Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 31:17
Context31:17 At that time 1 my anger will erupt against them 2 and I will abandon them and hide my face from them until they are devoured. Many disasters and distresses will overcome 3 them 4 so that they 5 will say at that time, ‘Have not these disasters 6 overcome us 7 because our 8 God is not among us 9 ?’
Psalms 79:7
Context79:7 For they have devoured Jacob
and destroyed his home.
Psalms 129:3-6
Context129:3 The plowers plowed my back;
they made their furrows long.
129:4 The Lord is just;
he cut the ropes of the wicked.” 10
129:5 May all who hate Zion
be humiliated and turned back!
129:6 May they be like the grass on the rooftops
which withers before one can even pull it up, 11
Jeremiah 10:25
Context10:25 Vent your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you. 12
Vent it on the peoples 13 who do not worship you. 14
For they have destroyed the people of Jacob. 15
They have completely destroyed them 16
and left their homeland in utter ruin.
[31:17] 1 tn Heb “on that day.” This same expression also appears later in the verse and in v. 18.
[31:17] 2 tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
[31:17] 3 tn Heb “find,” “encounter.”
[31:17] 4 tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
[31:17] 5 tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
[31:17] 7 tn Heb “me.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “us,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style.
[31:17] 9 tn Heb “me.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “us,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style.
[129:4] 10 tn The background of the metaphor is not entirely clear. Perhaps the “ropes” are those used to harness the ox for plowing (see Job 39:10). Verse 3 pictures the wicked plowing God’s people as if they were a field. But when God “cut the ropes” of their ox, as it were, they could no longer plow. The point of the metaphor seems to be that God took away the enemies’ ability to oppress his people. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 187.
[129:6] 11 tn The Hebrew verb שָׁלַף (shalaf) normally means “to draw [a sword]” or “to pull.” BDB 1025 s.v. suggests the meaning “to shoot up” here, but it is more likely that the verb here means “to pluck; to pull up,” a nuance attested for this word in later Hebrew and Aramaic (see Jastrow 1587 s.v. שָׁלַף).
[10:25] 12 tn Heb “know you.” For this use of the word “know” (יָדַע, yada’) see the note on 9:3.
[10:25] 13 tn Heb “tribes/clans.”
[10:25] 14 tn Heb “who do not call on your name.” The idiom “to call on your name” (directed to God) refers to prayer (mainly) and praise. See 1 Kgs 18:24-26 and Ps 116:13, 17. Here “calling on your name” is parallel to “acknowledging you.” In many locations in the OT “name” is equivalent to the person. In the OT, the “name” reflected the person’s character (cf. Gen 27:36; 1 Sam 25:25) or his reputation (Gen 11:4; 2 Sam 8:13). To speak in a person’s name was to act as his representative or carry his authority (1 Sam 25:9; 1 Kgs 21:8). To call someone’s name over something was to claim it for one’s own (2 Sam 12:28).
[10:25] 15 tn Heb “have devoured Jacob.”
[10:25] 16 tn Or “have almost completely destroyed them”; Heb “they have devoured them and consumed them.” The figure of hyperbole is used here; elsewhere Jeremiah and God refer to the fact that they will not be completely consumed. See for example 4:27; 5:10, 18.
