Jeremiah 4:25

4:25 I looked and saw that there were no more people, ¹ 

and that all the birds in the sky had flown away.

Jeremiah 12:4

12:4 How long must the land be parched ² 

and the grass in every field be withered?

How long ³  must the animals and the birds die

because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land? ⁴ 

For these people boast,

“God ⁵  will not see what happens to us.” ⁶ 

Ezekiel 38:20

38:20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the wild beasts, all the things that creep on the ground, and all people who live on the face of the earth will shake ⁷  at my presence. The mountains will topple, the cliffs ⁸  will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground.

Zephaniah 1:3

1:3 “I will destroy people and animals;

I will destroy the birds in the sky

and the fish in the sea.

(The idolatrous images of these creatures will be destroyed along with evil people.) ⁹ 

I will remove ¹⁰  humanity from the face of the earth,” says the Lord.

[4:25]  ¹ tn Heb “there was no man/human being.”

[12:4]  ² tn The verb here is often translated “mourn.” However, this verb is from a homonymic root meaning “to be dry” (cf. HALOT 7 s.v. II אָבַל and compare Hos 4:3 for usage).

[12:4]  ³ tn The words “How long” are not in the text. They are carried over from the first line.

[12:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “because of the wickedness of those who live in it.”

[12:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “he.” The referent is usually identified as God and is supplied here for clarity. Some identify the referent with Jeremiah. If that is the case, then he returns to his complaint about the conspirators. It is more likely, however, that it refers to God and Jeremiah’s complaint that the people live their lives apart from concern about God.

[12:4]  ⁶ tc Or reading with the Greek version, “God does not see what we are doing.” In place of “what will happen to us (אַחֲרִיתֵנוּ, ’akharitenu, “our end”) the Greek version understands a Hebrew text which reads “our ways” (אָרְחוֹתֵנו, ’orkhotenu), which is graphically very close to the MT. The Masoretic is supported by the Latin and is retained here on the basis of external evidence. Either text makes good sense in the context. Some identify the “he” with Jeremiah and understand the text to be saying that the conspirators are certain that they will succeed and he will not live to see his prophecies fulfilled.

[38:20]  ⁷ tn Or “tremble.”

[38:20]  ⁸ tn The term occurs only here and in Song of Songs 2:14.

[1:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “And the stumbling blocks [or, “ruins”] with the evil”; or “the things that make the evil stumble.” The line does not appear in the original form of the LXX; it may be a later scribal addition. The present translation assumes the “stumbling blocks” are idolatrous images of animals, birds, and fish. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 167, and Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB), 73-74.

[1:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “cut off.”