Ezekiel 5:12

5:12 A third of your people will die of plague or be overcome by the famine within you. ¹  A third of your people will fall by the sword surrounding you, ²  and a third I will scatter to the winds. I will unleash a sword behind them.

Ezekiel 12:14

12:14 All his retinue – his attendants and his troops – I will scatter to every wind; I will unleash a sword behind them.

Ezekiel 12:2

12:2 “Son of man, you are living in the midst of a rebellious house. ³  They have eyes to see, but do not see, and ears to hear, but do not hear, ⁴  because they are a rebellious house.

Ezekiel 25:5

25:5 I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels and Ammon ⁵  a resting place for sheep. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Ezekiel 25:11

25:11 I will execute judgments against Moab. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”

Jeremiah 48:44

48:44 Anyone who flees at the sound of terror

will fall into a pit.

Anyone who climbs out of the pit

will be caught in a trap. ⁶ 

For the time is coming

when I will punish the people of Moab. ⁷ 

I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁸ 

Jeremiah 52:8

52:8 But the Babylonian army chased after the king. They caught up with Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, ⁹  and his entire army deserted him.

Amos 9:1

9:1 I saw the sovereign One ¹⁰  standing by the altar ¹¹  and he said, “Strike the tops of the support pillars, ¹²  so the thresholds shake!

Knock them down on the heads of all the people, ¹³ 

and I will kill the survivors ¹⁴  with the sword.

No one will be able to run away; ¹⁵ 

no one will be able to escape. ¹⁶ 

Amos 9:9-10

9:9 “For look, I am giving a command

and I will shake the family of Israel together with all the nations.

It will resemble a sieve being shaken,

when not even a pebble falls to the ground. ¹⁷ 

9:10 All the sinners among my people will die by the sword –

the ones who say, ‘Disaster will not come near, it will not confront us.’

[5:12]  ¹ sn The judgment of plague and famine comes from the covenant curse (Lev 26:25-26). As in v. 10, the city of Jerusalem is figuratively addressed here.

[5:12]  ² sn Judgment by plague, famine, and sword occurs in Jer 21:9; 27:13; Ezek 6:11, 12; 7:15.

[12:2]  ³ sn The book of Ezekiel frequently refers to the Israelites as a rebellious house (Ezek 2:5, 6, 8; 3:9, 26-27; 12:2-3, 9, 25; 17:12; 24:3).

[12:2]  ⁴ sn This verse is very similar to Isa 6:9-10.

[25:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “the sons of Ammon.”

[48:44]  ⁶ sn Jer 48:43-44a are in the main the same as Isa 24:17-18 which shows that the judgment was somewhat proverbial. For a very similar kind of argumentation see Amos 5:19; judgment is unavoidable.

[48:44]  ⁷ tn Heb “For I will bring upon her, even upon Moab, the year of her punishment.”

[48:44]  ⁸ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[52:8]  ⁹ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[9:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:1]  ¹¹ sn The altar is perhaps the altar at Bethel.

[9:1]  ¹² tn Or “the capitals.” The Hebrew singular form is collective.

[9:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “cut them off on the head of all of them.” The translation assumes the objective suffix on the verb refers to the tops of the pillars and that the following prepositional phrase refers to the people standing beneath. Another option is to take this phrase as referring to the pillars, in which case one could translate, “Knock all the tops of the pillars off.”

[9:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the remnant of them.” One could possibly translate, “every last one of them” (cf. NEB “to the last man”). This probably refers to those who survive the collapse of the temple, which may symbolize the northern kingdom.

[9:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a fugitive belonging to them will not run away.”

[9:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a survivor belonging to them will not escape.”

[9:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “like being shaken with a sieve, and a pebble does not fall to the ground.” The meaning of the Hebrew word צְרוֹר (tsÿror), translated “pebble,” is unclear here. In 2 Sam 17:13 it appears to refer to a stone. If it means “pebble,” then the sieve described in v. 6 allows the grain to fall into a basket while retaining the debris and pebbles. However, if one interprets צְרוֹר as a “kernel of grain” (cf. NASB, NIV, NKJV, NLT) then the sieve is constructed to retain the grain and allow the refuse and pebbles to fall to the ground. In either case, the simile supports the last statement in v. 8 by making it clear that God will distinguish between the righteous (the grain) and the wicked (the pebbles) when he judges, and will thereby preserve a remnant in Israel. Only the sinners will be destroyed (v. 10).