Jeremiah 17:11

17:11 The person who gathers wealth by unjust means

is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them. ¹ 

Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains. ² 

At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool.” ³ 

Jeremiah 50:27

50:27 Kill all her soldiers! ⁴ 

Let them be slaughtered! ⁵ 

They are doomed, ⁶  for their day of reckoning ⁷  has come,

the time for them to be punished.”

Jeremiah 50:31

50:31 “Listen! I am opposed to you, you proud city,” ⁸ 

says the Lord God who rules over all. ⁹ 

“Indeed, ¹⁰  your day of reckoning ¹¹  has come,

the time when I will punish you. ¹² 

Genesis 6:13

6:13 So God said ¹³  to Noah, “I have decided that all living creatures must die, ¹⁴  for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Now I am about to destroy ¹⁵  them and the earth.

Lamentations 4:18

צ (Tsade)

4:18 Our enemies ¹⁶  hunted us down at every step ¹⁷ 

so that we could not walk about in our streets.

Our end drew near, our days were numbered, ¹⁸ 

for our end had come!

Ezekiel 7:2-12

7:2 “You, son of man – this is what the sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land! ¹⁹  7:3 The end is now upon you, and I will release my anger against you; I will judge ²⁰  you according to your behavior, ²¹  I will hold you accountable for ²²  all your abominable practices. 7:4 My eye will not pity you; I will not spare ²³  you. ²⁴  For I will hold you responsible for your behavior, ²⁵  and you will suffer the consequences of your abominable practices. ²⁶  Then you will know that I am the Lord!

7:5 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: A disaster ²⁷  – a one-of-a-kind ²⁸  disaster – is coming! 7:6 An end comes ²⁹  – the end comes! ³⁰  It has awakened against you ³¹  – the end is upon you! Look, it is coming! ³²  7:7 Doom is coming upon you who live in the land! The time is coming, the day ³³  is near. There are sounds of tumult, not shouts of joy, on the mountains. ³⁴  7:8 Soon now I will pour out my rage ³⁵  on you; I will fully vent my anger against you. I will judge you according to your behavior. I will hold you accountable for all your abominable practices. 7:9 My eye will not pity you; I will not spare ³⁶  you. For your behavior I will hold you accountable, ³⁷  and you will suffer the consequences of your abominable practices. Then you will know that it is I, the Lord, who is striking you. ³⁸ 

7:10 “Look, the day! Look, it is coming! Doom has gone out! The staff has budded, pride has blossomed! 7:11 Violence ³⁹  has grown into a staff that supports wickedness. Not one of them will be left ⁴⁰  – not from their crowd, not from their wealth, not from their prominence. ⁴¹  7:12 The time has come; the day has struck! The customer should not rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for divine wrath ⁴²  comes against their whole crowd.

Daniel 5:26

5:26 This is the interpretation of the words: ⁴³  As for mene ⁴⁴  – God has numbered your kingdom’s days and brought it to an end.

Amos 8:2

8:2 He said, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end ⁴⁵  has come for my people Israel! I will no longer overlook their sins. ⁴⁶ 

Amos 8:1

More Visions and Messages of Judgment

8:1 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ⁴⁷  a basket of summer fruit. ⁴⁸ 

Amos 4:7

4:7 “I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. ⁴⁹ 

I gave rain to one city, but not to another.

One field ⁵⁰  would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.

[17:11]  ¹ tn The meaning of this line is somewhat uncertain. The word translated “broods over” occurs only here and Isa 34:15. It is often defined on the basis of an Aramaic cognate which means “to gather” with an extended meaning of “to gather together under her to hatch.” Many commentators go back to a Rabbinic explanation that the partridge steals the eggs of other birds and hatches them out only to see the birds depart when they recognize that she is not the mother. Modern studies question the validity of this zoologically. Moreover, W. L. Holladay contests the validity on the basis of the wording “and she does hatch them” (Heb “bring them to birth”). See W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:498, and see also P. C. Craigie, P. H. Kelley, J. F. Drinkard, Jeremiah 1-25 (WBC), 229. The point of the comparison is that the rich gather their wealth but they do not get to see the fruits of it.

