

exceeded that of ²⁸  of Sodom,

which was overthrown in a moment

with no one to help her. ²⁹ 

Daniel 9:12

9:12 He has carried out his threats ³⁰  against us and our rulers ³¹  who were over ³²  us by bringing great calamity on us – what has happened to Jerusalem has never been equaled under all heaven!

Daniel 9:26

9:26 Now after the sixty-two weeks,

an anointed one will be cut off and have nothing. ³³ 

As for the city and the sanctuary,

the people of the coming prince will destroy ³⁴  them.

But his end will come speedily ³⁵  like a flood. ³⁶ 

Until the end of the war that has been decreed

there will be destruction.

Daniel 12:1

12:1 “At that time Michael,

the great prince who watches over your people, ³⁷ 

will arise. ³⁸ 

There will be a time of distress

unlike any other from the nation’s beginning ³⁹ 

up to that time.

But at that time your own people,

all those whose names are ⁴⁰  found written in the book,

will escape.

Joel 2:2

2:2 It will be ⁴¹  a day of dreadful darkness, ⁴² 

a day of foreboding storm clouds, ⁴³ 

like blackness ⁴⁴  spread over the mountains.

It is a huge and powerful army ⁴⁵  –

there has never been anything like it ever before,

and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come! ⁴⁶ 

Matthew 24:21

24:21 For then there will be great suffering ⁴⁷  unlike anything that has happened ⁴⁸  from the beginning of the world until now, or ever will happen.

Luke 21:22-24

21:22 because these are days of vengeance, ⁴⁹  to fulfill ⁵⁰  all that is written. 21:23 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days! For there will be great distress ⁵¹  on the earth and wrath against this people. 21:24 They ⁵²  will fall by the edge ⁵³  of the sword and be led away as captives ⁵⁴  among all nations. Jerusalem ⁵⁵  will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. ⁵⁶ 

[29:22]  ¹ tn Heb “will say and see.” One expects a quotation to appear, but it seems to be omitted. To avoid confusion in the translation, the verb “will say” is omitted.

[29:23]  ² tn Heb “the anger and the wrath.” This construction is a hendiadys intended to intensify the emotion.

[29:24]  ³ tn Heb “this great burning of anger”; KJV “the heat of this great anger.”

[29:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “did not assign to them”; NASB, NRSV “had not allotted to them.”

[29:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “the entire curse.”

[65:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “I assign you to the sword.” Some emend the Qal verb form מָנִיתִי (maniti, “I assign”) to the Piel מִנִּיתִי (minniti, “ I ordain”). The verb sounds like the name of the god Meni (מְנִי, mÿni, “Destiny, Fate”). The sound play draws attention to the irony of the statement. The sinners among God’s people worship the god Meni, apparently in an effort to ensure a bright destiny for themselves. But the Lord is the one who really determines their destiny and he has decreed their demise.

[65:12]  ⁷ tn Or “at the slaughter”; NIV “for the slaughter”; NLT “before the executioner.”

[65:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “that which is evil in my eyes.”

[65:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “from the good of the heart.”

[65:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from the pain of the heart.”

[65:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from the breaking of the spirit.”

[65:15]  ¹² tn Heb “you will leave your name for an oath to my chosen ones.”

[1:12]  ¹³ tc The Heb לוֹא אֲלֵיכֶם (lo’ ’alekhem, “not to you”) is awkward and often considered corrupt but there is no textual evidence yet adduced to certify a more original reading.

[1:12]  ¹⁴ tn The line as it stands is imbalanced, such that the reference to the passersby may belong here or as a vocative with the following verb translated “look.”

[1:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “He.” The personal pronoun “he” and the personal name “the Lord,” both appearing in this verse, are transposed in the translation for the sake of readability. In the Hebrew text, “He” appears in the A-line and “the Lord” appears in the B-line – good Hebrew poetic style, but awkward English style.

[1:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “which was afflicted on me.” The Polal of עָלַל (’alal) gives the passive voice of the Polel. The Polel of the verb עָלַל (’alal) occurs ten times in the Bible, appearing in agricultural passages for gleaning or some other harvest activity and also in military passages. Jer 6:9 plays on this by comparing an attack to gleaning. The relationship between the meaning in the two types of contexts is unclear, but the very neutral rendering “to treat” in some dictionaries and translations misses the nuance appropriate to the military setting. Indeed it is not at all feasible in a passage like Judges 20:45 where “they treated them on the highway” would make no sense but “they mowed them down on the highway” would fit the context. Accordingly the verb is sometimes rendered “treat” or “deal severely,” as HALOT 834 s.v. poel.3 suggests for Lam 3:51, although simply suggesting “to deal with” in Lam 1:22 and 2:20. A more injurious nuance is given to the translation here and in 1:22; 2:20 and 3:51.

