Ezra 9:8

9:8 “But now briefly ¹  we have received mercy from the Lord our God, in that he has left us a remnant and has given us a secure position ²  in his holy place. Thus our God has enlightened our eyes ³  and has given us a little relief in our time of servitude.

Deuteronomy 32:26-27

The Weakness of Other Gods

32:26 “I said, ‘I want to cut them in pieces. ⁴ 

I want to make people forget they ever existed.

32:27 But I fear the reaction ⁵  of their enemies,

for ⁶  their adversaries would misunderstand

and say, “Our power is great, ⁷ 

and the Lord has not done all this!”’

Isaiah 1:9

1:9 If the Lord who commands armies ⁸  had not left us a few survivors,

we would have quickly become like Sodom, ⁹ 

we would have become like Gomorrah.

Jeremiah 46:28

46:28 I, the Lord, tell ¹⁰  you not to be afraid,

you descendants of Jacob, my servant,

for I am with you.

Though I completely destroy all the nations where I scatter you,

I will not completely destroy you.

I will indeed discipline you but only in due measure.

I will not allow you to go entirely unpunished.” ¹¹ 

Ezekiel 6:8

6:8 “‘But I will spare some of you. Some will escape the sword when you are scattered in foreign lands. ¹² 

[9:8]  ¹ tn Heb “according to a little moment.”

[9:8]  ² tn Heb “a peg” or “tent peg.” The imagery behind this word is drawn from the experience of nomads who put down pegs as they pitched their tents and made camp after times of travel.

[9:8]  ³ tn Heb “to cause our eyes to shine.” The expression is a figure of speech for “to revive.” See DCH 1:160 s.v. אור Hi.7.

[32:26]  ⁴ tc The LXX reads “I said I would scatter them.” This reading is followed by a number of English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT, CEV).

[32:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “anger.”

[32:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “lest.”

[32:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “Our hand is high.” Cf. NAB “Our own hand won the victory.”

[1:9]  ⁸ tn Traditionally, “the Lord of hosts.” The title pictures God as the sovereign king who has at his disposal a multitude of attendants, messengers, and warriors to do his bidding. In some contexts, like this one, the military dimension of his rulership is highlighted. In this case, the title pictures him as one who leads armies into battle against his enemies.

[1:9]  ⁹ tc The translation assumes that כִּמְעָט (kim’at, “quickly,” literally, “like a little”) goes with what follows, contrary to the MT accents, which take it with what precedes. In this case, one could translate the preceding line, “If the Lord who commands armies had not left us a few survivors.” If כִּמְעָט goes with the preceding line (following the MT accents), this expression highlights the idea that there would only be a few survivors (H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:20; H. Zobel, TDOT 8:456). Israel would not be almost like Sodom but exactly like Sodom.

[46:28]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” Again the first person is adopted because the Lord is speaking and the indirect quotation is used to avoid an embedded quotation with quotation marks on either side.

[46:28]  ¹¹ tn The translation “entirely unpunished” is intended to reflect the emphatic construction of the infinitive absolute before the finite verb.

[6:8]  ¹² tn Heb “when you have fugitives from the sword among the nations, when you are scattered among the lands.”