Isaiah 2:19

2:19 They ¹  will go into caves in the rocky cliffs

and into holes in the ground, ² 

trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord ³ 

and his royal splendor,

when he rises up to terrify the earth. ⁴ 

Isaiah 2:21

2:21 so they themselves can go into the crevices of the rocky cliffs

and the openings under the rocky overhangs, ⁵ 

trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord ⁶ 

and his royal splendor,

when he rises up to terrify the earth. ⁷ 

Isaiah 2:2

2:2 In the future ⁸ 

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure ⁹ 

as the most important of mountains,

and will be the most prominent of hills. ¹⁰ 

All the nations will stream to it,

Isaiah 33:11

33:11 You conceive straw, ¹¹ 

you give birth to chaff;

your breath is a fire that destroys you. ¹² 

Jeremiah 16:16

16:16 But for now I, the Lord, say: ¹³  “I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks. ¹⁴ 

Micah 7:17

7:17 They will lick the dust like a snake,

like serpents crawling on the ground. ¹⁵ 

They will come trembling from their strongholds

to the Lord our God; ¹⁶ 

they will be terrified ¹⁷  of you. ¹⁸ 

[2:19]  ¹ tn The identity of the grammatical subject is unclear. The “idols” could be the subject; they will “go” into the caves and holes when the idolaters throw them there in their haste to escape God’s judgment (see vv. 20-21). The picture of the idols, which represent the foreign deities worshiped by the people, fleeing from the Lord would be highly polemical and fit the overall mood of the chapter. However it seems more likely that the idolaters themselves are the subject, for v. 10 uses similar language in sarcastically urging them to run from judgment.

[2:19]  ² tn Heb “dust”; ASV “into the holes of the earth.”

[2:19]  ³ tn Heb “from the dread of the Lord,” that is, from the dread that he produces in the objects of his judgment.” The words “trying to escape” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:19]  ⁴ tn Or “land.” It is not certain if these verses are describing the judgment of Judah (see vv. 6-9) or a more universal judgment on all proud men.

[2:21]  ⁵ sn The precise point of vv. 20-21 is not entirely clear. Are they taking the idols into their hiding places with them, because they are so attached to their man-made images? Or are they discarding the idols along the way as they retreat into the darkest places they can find? In either case it is obvious that the gods are incapable of helping them.

[2:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “from the dread of the Lord,” that is, from the dread that he produces in the objects of his judgment.” The words “trying to escape” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:21]  ⁷ tn Or “land.” It is not certain if these verses are describing the judgment of Judah (see vv. 6-9) or a more universal judgment on all proud men. Almost all English versions translate “earth,” taking this to refer to universal judgment.

[2:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the end of the days.” This phrase may refer generally to the future, or more technically to the final period of history. See BDB 31 s.v. ַאחֲרִית. The verse begins with a verb that functions as a “discourse particle” and is not translated. In numerous places throughout the OT, the “to be” verb with a prefixed conjunction (וְהָיָה [vÿhayah] and וַיְהִי [vayÿhi]) occurs in this fashion to introduce a circumstantial clause and does not require translation.

[2:2]  ⁹ tn Or “be established” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[2:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “as the chief of the mountains, and will be lifted up above the hills.” The image of Mount Zion being elevated above other mountains and hills pictures the prominence it will attain in the future.

[33:11]  ¹¹ tn The second person verb and pronominal forms in this verse are plural. The hostile nations are the addressed, as the next verse makes clear.

[33:11]  ¹² sn The hostile nations’ plans to destroy God’s people will come to nothing; their hostility will end up being self-destructive.

[16:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” The Lord has been speaking; the first person has been utilized in translation to avoid a shift which might create confusion.

[16:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Behold I am about to send for many fishermen and they will catch them. And after that I will send for many hunters and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the cracks in the rocks.”

[7:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “like crawling things on the ground.” The parallelism suggests snakes are in view.

[7:17]  ¹⁶ tn Thetranslationassumesthatthe phrase אֶל־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ (’el-yÿhvah ’elohenu, “to the Lord our God”) goes with what precedes. Another option is to take the phrase with the following verb, in which case one could translate, “to the Lord our God they will turn in dread.”

[7:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “they will be in dread and afraid.”

[7:17]  ¹⁸ tn The Lord is addressed directly using the second person.