[1:12]  ¹⁷ sn The delay in naming the Lord as cause is dramatic. The natural assumption upon hearing the passive verb in the previous line, “it was dealt severely,” might well be the pillaging army, but instead the Lord is named as the tormentor.

[1:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in the day of.” The construction בְּיוֹם (bÿyom, “in the day of”) is a common Hebrew idiom, meaning “when” or “on the occasion of” (e.g., Gen 2:4; Lev 7:35; Num 3:1; Deut 4:15; 2 Sam 22:1; Pss 18:1; 138:3; Zech 8:9).

[1:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “on the day of burning anger.”

[2:13]  ²⁰ tc The MT reads אֲעִידֵךְ (’a’idekh), Hiphil imperfect 1st person common singular + 2fs suffix from עָדָה (’adah, “to testify”): “[How] can I testify for you?” However, Latin Vulgate comparabo te reflects the reading אֶעֱרָךְ (’e’erakh), Qal imperfect 1st person common singular from עָרַךְ (’arakh, “to liken”): “[To what] can I liken [you]?” The verb עָרַךְ (’arakh) normally means “to lay out, set in rows; to get ready, set in order; to line up for battle, set battle formation,” but it also may denote “to compare (as a result of arranging in order), to make equal” (e.g., Pss 40:6; 89:6 [HT 7]; Job 28:17, 19; Isa 40:18; 44:7). The BHS editors suggest the emendation which involves simple orthographic confusion between ר (resh) and ד (dalet), and deletion of י (yod) that the MT added to make sense of the form. The variant is favored based on internal evidence: (1) it is the more difficult reading because the meaning “to compare” for עָרַךְ (’arakh) is less common than עָדָה (’adah, “to testify”), (2) it recovers a tight parallelism between עָרַךְ (’arakh, “to liken”) and דָּמָה (damah, “to compare”) (e.g., Ps 89:6 [HT 7]; Isa 40:18), and (3) the MT reading: “How can I testify for you?” makes little sense in the context. Nevertheless, most English versions hold to the MT reading: KJV, RSV, NRSV, NASB, NIV, TEV, CEV. This textual emendation was first proposed by J. Meinhold, “Threni 2,13,” ZAW 15 (1895): 286.

[2:13]  ²¹ tc The MT reads מָה אַשְׁוֶה־לָּךְ וַאֲנַחֲמֵךְ (mah ’ashveh-lakh va’anakhamekh, “To what can I compare you so that I might comfort you?”). The LXX reflects a Vorlage of מִי יוֹשִׁיעַ לָךְ וְנִחַמְךָ (mi yoshia’ lakh vÿnikhamÿkha, “Who will save you so that he might comfort you?”). This textual variant reflects several cases of orthographic confusion between similarly spelled words. The MT best explains the origin of the LXX textual variants. Internal evidence of contextual congruence favors the MT as the original reading.

[2:13]  ²² tn The ו (vav) prefixed to וַאֲנַחֲמֵךְ (va’anakhamekh, “I might comfort you”) denotes purpose: “so that….”

[2:13]  ²³ tn Heb “as great as the sea.”

[2:13]  ²⁴ tc The MT reads כָּיָּם (kayyam, “as the sea”), while the LXX reflects a Vorlage of כּוֹס (kos, “a cup”). The textual variant is probably due to simple orthographic confusion between letters of similar appearance. The idiomatic expression favors the MT.

[2:13]  ²⁵ sn The rhetorical question implies a denial: “No one can heal you!” The following verses, 14-17, present four potential healers – prophets, passersby, enemies, and God.

[4:6]  ²⁶ tn The noun עֲוֹן (’avon) has a basic two-fold range of meanings: (1) basic meaning: “iniquity, sin” and (2) metonymical cause for effect meaning: “punishment for iniquity.”

[4:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”

[4:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the sin of.” The noun חַטָּאת (khatta’t) often means “sin, rebellion,” but here it probably functions in a metonymical (cause for effect) sense: “punishment for sin” (e.g., Zech 14:19). The context focuses on the severity of the punishment of Jerusalem rather than the depths of its degradation and depravity that led to the judgment.

