Isaiah 10:6

10:6 I sent him ¹  against a godless ²  nation,

I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, ³ 

to take plunder and to carry away loot,

to trample them down ⁴  like dirt in the streets.

Isaiah 10:2

10:2 to keep the poor from getting fair treatment,

and to deprive ⁵  the oppressed among my people of justice,

so they can steal what widows own,

and loot what belongs to orphans. ⁶ 

Isaiah 16:7-8

16:7 So Moab wails over its demise ⁷  –

they all wail!

Completely devastated, they moan

about what has happened to the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth. ⁸ 

16:8 For the fields of Heshbon are dried up,

as well as the vines of Sibmah.

The rulers of the nations trample all over its vines,

which reach Jazer and spread to the desert;

their shoots spread out and cross the sea.

Isaiah 16:2

16:2 At the fords of the Arnon ⁹ 

the Moabite women are like a bird

that flies about when forced from its nest. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 28:20-21

28:20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on,

and the blanket is too narrow to wrap around oneself. ¹¹ 

28:21 For the Lord will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim, ¹² 

he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon, ¹³ 

to accomplish his work,

his peculiar work,

to perform his task,

his strange task. ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 27:6-7

27:6 I have at this time placed all these nations of yours under the power ¹⁵  of my servant, ¹⁶  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have even made all the wild animals subject to him. ¹⁷  27:7 All nations must serve him and his son and grandson ¹⁸  until the time comes for his own nation to fall. ¹⁹  Then many nations and great kings will in turn subjugate Babylon. ²⁰ 

Ezekiel 5:1-4

5:1 “As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor. ²¹  Shave off some of the hair from your head and your beard. ²²  Then take scales and divide up the hair you cut off. 5:2 Burn a third of it in the fire inside the city when the days of your siege are completed. Take a third and slash it with a sword all around the city. Scatter a third to the wind, and I will unleash a sword behind them. 5:3 But take a few strands of hair ²³  from those and tie them in the ends of your garment. ²⁴  5:4 Again, take more of them and throw them into the fire, ²⁵  and burn them up. From there a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.

Ezekiel 29:18

29:18 “Son of man, King Nebuchadrezzar ²⁶  of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. ²⁷  Every head was rubbed bald and every shoulder rubbed bare; yet he and his army received no wages from Tyre for the work he carried out against it.

Ezekiel 29:20

29:20 I have given him the land of Egypt as his compensation for attacking Tyre ²⁸ , because they did it for me, declares the sovereign Lord.

[10:6]  ¹ sn Throughout this section singular forms are used to refer to Assyria; perhaps the king of Assyria is in view (see v. 12).

[10:6]  ² tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “impious”; NCV “separated from God.”

[10:6]  ³ tn Heb “and against the people of my anger I ordered him.”

[10:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “to make it [i.e., the people] a trampled place.”

[10:2]  ⁵ tn Or “rob” (ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV); KJV “take away the right from the poor.”

[10:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “so that widows are their plunder, and they can loot orphans.”

[16:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “So Moab wails for Moab.”

[16:7]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text has, “for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth you [masculine plural] moan, surely destroyed.” The “raisin cakes” could have cultic significance (see Hos 3:1), but the next verse focuses on agricultural disaster, so here the raisin cakes are mentioned as an example of the fine foods that are no longer available (see 2 Sam 6:19; Song 2:5) because the vines have been destroyed by the invader (see v. 8). Some prefer to take אֲשִׁישֵׁי (’ashishe, “raisin cakes of”) as “men of” (see HALOT 95 s.v. *אָשִׁישׁ; cf. NIV). The verb form תֶהְגּוּ (tehgu, “you moan”) is probably the result of dittography (note that the preceding word ends in tav [ת]) and should be emended to הגו (a perfect, third plural form), “they moan.”

[16:2]  ⁹ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[16:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “like a bird fleeing, thrust away [from] a nest, the daughters of Moab are [at] the fords of Arnon.”

[28:20]  ¹¹ sn The bed and blanket probably symbolize their false sense of security. A bed that is too short and a blanket that is too narrow may promise rest and protection from the cold, but in the end they are useless and disappointing. In the same way, their supposed treaty with death will prove useless and disappointing.

[28:21]  ¹² sn This probably alludes to David’s victory over the Philistines at Baal Perazim. See 2 Sam 5:20.

[28:21]  ¹³ sn This probably alludes to the Lord’s victory over the Canaanites at Gibeon, during the days of Joshua. See Josh 10:10-11.

[28:21]  ¹⁴ sn God’s judgment of his own people is called “his peculiar work” and “his strange task,” because he must deal with them the way he treated their enemies in the past.

[27:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “have given…into the hand of.”

[27:6]  ¹⁶ sn See the study note on 25:9 for the significance of the application of this term to Nebuchadnezzar.

[27:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I have given…to him to serve him.” The verb “give” in this syntactical situation is functioning like the Hiphil stem, i.e., as a causative. See Dan 1:9 for parallel usage. For the usage of “serve” meaning “be subject to” compare 2 Sam 22:44 and BDB 713 s.v. עָבַד 3.

[27:7]  ¹⁸ sn This is a figure that emphasizes that they will serve for a long time but not for an unlimited duration. The kingdom of Babylon lasted a relatively short time by ancient standards. It lasted from 605 b.c. when Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carchemish until the fall of Babylon in 538 b.c. There were only four rulers. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son, Evil Merodach (cf. 52:31), and two other rulers who were not descended from him.

[27:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “until the time of his land, even his, comes.” The independent pronoun is placed here for emphasis on the possessive pronoun. The word “time” is used by substitution for the things that are done in it (compare in the NT John 2:4; 7:30; 8:20 “his hour had not yet come”).

[27:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “him.” This is a good example of the figure of substitution where the person is put for his descendants or the nation or subject he rules. (See Gen 28:13-14 for another good example and Acts 22:7 in the NT.)

[5:1]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.

[5:1]  ²² tn Heb, “pass (it) over your head and your beard.”

[5:3]  ²³ tn Heb “from there a few in number.” The word “strands” has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ²⁴ sn Objects could be carried in the end of a garment (Hag 2:12).

[5:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “into the midst of” (so KJV, ASV). This phrase has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.

[29:18]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Nebuchadrezzar” is a variant and more correct spelling of Nebuchadnezzar, as the Babylonian name Nabu-kudurri-usur has an “r” rather than an “n” (so also in v. 19).

[29:18]  ²⁷ sn Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre from 585 to 571 b.c.

[29:20]  ²⁸ tn Heb “for which he worked,” referring to the assault on Tyre (v. 18).