Isaiah 33:1

The Lord Will Restore Zion

33:1 The destroyer is as good as dead, ¹ 

you who have not been destroyed!

The deceitful one is as good as dead, ² 

the one whom others have not deceived!

When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed;

when you finish ³  deceiving, others will deceive you!

Isaiah 47:6

47:6 I was angry at my people;

I defiled my special possession

and handed them over to you.

You showed them no mercy; ⁴ 

you even placed a very heavy burden on old people. ⁵ 

Isaiah 47:2

47:2 Pick up millstones and grind flour!

Remove your veil,

strip off your skirt,

expose your legs,

cross the streams!

Isaiah 36:17

36:17 until I come and take you to a land just like your own – a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

Jeremiah 25:9

25:9 So I, the Lord, affirm that ⁶  I will send for all the peoples of the north ⁷  and my servant, ⁸  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and all the nations that surround it. I will utterly destroy ⁹  this land, its inhabitants, and all the nations that surround it ¹⁰  and make them everlasting ruins. ¹¹  I will make them objects of horror and hissing scorn. ¹² 

Daniel 7:19-21

7:19 “Then I wanted to know the meaning ¹³  of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others. It was very dreadful, with two rows of iron teeth and bronze claws, and it devoured, crushed, and trampled anything that was left with its feet. 7:20 I also wanted to know ¹⁴  the meaning of the ten horns on its head, and of that other horn which came up and before which three others fell. This was the horn that had eyes ¹⁵  and a mouth speaking arrogant things, whose appearance was more formidable than the others. ¹⁶  7:21 While I was watching, that horn began to wage war against the holy ones and was defeating ¹⁷  them,

James 2:13

2:13 For judgment is merciless for the one who has shown no mercy. But mercy triumphs over ¹⁸  judgment.

[33:1]  ¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the destroyer.”

[33:1]  ² tn Heb “and the deceitful one”; NAB, NIV “O traitor”; NRSV “you treacherous one.” In the parallel structure הוֹי (hoy, “woe [to]”) does double duty.

[33:1]  ³ tc The form in the Hebrew text appears to derive from an otherwise unattested verb נָלָה (nalah). The translation follows the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a in reading ככלתך, a Piel infinitival form from the verbal root כָּלָה (kalah), meaning “finish.”

[47:6]  ⁴ tn Or “compassion.”

[47:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “on the old you made very heavy your yoke.”

[25:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[25:9]  ⁷ sn The many allusions to trouble coming from the north are now clarified: it is the armies of Babylon which included within it contingents from many nations. See 1:14, 15; 4:6; 6:1, 22; 10:22; 13:20 for earlier allusions.

[25:9]  ⁸ sn Nebuchadnezzar is called the Lord’s servant also in Jer 27:6; 43:10. He was the Lord’s servant in that he was the agent used by the Lord to punish his disobedient people. Assyria was earlier referred to as the Lord’s “rod” (Isa 10:5-6) and Cyrus is called his “shepherd” and his “anointed” (Isa 44:28; 45:1). P. C. Craigie, P. H. Kelley, and J. F. Drinkard (Jeremiah 1-25 [WBC], 364) make the interesting observation that the terms here are very similar to the terms in v. 4. The people of Judah ignored the servants, the prophets, he sent to turn them away from evil. So he will send other servants whom they cannot ignore.

[25:9]  ⁹ tn The word used here was used in the early years of Israel’s conquest for the action of killing all the men, women, and children in the cities of Canaan, destroying all their livestock, and burning their cities down. This policy was intended to prevent Israel from being corrupted by paganism (Deut 7:2; 20:17-18; Josh 6:18, 21). It was to be extended to any city that led Israel away from worshiping God (Deut 13:15) and any Israelite who brought an idol into his house (Deut 7:26). Here the policy is being directed against Judah as well as against her neighbors because of her persistent failure to heed God’s warnings through the prophets. For further usage of this term in application to foreign nations in the book of Jeremiah see 50:21, 26; 51:3.

[25:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “will utterly destroy them.” The referent (this land, its inhabitants, and the nations surrounding it) has been specified in the translation for clarity, since the previous “them” referred to Nebuchadnezzar and his armies.

[25:9]  ¹¹ sn The Hebrew word translated “everlasting” is the word often translated “eternal.” However, it sometimes has a more limited time reference. For example it refers to the lifetime of a person who became a “lasting slave” to another person (see Exod 21:6; Deut 15:17). It is also used to refer to the long life wished for a king (1 Kgs 1:31; Neh 2:3). The time frame here is to be qualified at least with reference to Judah and Jerusalem as seventy years (see 29:10-14 and compare v. 12).

[25:9]  ¹² tn Heb “I will make them an object of horror and a hissing and everlasting ruins.” The sentence has been broken up to separate the last object from the first two which are of slightly different connotation, i.e., they denote the reaction to the latter.

[7:19]  ¹³ tn Aram “to make certain.”

[7:20]  ¹⁴ tn The words “I also wanted to know” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:20]  ¹⁵ tc The conjunction in the MT before “eyes” is odd. The ancient versions do not seem to presuppose it.

[7:20]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “greater than its companions.”

[7:21]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “prevailing against” (KJV and ASV both similar); NASB “overpowering them”; TEV “conquered them.”

[2:13]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “boasts against, exults over,” in victory.