Ezekiel 20:21-24

20:21 “‘But the children ¹  rebelled against me, did not follow my statutes, did not observe my regulations by carrying them out (the one who obeys ²  them will live by them), and desecrated my Sabbaths. I decided to pour out ³  my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the wilderness. 20:22 But I refrained from doing so, ⁴  and acted instead for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. 20:23 I also swore ⁵  to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands. ⁶  20:24 I did this ⁷  because they did not observe my regulations, they rejected my statutes, they desecrated my Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on ⁸  their fathers’ idols.

Psalms 46:9

46:9 He brings an end to wars throughout the earth; ⁹ 

he shatters ¹⁰  the bow and breaks ¹¹  the spear;

he burns ¹²  the shields with fire. ¹³ 

Psalms 76:3

76:3 There he shattered the arrows, ¹⁴ 

the shield, the sword, and the rest of the weapons of war. ¹⁵  (Selah)

Jeremiah 21:4-5

21:4 that the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ¹⁶  ‘The forces at your disposal ¹⁷  are now outside the walls fighting against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonians ¹⁸  who have you under siege. I will gather those forces back inside the city. ¹⁹  21:5 In anger, in fury, and in wrath I myself will fight against you with my mighty power and great strength! ²⁰ 

Hosea 1:5

1:5 At that time, ²¹  I will destroy the military power ²²  of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”

[20:21]  ¹ tn Heb “sons.”

[20:21]  ² tn Or “carries them out.”

[20:21]  ³ tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”

[20:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “drew my hand back.” This idiom also occurs in Lam 2:8 and Ps 74:11.

[20:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

[20:23]  ⁶ sn Though the Pentateuch does not seem to know of this episode, Ps 106:26-27 may speak of God’s oath to exile the people before they had entered Canaan.

[20:24]  ⁷ tn The words “I did this” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for stylistic reasons. Verses 23-24 are one long sentence in the Hebrew text. The translation divides this sentence into two for stylistic reasons.

[20:24]  ⁸ tn Or “they worshiped” (NCV, TEV, CEV); Heb “their eyes were on” or “were after” (cf. v. 16).

[46:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “[the] one who causes wars to cease unto the end of the earth.” The participle continues the description begun in v. 8b and indicates that this is the Lord’s characteristic activity. Ironically, he brings peace to the earth by devastating the warlike, hostile nations (vv. 8, 9b).

[46:9]  ¹⁰ tn The verb שָׁבַר (shavar, “break”) appears in the Piel here (see Ps 29:5). In the OT it occurs thirty-six times in the Piel, always with multiple objects (the object is either a collective singular or grammatically plural or dual form). The Piel may highlight the repetition of the pluralative action, or it may suggest an intensification of action, indicating repeated action comprising a whole, perhaps with the nuance “break again and again, break in pieces.” Another option is to understand the form as resultative: “make broken” (see IBHS 404-7 §24.3). The imperfect verbal form carries on and emphasizes the generalizing nature of the description.

[46:9]  ¹¹ tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries along the generalizing emphasis of the preceding imperfect.

[46:9]  ¹² tn The imperfect verbal form carries on and emphasizes the generalizing nature of the description.

[46:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “wagons he burns with fire.” Some read “chariots” here (cf. NASB), but the Hebrew word refers to wagons or carts, not chariots, elsewhere in the OT. In this context, where military weapons are mentioned, it is better to revocalize the form as עֲגִלוֹת (’agilot, “round shields”), a word which occurs only here in the OT, but is attested in later Hebrew and Aramaic.

[76:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “flames of the bow,” i.e., arrows.

[76:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “shield and sword and battle.” “Battle” probably here stands by metonymy for the weapons of war in general.

[21:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Tell Zedekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel.’” Using the indirect quote eliminates one level of embedded quotation and makes it easier for the reader to follow.

[21:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the weapons which are in your hand.” Weapons stands here by substitution for the soldiers who wield them.

[21:4]  ¹⁸ sn The Babylonians (Heb “the Chaldeans”). The Chaldeans were a group of people in the country south of Babylon from which Nebuchadnezzar came. The Chaldean dynasty his father established became the name by which the Babylonians are regularly referred to in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s contemporary Ezekiel uses both terms.

[21:4]  ¹⁹ tn The structure of the Hebrew sentence of this verse is long and complex and has led to a great deal of confusion and misunderstanding. There are two primary points of confusion: 1) the relation of the phrase “outside the walls,” and 2) the antecedent of “them” in the last clause of the verse that reads in Hebrew: “I will gather them back into the midst of the city.” Most take the phrase “outside the walls” with “the Babylonians….” Some take it with “turn back/bring back” to mean “from outside….” However, the preposition “from” is part of the idiom for “outside….” The phrase goes with “fighting” as J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 215) notes and as NJPS suggests. The antecedent of “them” has sometimes been taken mistakenly to refer to the Babylonians. It refers rather to “the forces at your disposal” which is literally “the weapons which are in your hands.” This latter phrase is a figure involving substitution (called metonymy) as Bright also correctly notes. The whole sentence reads in Hebrew: “I will bring back the weapons of war which are in your hand with which you are fighting Nebuchadrezzar the King of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside your wall and I will gather them into the midst of the city.” The sentence has been restructured to better reflect the proper relationships and to make the sentence conform more to contemporary English style.

[21:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “with outstretched hand and with strong arm.” These are, of course, figurative of God’s power and might. He does not literally have hands and arms.

[1:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “In that day” (so NIV; NAB, NRSV “On that day”).

[1:5]  ²² tn Heb “I will break the bow” (so NAB, NRSV). The phrase “break the bow” (וְשַׁבָרְתִּי אֶת־קֶשֶׁת, véshavarti ’et-qeshet) is figurative. The term קֶשֶׁת (qeshet, “bow”) frequently refers to the warrior’s weapon (2 Sam 22:35; Ps 18:35; Job 20:24; Hos 2:20; Zech 9:10; 10:4). The reference to the warrior’s bow is a synecdoche of specific (bow) for general (military weaponry or power; see HALOT 1155 s.v. קֶשֶׁת 3). The noun קֶשֶׁת is used figuratively for “power” several times (e.g., Gen 49:24; 1 Sam 2:4; Jer 49:35; Job 29:20; Ps 37:15; BDB 906 s.v. 1.e).