Jeremiah 24:9-10

24:9 I will bring such disaster on them that all the kingdoms of the earth will be horrified. I will make them an object of reproach, a proverbial example of disaster. I will make them an object of ridicule, an example to be used in curses. ¹  That is how they will be remembered wherever I banish them. ²  24:10 I will bring war, starvation, and disease ³  on them until they are completely destroyed from the land I gave them and their ancestors.’” ⁴ 

Jeremiah 25:9-11

25:9 So I, the Lord, affirm that ⁵  I will send for all the peoples of the north ⁶  and my servant, ⁷  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 ⁸  this land, its inhabitants, and all the nations that surround it ⁹  and make them everlasting ruins. ¹⁰  I will make them objects of horror and hissing scorn. ¹¹  25:10 I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, to the glad celebration of brides and grooms in these lands. ¹²  I will put an end to the sound of people grinding meal. I will put an end to lamps shining in their houses. ¹³  25:11 This whole area ¹⁴  will become a desolate wasteland. These nations will be subject to the king of Babylon for seventy years.’ ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 39:10

39:10 But he ¹⁶  left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing. He gave them fields and vineyards at that time.

Leviticus 26:33-35

26:33 I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword ¹⁷  after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste.

26:34 “‘Then the land will make up for ¹⁸  its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land will rest and make up its Sabbaths. 26:35 All the days of the desolation it will have the rest it did not have ¹⁹  on your Sabbaths when you lived on it.

Deuteronomy 4:26

4:26 I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you ²⁰  today that you will surely and swiftly be removed ²¹  from the very land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not last long there because you will surely be ²²  annihilated.

Deuteronomy 28:36

28:36 The Lord will force you and your king ²³  whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there.

Deuteronomy 28:64

28:64 The Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of wood and stone.

Deuteronomy 28:2

28:2 All these blessings will come to you in abundance ²⁴  if you obey the Lord your God:

Deuteronomy 17:20

17:20 Then he will not exalt himself above his fellow citizens or turn from the commandments to the right or left, and he and his descendants will enjoy many years ruling over his kingdom ²⁵  in Israel.

Deuteronomy 17:1

17:1 You must not sacrifice to him ²⁶  a bull or sheep that has a blemish or any other defect, because that is considered offensive ²⁷  to the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 23:1

Purity in Public Worship

23:1 A man with crushed ²⁸  or severed genitals ²⁹  may not enter the assembly of the Lord. ³⁰ 

Deuteronomy 25:1

25:1 If controversy arises between people, ³¹  they should go to court for judgment. When the judges ³²  hear the case, they shall exonerate ³³  the innocent but condemn ³⁴  the guilty.

Isaiah 6:11-12

6:11 I replied, “How long, sovereign master?” He said,

“Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated,

and houses are uninhabited,

and the land is ruined and devastated,

6:12 and the Lord has sent the people off to a distant place,

and the very heart of the land is completely abandoned. ³⁵ 

Isaiah 24:3

24:3 The earth will be completely devastated

and thoroughly ransacked.

For the Lord has decreed this judgment. ³⁶ 

Isaiah 27:10

27:10 For the fortified city ³⁷  is left alone;

it is a deserted settlement

and abandoned like the desert.

Calves ³⁸  graze there;

they lie down there

and eat its branches bare. ³⁹ 

Isaiah 32:13-14

32:13 Mourn ⁴⁰  over the land of my people,

which is overgrown with thorns and briers,

and over all the once-happy houses ⁴¹ 

in the city filled with revelry. ⁴² 

32:14 For the fortress is neglected;

the once-crowded ⁴³  city is abandoned.

Hill ⁴⁴  and watchtower

are permanently uninhabited. ⁴⁵ 

Wild donkeys love to go there,

and flocks graze there. ⁴⁶ 

Ezekiel 33:28

33:28 I will turn the land into a desolate ruin; her confident pride will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be so desolate no one will pass through them.

Micah 4:10

4:10 Twist and strain, ⁴⁷  Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor!

For you will leave the city

and live in the open field.

You will go to Babylon,

but there you will be rescued.

There the Lord will deliver ⁴⁸  you

from the power ⁴⁹  of your enemies.

[24:9]  ¹ tn Or “an object of reproach in peoples’ proverbs…an object of ridicule in people’s curses.” The alternate translation treats the two pairs which are introduced without vavs (ו) but are joined by vavs as examples of hendiadys. This is very possible here but the chain does not contain this pairing in 25:18; 29:18.

[24:9]  ² tn Heb “I will make them for a terror for disaster to all the kingdoms of the earth, for a reproach and for a proverb, for a taunt and a curse in all the places which I banish them there.” The complex Hebrew sentence has been broken down into equivalent shorter sentences to conform more with contemporary English style.

[24:10]  ³ sn See Jer 14:12 and the study note there.

[24:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “fathers.”

[25:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[25:9]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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.

[25:10]  ¹² sn Compare Jer 7:24 and 16:9 for this same dire prediction limited to Judah and Jerusalem.

[25:10]  ¹³ sn The sound of people grinding meal and the presence of lamps shining in their houses were signs of everyday life. The Lord is going to make these lands desolate (v. 11) destroying all signs of life. (The statement is, of course, hyperbolic or poetic exaggeration; even after the destruction of Jerusalem many people were left in the land.) For these same descriptions of everyday life applying to the end of life see the allegory in Eccl 12:3-6.

[25:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “All this land.”

