Ezekiel 21:31

21:31 I will pour out my anger on you;

the fire of my fury I will blow on you.

I will hand you over to brutal men,

who are skilled in destruction.

Ezekiel 28:7

28:7 I am about to bring foreigners ¹  against you, the most terrifying of nations.

They will draw their swords against the grandeur made by your wisdom, ² 

and they will defile your splendor.

Psalms 106:41

106:41 He handed them over to ³  the nations,

and those who hated them ruled over them.

Jeremiah 4:7

4:7 Like a lion that has come up from its lair ⁴ 

the one who destroys nations has set out from his home base. ⁵ 

He is coming out to lay your land waste.

Your cities will become ruins and lie uninhabited.

Jeremiah 12:12

12:12 A destructive army ⁶  will come marching

over the hilltops in the desert.

For the Lord will use them as his destructive weapon ⁷ 

against ⁸  everyone from one end of the land to the other.

No one will be safe. ⁹ 

Habakkuk 1:6-10

1:6 Look, I am about to empower ¹⁰  the Babylonians,

that ruthless ¹¹  and greedy ¹²  nation.

They sweep across the surface ¹³  of the earth,

seizing dwelling places that do not belong to them.

1:7 They are frightening and terrifying;

they decide for themselves what is right. ¹⁴ 

1:8 Their horses are faster than leopards

and more alert ¹⁵  than wolves in the desert. ¹⁶ 

Their horses ¹⁷  gallop, ¹⁸ 

their horses come a great distance;

like a vulture ¹⁹  they swoop down quickly to devour their prey. ²⁰ 

1:9 All of them intend ²¹  to do violence;

every face is determined. ²² 

They take prisoners as easily as one scoops up sand. ²³ 

1:10 They mock kings

and laugh at rulers.

They laugh at every fortified city;

they build siege ramps ²⁴  and capture them.

[28:7]  ¹ sn This is probably a reference to the Babylonians.

[28:7]  ² tn Heb “they will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom.”

[106:41]  ³ tn Heb “gave them into the hand of.”

[4:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “A lion has left its lair.” The metaphor is turned into a simile for clarification. The word translated “lair” has also been understood to refer to a hiding place. However, it appears to be cognate in meaning to the word translated “lair” in Ps 10:9; Jer 25:38, a word which also refers to the abode of the Lord in Ps 76:3.

[4:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “his place.”

[12:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “destroyers.”

[12:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “It is the Lord’s consuming sword.”

[12:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “For a sword of the Lord will devour.” The sword is often symbolic for destructive forces of all kinds. Here and in Isa 34:6; Jer 47:6 it is symbolic of the enemy armies that the Lord uses to carry out destructive punishment against his enemies, hence the translation “his destructive weapon.” A similar figure is use in Isa 10:5 where the figure is more clearly identified; Assyria is the rod/club that the Lord will use to discipline unfaithful Israel.

[12:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “There is no peace to all flesh.”

[1:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “raise up” (so KJV, ASV).

[1:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “bitter.” Other translation options for this word in this context include “fierce” (NASB, NRSV); “savage” (NEB); or “grim.”

[1:6]  ¹² tn Heb “hasty, quick.” Some translate here “impetuous” (so NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “rash,” but in this context greed may very well be the idea. The Babylonians move quickly and recklessly ahead in their greedy quest to expand their empire.

[1:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “the open spaces.”

[1:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from him his justice, even his lifting up, goes out.” In this context שְׂאֵת (sÿ’et) probably has the nuance “authority.” See R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 150.

[1:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “sharper,” in the sense of “keener” or “more alert.” Some translate “quicker” on the basis of the parallelism with the first line (see HALOT 291 s.v. חדד).

[1:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “wolves of the evening,” that is, wolves that prowl at night. The present translation assumes an emendation to עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “desert”). On this phrase see also Zeph 3:3.

[1:8]  ¹⁷ tn Or “horsemen,” “cavalry.”

[1:8]  ¹⁸ tn The precise nuance of the rare verb פָּוַשׁ (parash) is unclear here. Elsewhere it is used of animals jumping or leaping (see Jer 50:11; Mal 4:2).

[1:8]  ¹⁹ tn Or “eagle” (so NASB, NRSV). The term can refer to either eagles or vultures, but in this context of gruesome destruction and death “vulture” is preferred.

[1:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they fly like a vulture/an eagle quickly to devour.” The direct object “their prey” is not included in the Hebrew text but is implied, and has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “come.”

[1:9]  ²² tn Heb “The totality of their faces is to the east” (or “is forward”). The precise meaning of the Hebrew term מְגַמַּת (megammat) is unclear. For a discussion of options see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 93. NEB has “a sea of faces rolls on”; NIV “their hordes advance like a desert wind”; NRSV “with faces pressing forward.”

[1:9]  ²³ tn Heb “and he gathers like sand, prisoners.”

[1:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “they heap up dirt.” This is a reference to the piling up of earthen ramps in the process of laying siege to a fortified city.