[4:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “without a hand turned.” The preposition ב (bet) after the verb חוּל (khul) in Hos 11:6 is adversative “the sword will turn against [Assyria’s] cities.” Other contexts with חוּל (khul) plus ב (bet) are not comparable (ב [bet] often being locative). However, it is not certain that hands must be adversarial as the sword clearly is in Hos 11:6. The present translation pictures the suddenness of Sodom’s overthrow as an easier fate than the protracted military campaign and subsequent exile and poverty of Judah’s survivor’s.

[9:12]  ³⁰ tn Heb “he has fulfilled his word(s) which he spoke.”

[9:12]  ³¹ tn Heb “our judges.”

[9:12]  ³² tn Heb “who judged.”

[9:26]  ³³ sn The expression have nothing is difficult. Presumably it refers to an absence of support or assistance for the anointed one at the time of his “cutting off.” The KJV rendering “but not for himself,” apparently suggesting a vicarious death, cannot be defended.

[9:26]  ³⁴ tc Some witnesses (e.g., the Syriac) understand a passive verb and the preposition עִם (’im, “with) rather than the noun עַם (’am, “people”), thus reading “the city and the sanctuary will be destroyed with the coming prince.”

[9:26]  ³⁵ tn The words “will come speedily” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

[9:26]  ³⁶ sn Flood here is a metaphor for sudden destruction.

[12:1]  ³⁷ tn Heb “stands over the sons of your people.”

[12:1]  ³⁸ tn Heb “will stand up.”

[12:1]  ³⁹ tn Or “from the beginning of a nation.”

[12:1]  ⁴⁰ tn The words “whose names are” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.

[2:2]  ⁴¹ tn The phrase “It will be” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and style.

[2:2]  ⁴² tn Heb “darkness and gloom.” These two terms probably form a hendiadys here. This picture recalls the imagery of the supernatural darkness in Egypt during the judgments of the exodus (Exod 10:22). These terms are also frequently used as figures (metonymy of association) for calamity and divine judgment (Isa 8:22; 59:9; Jer 23:12; Zeph 1:15). Darkness is often a figure (metonymy of association) for death, dread, distress and judgment (BDB 365 s.v. חשֶׁךְ 3).

[2:2]  ⁴³ tn Heb “a day of cloud and darkness.”

[2:2]  ⁴⁴ tc The present translation here follows the proposed reading שְׁחֹר (shÿkhor, “blackness”) rather than the MT שַׁחַר (shakhar, “morning”). The change affects only the vocalization; the Hebrew consonants remain unchanged. Here the context calls for a word describing darkness. The idea of morning or dawn speaks instead of approaching light, which does not seem to fit here. The other words in the verse (e.g., “darkness,” “gloominess,” “cloud,” “heavy overcast”) all emphasize the negative aspects of the matter at hand and lead the reader to expect a word like “blackness” rather than “dawn.” However, NIrV paraphrases the MT nicely: “A huge army of locusts is coming. They will spread across the mountains like the sun when it rises.”

[2:2]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “A huge and powerful people”; KJV, ASV “a great people and a strong.” Many interpreters understand Joel 2 to describe an invasion of human armies, either in past history (e.g., the Babylonian invasion of Palestine in the sixth century b.c.) or in an eschatological setting. More probably, however, the language of this chapter referring to “people” and “armies” is a hypocatastic description of the locusts of chapter one. Cf. TEV “The great army of locusts advances like darkness.”

[2:2]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “it will not be repeated for years of generation and generation.”

[24:21]  ⁴⁷ tn Traditionally, “great tribulation.”

[24:21]  ⁴⁸ sn Suffering unlike anything that has happened. Some refer this event to the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. While the events of a.d. 70 may reflect somewhat the comments Jesus makes here, the reference to the scope and severity of this judgment strongly suggest that much more is in view. Most likely Jesus is referring to the great end-time judgment on Jerusalem in the great tribulation.

[21:22]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “of punishment.” This is a time of judgment.

[21:22]  ⁵⁰ tn The passive construction with the infinitive πλησθῆναι (plhsqhnai) has been translated as an active construction for simplicity, in keeping with contemporary English style.

[21:23]  ⁵¹ sn Great distress means that this is a period of great judgment.

[21:24]  ⁵² tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[21:24]  ⁵³ tn Grk “by the mouth of the sword” (an idiom for the edge of a sword).

[21:24]  ⁵⁴ sn Here is the predicted judgment against the nation until the time of Gentile rule has passed: Its people will be led away as captives.

[21:24]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “And Jerusalem.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[21:24]  ⁵⁶ sn Until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled implies a time when Israel again has a central role in God’s plan.