Isaiah 19:16

19:16 At that time ¹  the Egyptians ²  will be like women. ³  They will tremble and fear because the Lord who commands armies brandishes his fist against them. ⁴ 

Exodus 15:14-16

15:14 The nations will hear ⁵  and tremble;

anguish ⁶  will seize ⁷  the inhabitants of Philistia.

15:15 Then the chiefs of Edom will be terrified, ⁸ 

trembling will seize ⁹  the leaders of Moab,

and the inhabitants of Canaan will shake.

15:16 Fear and dread ¹⁰  will fall ¹¹  on them;

by the greatness ¹²  of your arm they will be as still as stone ¹³ 

until ¹⁴  your people pass by, O Lord,

until the people whom you have bought ¹⁵  pass by.

Joshua 2:9

2:9 She said to the men, “I know the Lord is handing this land over to you. ¹⁶  We are absolutely terrified of you, ¹⁷  and all who live in the land are cringing before ¹⁸  you. ¹⁹ 

Joshua 2:11

2:11 When we heard the news we lost our courage and no one could even breathe for fear of you. ²⁰  For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below!

Joshua 2:24

2:24 They told Joshua, “Surely the Lord is handing over all the land to us! ²¹  All who live in the land are cringing before us!” ²² 

Jeremiah 46:5

46:5 What do I see?” ²³  says the Lord. ²⁴ 

“The soldiers ²⁵  are terrified.

They are retreating.

They have been defeated.

They are overcome with terror; ²⁶ 

they desert quickly

without looking back.

Jeremiah 46:15-16

46:15 Why will your soldiers ²⁷  be defeated? ²⁸ 

They will not stand because I, the Lord, will thrust ²⁹  them down.

46:16 I will make many stumble. ³⁰ 

They will fall over one another in their hurry to flee. ³¹ 

They will say, ‘Get up!

Let’s go back to our own people.

Let’s go back to our homelands

because the enemy is coming to destroy us.’ ³² 

[19:16]  ¹ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV), likewise at the beginning of vv. 18 and 19.

[19:16]  ² tn Heb “Egypt,” which stands by metonymy for the country’s inhabitants.

[19:16]  ³ sn As the rest of the verse indicates, the point of the simile is that the Egyptians will be relatively weak physically and will wilt in fear before the Lord’s onslaught.

[19:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he will tremble and be afraid because of the brandishing of the hand of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts], which he brandishes against him.” Since according to the imagery here the Lord’s “hand” is raised as a weapon against the Egyptians, the term “fist” has been used in the translation.

[15:14]  ⁵ tn This verb is a prophetic perfect, assuming that the text means what it said and this song was sung at the Sea. So all these countries were yet to hear of the victory.

[15:14]  ⁶ tn The word properly refers to “pangs” of childbirth. When the nations hear, they will be terrified.

[15:14]  ⁷ tn The verb is again a prophetic perfect.

[15:15]  ⁸ tn This is a prophetic perfect.

[15:15]  ⁹ tn This verb is imperfect tense.

[15:16]  ¹⁰ tn The two words can form a nominal hendiadys, “a dreadful fear,” though most English versions retain the two separate terms.

[15:16]  ¹¹ tn The form is an imperfect.

[15:16]  ¹² tn The adjective is in construct form and governs the noun “arm” (“arm” being the anthropomorphic expression for what God did). See GKC 428 §132.c.

[15:16]  ¹³ sn For a study of the words for fear, see N. Waldman, “A Comparative Note on Exodus 15:14-16,” JQR 66 (1976): 189-92.

[15:16]  ¹⁴ tn Clauses beginning with עַד (’ad) express a limit that is not absolute, but only relative, beyond which the action continues (GKC 446-47 §138.g).

[15:16]  ¹⁵ tn The verb קָנָה (qanah) here is the verb “acquire, purchase,” and probably not the homonym “to create, make” (see Gen 4:1; Deut 32:6; and Prov 8:22).

[2:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “has given the land to you.” Rahab’s statement uses the Hebrew perfect, suggesting certitude.

[2:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “terror of you has fallen upon us.”

[2:9]  ¹⁸ tn Or “melting away because of.”

[2:9]  ¹⁹ tn Both of these statements are actually subordinated to “I know” in the Hebrew text, which reads, “I know that the Lord…and that terror of you…and that all the inhabitants….”

[2:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “And we heard and our heart[s] melted and there remained no longer breath in a man because of you.”

[2:24]  ²¹ tn Heb “Surely the Lord has given into our hand all the land.” The report by the spies uses the Hebrew perfect, suggesting certitude.

[2:24]  ²² tn Heb “are melting away because of us.”

[46:5]  ²³ tn Heb “Why do I see?” The rendering is that of J. A. Thompson (Jeremiah [NICOT], 685, 88) and J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 301; TEV; NIV). The question is not asking for information but is expressing surprise or wonder (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 951).