[17:11]  ² tn The Hebrew text merely says “it.” But the antecedent might be ambiguous in English so the reference to wealth gained by unjust means is here reiterated for clarity.

[17:11]  ³ tn Heb “he will be [= prove to be] a fool.”

[50:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “Kill all her young bulls.” Commentators are almost universally agreed that the reference to “young bulls” is figurative here for the princes and warriors (cf. BDB 831 s.v. פַּר 2.f, which compares Isa 34:7 and Ezek 39:18). This is virtually certain because of the reference to the time coming for them to be punished; this would scarcely fit literal bulls. For the verb rendered “kill” here see the translator’s note on v. 21.

[50:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “Let them go down to the slaughter.”

[50:27]  ⁶ tn Or “How terrible it will be for them”; Heb “Woe to them.” See the study note on 22:13 and compare the usage in 23:1; 48:1.

[50:27]  ⁷ tn The words “of reckoning” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[50:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “Behold, I am against you, proud one.” The word “city” is not in the text but it is generally agreed that the word is being used as a personification of the city which had “proudly defied” the Lord (v. 29). The word “city” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[50:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord Yahweh of armies.” For the rendering of this title and an explanation of its significance see the study note on 2:19.

[50:31]  ¹⁰ tn The particle כִּי (ki) is probably asseverative here (so J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 739, n. 13, and cf. BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e for other examples). This has been a common use of this particle in the book of Jeremiah.

[50:31]  ¹¹ tn The words “of reckoning” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[50:31]  ¹² sn Compare v. 27.

[6:13]  ¹³ sn On the divine style utilized here, see R. Lapointe, “The Divine Monologue as a Channel of Revelation,” CBQ 32 (1970): 161-81.

[6:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the end of all flesh is coming [or “has come”] before me.” (The verb form is either a perfect or a participle.) The phrase “end of all flesh” occurs only here. The term “end” refers here to the end of “life,” as v. 3 and the following context (which describes how God destroys all flesh) make clear. The statement “the end has come” occurs in Ezek 7:2, 6, where it is used of divine judgment. The phrase “come before” occurs in Exod 28:30, 35; 34:34; Lev 15:14; Num 27:17; 1 Sam 18:13, 16; 2 Sam 19:8; 20:8; 1 Kgs 1:23, 28, 32; Ezek 46:9; Pss 79:11 (groans come before God); 88:3 (a prayer comes before God); 100:2; 119:170 (prayer comes before God); Lam 1:22 (evil doing comes before God); Esth 1:19; 8:1; 9:25; 1 Chr 16:29. The expression often means “have an audience with” or “appear before.” But when used metaphorically, it can mean “get the attention of” or “prompt a response.” This is probably the sense in Gen 6:13. The necessity of ending the life of all flesh on earth is an issue that has gotten the attention of God. The term “end” may even be a metonymy for that which has prompted it – violence (see the following clause).

[6:13]  ¹⁵ tn The participle, especially after הִנֵּה (hinneh) has an imminent future nuance. The Hiphil of שָׁחָת (shakhat) here has the sense “to destroy” (in judgment). Note the wordplay involving this verb in vv. 11-13: The earth is “ruined” because all flesh has acted in a morally “corrupt” manner. Consequently, God will “destroy” all flesh (the referent of the suffix “them”) along with the ruined earth. They had ruined themselves and the earth with violence, and now God would ruin them with judgment. For other cases where “earth” occurs as the object of the Hiphil of שָׁחָת, see 1 Sam 6:5; 1 Chr 20:1; Jer 36:29; 51:25.

[4:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they”; this has been specified in the translation as “our enemies” for clarity.

[4:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “they hunted our steps.”

[4:18]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “our days were full.”

