Isaiah 14:4-6

14:4 you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words: ¹ 

“Look how the oppressor has met his end!

Hostility ²  has ceased!

14:5 The Lord has broken the club of the wicked,

the scepter of rulers.

14:6 It ³  furiously struck down nations

with unceasing blows. ⁴ 

It angrily ruled over nations,

oppressing them without restraint. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 4:7

4:7 Like a lion that has come up from its lair ⁶ 

the one who destroys nations has set out from his home base. ⁷ 

He is coming out to lay your land waste.

Your cities will become ruins and lie uninhabited.

Jeremiah 6:22-23

6:22 “This is what the Lord says:

‘Beware! An army ⁸  is coming from a land in the north.

A mighty nation is stirring into action in faraway parts of the earth.

6:23 Its soldiers are armed with bows and spears.

They are cruel and show no mercy.

They sound like the roaring sea

as they ride forth on their horses.

Lined up in formation like men going into battle

to attack you, Daughter Zion.’” ⁹ 

Jeremiah 51:20-21

51:20 “Babylon, ¹⁰  you are my war club, ¹¹ 

my weapon for battle.

I used you to smash nations. ¹² 

I used you to destroy kingdoms.

51:21 I used you to smash horses and their riders. ¹³ 

I used you to smash chariots and their drivers.

Habakkuk 1:6-10

1:6 Look, I am about to empower ¹⁴  the Babylonians,

that ruthless ¹⁵  and greedy ¹⁶  nation.

They sweep across the surface ¹⁷  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. ¹⁸ 

1:8 Their horses are faster than leopards

and more alert ¹⁹  than wolves in the desert. ²⁰ 

Their horses ²¹  gallop, ²² 

their horses come a great distance;

like a vulture ²³  they swoop down quickly to devour their prey. ²⁴ 

1:9 All of them intend ²⁵  to do violence;

every face is determined. ²⁶ 

They take prisoners as easily as one scoops up sand. ²⁷ 

1:10 They mock kings

and laugh at rulers.

They laugh at every fortified city;

they build siege ramps ²⁸  and capture them.

[14:4]  ¹ tn Heb “you will lift up this taunt over the king of Babylon, saying.”

[14:4]  ² tc The word in the Hebrew text (מַדְהֵבָה, madhevah) is unattested elsewhere and of uncertain meaning. Many (following the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a) assume a dalet-resh (ד-ר) confusion and emend the form to מַרְהֵבָה (marhevah, “onslaught”). See HALOT 548 s.v. II *מִדָּה and HALOT 633 s.v. *מַרְהֵבָה.

[14:6]  ³ tn Or perhaps, “he” (cf. KJV; NCV “the king of Babylon”). The present translation understands the referent of the pronoun (“it”) to be the “club/scepter” of the preceding line.

[14:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “it was striking down nations in fury [with] a blow without ceasing.” The participle (“striking down”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.

[14:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “it was ruling in anger nations [with] oppression without restraint.” The participle (“ruling”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.

[4:7]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “his place.”

[6:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “people.”

[6:23]  ⁹ sn Jerualem is personified as a young maiden helpless before enemy attackers.

[51:20]  ¹⁰ tn Or “Media.” The referent is not identified in the text; the text merely says “you are my war club.” Commentators in general identify the referent as Babylon because Babylon has been referred to as a hammer in 50:23 and Babylon is referred to in v. 25 as a “destroying mountain” (compare v. 20d). However, S. R. Driver, Jeremiah, 317, n. c maintains that v. 24 speaks against this. It does seem a little inconsistent to render the vav consecutive perfect at the beginning of v. 24 as future while rendering those in vv. 20b-23 as customary past. However, change in person from second masculine singular (vv. 20b-23) to the second masculine plural in “before your very eyes” and its position at the end of the verse after “which they did in Zion” argue that a change in address occurs there. Driver has to ignore the change in person and take “before your eyes” with the verb “repay” at the beginning to maintain the kind of consistency he seeks. The vav (ו) consecutive imperfect can be used for either the customary past (GKC 335-36 §112.dd with cross reference back to GKC 331-32 §112.e) or the future (GKC 334 §112.x). Hence the present translation has followed the majority of commentaries (and English versions like TEV, NCV, CEV, NIrV) in understanding the referent as Babylon and v. 24 being a transition to vv. 25-26 (cf., e.g., J. Bright, Jeremiah [AB], 356-57, and J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 756-57). If the referent is understood as Media then the verbs in vv. 20-23 should all be translated as futures. See also the translator’s note on v. 24.

[51:20]  ¹¹ tn This Hebrew word (מַפֵּץ, mappets) only occurs here in the Hebrew Bible, but its meaning is assured from the use of the verbs that follow which are from the same root (נָפַץ, nafats) and there is a cognate noun מַפָּץ (mappats) that occurs in Ezek 9:2 in the sense of weapon of “smashing.”

[51:20]  ¹² tn Heb “I smash nations with you.” This same structure is repeated throughout the series in vv. 20c-23.

[51:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “horse and its rider.” However, the terms are meant as generic or collective singulars (cf. GKC 395 §123.b) and are thus translated by the plural. The same thing is true of all the terms in vv. 21-23b. The terms in vv. 20c-d, 23c are plural.

[1:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “raise up” (so KJV, ASV).

[1:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “bitter.” Other translation options for this word in this context include “fierce” (NASB, NRSV); “savage” (NEB); or “grim.”

[1:6]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the open spaces.”

[1:7]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Or “horsemen,” “cavalry.”

[1:8]  ²² 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]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ tn Heb “come.”

[1:9]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and he gathers like sand, prisoners.”

[1:10]  ²⁸ 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.