Ezekiel 38:4

38:4 I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and bring you out with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them fully armed, a great company with shields of different types, ¹  all of them armed with swords.

Ezekiel 38:2

38:2 “Son of man, turn toward ²  Gog, ³  of the land of Magog, ⁴  the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. ⁵  Prophesy against him

Ezekiel 19:1

Lament for the Princes of Israel

19:1 “And you, sing ⁶  a lament for the princes of Israel,

Job 41:1-2

The Description of Leviathan

41:1 (40:25) ⁷  “Can you pull in ⁸  Leviathan with a hook,

and tie down ⁹  its tongue with a rope?

41:2 Can you put a cord through its nose,

or pierce its jaw with a hook?

Isaiah 37:29

37:29 Because you rage against me

and the uproar you create has reached my ears, ¹⁰ 

I will put my hook in your nose, ¹¹ 

and my bridle between your lips,

and I will lead you back

the way you came.”

Amos 4:2

4:2 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his own holy character: ¹² 

“Certainly the time is approaching ¹³ 

when you will be carried away ¹⁴  in baskets, ¹⁵ 

every last one of you ¹⁶  in fishermen’s pots. ¹⁷ 

[38:4]  ¹ sn The Hebrew text mentions two different types of shields here.

[38:2]  ² tn Heb “set your face against.”

[38:2]  ³ sn This may refer to a Lydian king in western Asia Minor in the seventh century b.c. Apart from Ezek 38-39, the only other biblical reference to this king/nation is in Rev 20:8. For a study of the names appearing in this verse, see E. Yamauchi, Foes From the Northern Frontier, 19-27.

[38:2]  ⁴ sn One of the sons of Japheth according to Gen 10:2; 1 Chr 1:5.

[38:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “the prince, the chief of Meshech and Tubal.” Some translate “the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal,” but it is more likely that the Hebrew noun in question is a common noun in apposition to “prince,” rather than a proper name. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:434-35. As Block demonstrates, attempts by some popular writers to identify these proper names with later geographical sites in Russia are anachronistic. See as well E. Yamauchi, Foes From the Northern Frontier, 19-27.

[19:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “lift up.”

[41:1]  ⁷ sn Beginning with 41:1, the verse numbers through 41:9 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 41:1 ET = 40:25 HT, 41:2 ET = 40:26 HT, etc., through 41:34 ET = 41:26 HT. The Hebrew verse numbers in the remainder of the chapter differ from the verse numbers in the English Bible. Beginning with 42:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[41:1]  ⁸ tn The verb מָשַׁךְ (mashakh) means “to extract from the water; to fish.” The question here includes the use of a hook to fish the creature out of the water so that its jaws can be tied safely.

[41:1]  ⁹ tn The verb שָׁקַע (shaqa’) means “to cause to sink,” if it is connected with the word in Amos 8:8 and 9:5. But it may have the sense of “to tie; to bind.” If the rope were put around the tongue and jaw, binding tightly would be the sense.

[37:29]  ¹⁰ tc Heb “and your complacency comes up into my ears.” The parallelism is improved if שַׁאֲנַנְךָ (sha’anankha, “your complacency”) is emended to שְׁאוֹנְךָ (shÿ’onÿkha, “your uproar”). See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 237-38. However, the LXX seems to support the MT and Sennacherib’s cavalier dismissal of Yahweh depicts an arrogant complacency (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:658, n. 10).

[37:29]  ¹¹ sn The word-picture has a parallel in Assyrian sculpture. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 238.

[4:2]  ¹² tn Heb “swears by his holiness.”

[4:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “Look, certainly days are coming upon you”; NRSV “the time is surely coming upon you.”

[4:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “one will carry you away”; NASB “they will take you away.”

[4:2]  ¹⁵ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “baskets” is uncertain. The translation follows the suggestion of S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 128), who discusses the various options (130-32): “shields” (cf. NEB); “ropes”; “thorns,” which leads to the most favored interpretation, “hooks” (cf. NASB “meat hooks”; NIV, NRSV “hooks”); “baskets,” and (derived from “baskets”) “boats.” Against the latter, it is unlikely that Amos envisioned a deportation by boat for the inhabitants of Samaria! See also the note on the expression “fishermen’s pots” later in this verse.

[4:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “your children”; KJV “your posterity.”

[4:2]  ¹⁷ tn The meaning of the Hebrew expression translated “in fishermen’s pots” is uncertain. The translation follows that of S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 128), who discusses the various options (132-33): “thorns,” understood by most modern interpreters to mean (by extension) “fishhooks” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV); “boats,” but as mentioned in the previous note on the word “baskets,” a deportation of the Samaritans by boat is geographically unlikely; and “pots,” referring to a container used for packing fish (cf. NEB “fish-baskets”). Paul (p. 134) argues that the imagery comes from the ancient fishing industry. When hauled away into exile, the women of Samaria will be like fish packed and transported to market.