Jeremiah 22:7

22:7 I will send men against it to destroy it ¹ 

with their axes and hatchets.

They will hack up its fine cedar panels and columns

and throw them into the fire.

Isaiah 10:18-19

10:18 The splendor of his forest and his orchard

will be completely destroyed, ² 

as when a sick man’s life ebbs away. ³ 

10:19 There will be so few trees left in his forest,

a child will be able to count them. ⁴ 

Isaiah 27:10-11

27:10 For the fortified city ⁵  is left alone;

it is a deserted settlement

and abandoned like the desert.

Calves ⁶  graze there;

they lie down there

and eat its branches bare. ⁷ 

27:11 When its branches get brittle, ⁸  they break;

women come and use them for kindling. ⁹ 

For these people lack understanding, ¹⁰ 

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

Isaiah 37:24

37:24 Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, ¹¹ 

‘With my many chariots I climbed up

the high mountains,

the slopes of Lebanon.

I cut down its tall cedars

and its best evergreens.

I invaded its most remote regions, ¹² 

its thickest woods.

Ezekiel 20:46-48

20:46 “Son of man, turn toward ¹³  the south, ¹⁴  and speak out against the south. ¹⁵  Prophesy against the open scrub ¹⁶  land of the Negev, 20:47 and say to the scrub land of the Negev, ‘Hear the word of the Lord: This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look here, ¹⁷  I am about to start a fire in you, ¹⁸  and it will devour every green tree and every dry tree in you. The flaming fire will not be extinguished, and the whole surface of the ground from the Negev to the north will be scorched by it. 20:48 And everyone ¹⁹  will see that I, the Lord, have burned it; it will not be extinguished.’”

Zechariah 11:1

The History and Future of Judah’s Wicked Kings

11:1 Open your gates, Lebanon,

so that the fire may consume your cedars. ²⁰ 

[22:7]  ¹ sn Heb “I will sanctify destroyers against it.” If this is not an attenuated use of the term “sanctify” the traditions of Israel’s holy wars are being turned against her. See also 6:4. In Israel’s early wars in the wilderness and in the conquest, the Lord fought for her against the enemies (cf., e.g., Josh 10:11, 14, 42; 24:7; Judg 5:20; 1 Sam 7:10). Now he is going to fight against them (21:5, 13) and use the enemy as his instruments of destruction. For a similar picture of destruction in the temple see the lament in Ps 74:3-7.

[10:18]  ² tn Heb “from breath to flesh it will destroy.” The expression “from breath to flesh” refers to the two basic components of a person, the immaterial (life’s breath) and the material (flesh). Here the phrase is used idiomatically to indicate totality.

[10:18]  ³ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. מָסַס (masas), which is used elsewhere of substances dissolving or melting, may here mean “waste away” or “despair.” נָסַס (nasas), which appears only here, may mean “be sick” or “stagger, despair.” See BDB 651 s.v. I נָסַס and HALOT 703 s.v. I נסס. One might translate the line literally, “like the wasting away of one who is sick” (cf. NRSV “as when an invalid wastes away”).

[10:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the rest of the trees of his forest will be counted, and a child will record them.”

[27:10]  ⁵ sn The identity of this city is uncertain. The context suggests that an Israelite city, perhaps Samaria or Jerusalem, is in view. For discussions of interpretive options see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:496-97, and Paul L. Redditt, “Once Again, the City in Isaiah 24-27,” HAR 10 (1986), 332.

[27:10]  ⁶ tn The singular form in the text is probably collective.

[27:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “and destroy her branches.” The city is the antecedent of the third feminine singular pronominal suffix. Apparently the city is here compared to a tree. See also v. 11.

[27:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[27:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.

[27:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”

[37:24]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[37:24]  ¹² tn Heb “the height of its extremity”; ASV “its farthest height.”

[20:46]  ¹³ tn Heb “set your face toward.” This expression occurs as well in Ezek 6:2; 13:17.

[20:46]  ¹⁴ tn Or “the way toward the south,” or “the way toward Teman.” Teman is in the south and may be a location or the direction.

[20:46]  ¹⁵ tn Or “toward Darom.” Darom may mean the south or a region just north of southern city of Beer Sheba. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:417-18.

[20:46]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew term can also mean “forest,” but a meaning of uncultivated wasteland fits the Negev region far better. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:418.

[20:47]  ¹⁷ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[20:47]  ¹⁸ tn Fire also appears as a form of judgment in Ezek 15:4-7; 19:12, 14.

[20:48]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[11:1]  ²⁰ sn In this poetic section, plants and animals provide the imagery for rulers, especially evil ones (cf. respectively Isa 10:33-34; Ezek 31:8; Amos 2:9; Nah 2:12).