[25:11]  ¹⁵ sn It should be noted that the text says that the nations will be subject to the king of Babylon for seventy years, not that they will lie desolate for seventy years. Though several proposals have been made for dating this period, many ignore this fact. This most likely refers to the period beginning with Nebuchadnezzar’s defeat of Pharaoh Necho at Carchemish in 605 b.c. and the beginning of his rule over Babylon. At this time Babylon became the dominant force in the area and continued to be so until the fall of Babylon in 538 b.c. More particularly Judah became a vassal state (cf. Jer 46:2; 2 Kgs 24:1) in 605 b.c. and was allowed to return to her homeland in 538 when Cyrus issued his edict allowing all the nations exiled by Babylon to return to their homelands. (See 2 Chr 36:21 and Ezra 1:2-4; the application there is made to Judah but the decree of Cyrus was broader.)

[39:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard.” However, the subject is clear from the preceding and contemporary English style would normally avoid repeating the proper name and title.

[26:33]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and I will empty sword” (see HALOT 1228 s.v. ריק 3).

[26:34]  ¹⁸ tn There are two Hebrew roots רָצָה (ratsah), one meaning “to be pleased with; to take pleasure” (HALOT 1280-81 s.v. רצה; cf. “enjoy” in NASB, NIV, NRSV, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 452), and the other meaning “to restore” (HALOT 1281-82 s.v. II רצה; cf. NAB “retrieve” and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 189).

[26:35]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “it shall rest which it did not rest.”

[4:26]  ²⁰ sn I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you. This stock formula introduces what is known form-critically as a רִיב (riv) or controversy pattern. It is commonly used in the ancient Near Eastern world in legal contexts and in the OT as a forensic or judicial device to draw attention to Israel’s violation of the Lord’s covenant with them (see Deut 30:19; Isa 1:2; 3:13; Jer 2:9). Since court proceedings required the testimony of witnesses, the Lord here summons heaven and earth (that is, all creation) to testify to his faithfulness, Israel’s disobedience, and the threat of judgment.

[4:26]  ²¹ tn Or “be destroyed”; KJV “utterly perish”; NLT “will quickly disappear”; CEV “you won’t have long to live.”

[4:26]  ²² tn Or “be completely” (so NCV, TEV). It is not certain here if the infinitive absolute indicates the certainty of the following action (cf. NIV) or its degree.

[28:36]  ²³ tc The LXX reads the plural “kings.”

[28:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “come upon you and overtake you” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “come upon you and accompany you.”

[17:20]  ²⁵ tc Heb “upon his kingship.” Smr supplies כִּסֵא (kise’, “throne”) so as to read “upon the throne of his kingship.” This overliteralizes what is a clearly understood figure of speech.

[17:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “to the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

[17:1]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “an abomination”; cf. NAB) describes persons, things, or practices offensive to ritual or moral order. See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:314-18; see also the note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.

[23:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “bruised by crushing,” which many English versions take to refer to crushed testicles (NAB, NRSV, NLT); TEV “who has been castrated.”

[23:1]  ²⁹ tn Heb “cut off with respect to the penis”; KJV, ASV “hath his privy member cut off”; English versions vary in their degree of euphemism here; cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV, NLT “penis”; NASB “male organ”; NCV “sex organ”; CEV “private parts”; NIV “emasculated by crushing or cutting.”

[23:1]  ³⁰ sn The Hebrew term translated “assembly” (קָהָל, qahal) does not refer here to the nation as such but to the formal services of the tabernacle or temple. Since emasculated or other sexually abnormal persons were commonly associated with pagan temple personnel, the thrust here may be primarily polemical in intent. One should not read into this anything having to do with the mentally and physically handicapped as fit to participate in the life and ministry of the church.

[25:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “men.”

[25:1]  ³² tn Heb “they”; the referent (the judges) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:1]  ³³ tn Heb “declare to be just”; KJV, NASB “justify the righteous”; NAB, NIV “acquitting the innocent.”

[25:1]  ³⁴ tn Heb “declare to be evil”; NIV “condemning the guilty (+ party NAB).”

[6:12]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and great is the abandonment in the midst of the land.”

[24:3]  ³⁶ tn Heb “for the Lord has spoken this word.”

[27:10]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ tn The singular form in the text is probably collective.

[27:10]  ³⁹ 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.

[32:13]  ⁴⁰ tn “Mourn” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 12-13 are one long sentence.

[32:13]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “indeed, over all the houses of joy.” It is not certain if this refers to individual homes or to places where parties and celebrations were held.

[32:13]  ⁴² sn This same phrase is used in 22:2.

[32:14]  ⁴³ tn Or “noisy” (NAB, NIV, NCV).

[32:14]  ⁴⁴ tn Hebrew עֹפֶל (’ofel), probably refers here to a specific area within the city of Jerusalem. See HALOT 861 s.v. II עֹפֶל.

[32:14]  ⁴⁵ tn The Hebrew text has בְעַד מְעָרוֹת (vÿ’ad mÿ’arot). The force of בְעַד, which usually means “behind, through, round about,” or “for the benefit of,” is uncertain here. HALOT 616 s.v. *מְעָרָה takes מְעָרוֹת (mÿ’arot) as a homonym of “cave” and define it here as “cleared field.” Despite these lexical problems, the general point of the statement seems clear – the city will be uninhabited.

[32:14]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “the joy of wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks.”

[4:10]  ⁴⁷ tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”

[4:10]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[4:10]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.