[7:2]  ¹⁹ tn Or “earth.” Elsewhere the expression “four corners of the earth” figuratively refers to the whole earth (Isa 11:12).

[7:3]  ²⁰ tn Or “punish” (cf. BDB 1047 s.v. שָׁפַט 3.c).

[7:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “ways.”

[7:3]  ²² tn Heb “I will place on you.”

[7:4]  ²³ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.

[7:4]  ²⁴ tn The pronoun “you” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

[7:4]  ²⁵ tn “I will set your behavior on your head.”

[7:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and your abominable practices will be among you.”

[7:5]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew term often refers to moral evil (see Ezek 6:10; 14:22), but in many contexts it refers to calamity or disaster, sometimes as punishment for evil behavior.

[7:5]  ²⁸ tc So most Hebrew mss; many Hebrew mss read “disaster after disaster” (cf. NAB, NCV, NRSV, NLT).

[7:6]  ²⁹ tn Or “has come.”

[7:6]  ³⁰ tn Or “has come.”

[7:6]  ³¹ tc With different vowels the verb rendered “it has awakened” would be the noun “the end,” as in “the end is upon you.” The verb would represent a phonetic wordplay. The noun by virtue of repetition would continue to reinforce the idea of the end. Whether verb or noun, this is the only instance to occur with this preposition.

[7:6]  ³² tc For this entire verse, the LXX has only “the end is come.”

[7:7]  ³³ sn The day refers to the day of the Lord, a concept which, beginning in Amos 5:18-20, became a common theme in the OT prophetic books. It refers to a time when the Lord intervenes in human affairs as warrior and judge.

[7:7]  ³⁴ tc The LXX reads “neither tumult nor birth pains.” The LXX varies at many points from the MT in this chapter. The context suggests that one or both of these would be present on a day of judgment, thus favoring the MT. Perhaps more significant is the absence of “the mountains” in the LXX. If the ר (resh) in הָרִים (harim, “the mountains” not “on the mountains”) were a ד (dalet), which is a common letter confusion, then it could be from the same root as the previous word, הֵד (hed), meaning “the day is near – with destruction, not joyful shouting.”

[7:8]  ³⁵ tn The expression “to pour out rage” also occurs in Ezek 9:8; 14:19; 20:8, 13, 21; 22:31; 30:15; 36:18.

[7:9]  ³⁶ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.

[7:9]  ³⁷ tn Heb “According to your behavior I will place on you.”

[7:9]  ³⁸ tn The MT lacks “you.” It has been added for clarification.

[7:11]  ³⁹ tn Heb “the violence.”

[7:11]  ⁴⁰ tc The LXX reads “he will crush the wicked rod without confusion or haste.”

[7:11]  ⁴¹ tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.

[7:12]  ⁴² tn Heb “wrath.” Context clarifies that God’s wrath is in view.

[5:26]  ⁴³ tn Or “word” or “event.” See HALOT 1915 s.v. מִלָּה.

[5:26]  ⁴⁴ tn The Aramaic term מְנֵא (mÿne’) is a noun referring to a measure of weight. The linkage here to the verb “to number” (Aram. מְנָה, mÿnah) is a case of paronomasia rather than strict etymology. So also with תְּקֵל (tÿqel) and פַרְסִין (farsin). In the latter case there is an obvious wordplay with the name “Persian.”

[8:2]  ⁴⁵ tn There is a wordplay here. The Hebrew word קֵץ (qets, “end”) sounds like קָיִץ (qayits, “summer fruit”). The summer fruit arrived toward the end of Israel’s agricultural year; Israel’s national existence was similarly at an end.

[8:2]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “I will no longer pass over him.”

[8:1]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[8:1]  ⁴⁸ sn The basket of summer fruit (also in the following verse) probably refers to figs from the summer crop, which ripens in August-September. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 115.

[4:7]  ⁴⁹ sn Rain…three months before the harvest refers to the rains of late March-early April.

[4:7]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “portion”; KJV, ASV “piece”; NASB “part.” The same word occurs a second time later in this verse.