[46:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.” This phrase, which is part of a messenger formula (i.e., that the words that are spoken are from him), are actually at the end of the verse. They have been put here for better poetic balance and to better identify the “I.”

[46:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Their soldiers.” These words are actually at the midpoint of the stanza as the subject of the third of the five verbs. However, as G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, and T. G. Smothers (Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 291) note, this is the subject of all five verbs “are terrified,” “are retreating,” “have been defeated,” “have run away,” and “have not looked back.” The subject is put at the front to avoid an unidentified “they.”

[46:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “terror is all around.”

[46:15]  ²⁷ tn The word translated “soldiers” (אַבִּירִים, ’abbirim) is not the Hebrew word that has been used of soldiers elsewhere in these oracles (גִּבּוֹרִים, gibborim). It is an adjective used as a noun that can apply to animals, i.e., of a bull (Ps 50:13) or a stallion (Judg 5:22). Moreover, the form is masculine plural and the verbs are singular. Hence, many modern commentaries and English versions follow the redivision of the first line presupposed by the Greek version, “Apis has fled” (נָס חַף, nas khaf) and see this as a reference to the bull god of Memphis. However, the noun is used of soldiers in Lam 1:15 and the plural could be the distributive plural, i.e., each and every one (cf. GKC 464 §145.l and compare usage in Gen 27:29).

[46:15]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew word used here only occurs here (in the Niphal) and in Prov 28:3 (in the Qal) where it refers to a rain that beats down grain. That idea would fit nicely with the idea of the soldiers being beaten down, or defeated. It is possible that the rarity of this verb (versus the common verb נוּס, nus, “flee”) and the ready identification of Apis with the bull calf (אַבִּיר, ’abbir) has led to the reading of the Greek text (so C. von Orelli, Jeremiah, 327). The verbs in this verse and the following are in the perfect tense but should be understood as prophetic perfects since the text is dealing with what will happen when Nebuchadnezzar comes into Egypt. The text of vv. 18-24 shows a greater mixture with some perfects and some imperfects, sometimes even within the same verse (e.g., v. 22).

[46:15]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the Lord will thrust them down.” However, the Lord is speaking (cf. clearly in v. 18), so the first person is adopted for the sake of consistency. This has been a consistent problem in the book of Jeremiah where the prophet is so identified with the word of the Lord that he sometimes uses the first person and sometimes the third. It creates confusion for the average reader who is trying to follow the flow of the argument and has been shifted to the first person like this on a number of occasions. TEV and CEV have generally adopted the same policy as have some other modern English versions at various points.

[46:16]  ³⁰ tn Heb “he multiplied the one stumbling.” For the first person reference see the preceding translator’s note.

[46:16]  ³¹ tc The words “in their hurry to flee” are not in the text but appear to be necessary to clarify the point that the stumbling and falling here is not the same as that in vv. 6, 12 where they occur in the context of defeat and destruction. Reference here appears to be to the mercenary soldiers who in their hurried flight to escape stumble over one another and fall. This is fairly clear from the literal translation “he multiplies the stumbling one. Also [= and] a man falls against a man and they say [probably = “saying”; an epexegetical use of the vav (ו) consecutive (IBHS 551 §33.2.2a, and see Exod 2:10 as a parallel)] ‘Get up! Let’s go…’” A reference to the flight of the mercenaries is also seen in v. 21. Many of the modern commentaries and a few of the modern English versions follow the Greek text and read vv. 15a-16 very differently. The Greek reads “Why has Apis fled from you? Your choice calf [i.e., Apis] has not remained. For the Lord has paralyzed him. And your multitudes have fainted and fallen; and each one said to his neighbor…” (reading רֻבְּךָ כָּשַׁל גַּם־נָפַל וַיֹּאמְרוּ אִישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵהוּ instead of כּוֹשֵׁל הִרְבָּה גַּם־נָפַל אִישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵהוּ). One would expect אִישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵהוּ (’ish ’el-re’ehu) to go with וַיֹּאמְרוּ (vayyo’mÿru) because it is idiomatic in this expression (cf., e.g., Gen 11:3; Judg 6:29). However, אִישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵהוּ (’ish ’el-re’ehu) is also found with singular verbs as here in Exod 22:9; 33:11; 1 Sam 10:11. There is no doubt that the Hebrew text is the more difficult and thus probably original. The reading of the Greek version is not supported by any other text or version and looks like an attempt to smooth out a somewhat awkward Hebrew original.

[46:16]  ³² tn Heb “to our native lands from before the sword of the oppressor.” The compound preposition “from before” is regularly used in a causal sense (see BDB 818 s.v. פָּנֶה 6.a, b, c). The “sword” is again interpreted as a figure for the destructive power of an enemy army.