Jeremiah 4:27

4:27 All this will happen because the Lord said, ¹ 

“The whole land will be desolate;

however, I will not completely destroy it.

Leviticus 26:33

26:33 I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword ²  after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste.

Isaiah 1:7

1:7 Your land is devastated,

your cities burned with fire.

Right before your eyes your crops

are being destroyed by foreign invaders. ³ 

They leave behind devastation and destruction. ⁴ 

Isaiah 3:26

3:26 Her gates will mourn and lament;

deprived of her people, she will sit on the ground. ⁵ 

Isaiah 6:11

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,

Micah 7:13

7:13 The earth will become desolate ⁶ 

because of what its inhabitants have done. ⁷ 

[4:27]  ¹ tn Heb “For this is what the Lord said,”

[26:33]  ² tn Heb “and I will empty sword” (see HALOT 1228 s.v. ריק 3).

[1:7]  ³ tn Heb “As for your land, before you foreigners are devouring it.”

[1:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “and [there is] devastation like an overthrow by foreigners.” The comparative preposition כְּ (kÿ, “like, as”) has here the rhetorical nuance, “in every way like.” The point is that the land has all the earmarks of a destructive foreign invasion because that is what has indeed happened. One could paraphrase, “it is desolate as it can only be when foreigners destroy.” On this use of the preposition in general, see GKC 376 §118.x. Many also prefer to emend “foreigners” here to “Sodom,” though there is no external attestation for such a reading in the mss or ancient versions. Such an emendation finds support from the following context (vv. 9-10) and usage of the preceding noun מַהְפֵּכָה (mahpekhah, “overthrow”). In its five other uses, this noun is associated with the destruction of Sodom. If one accepts the emendation, then one might translate, “the devastation resembles the destruction of Sodom.”

[3:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “she will be empty, on the ground she will sit.” Jerusalem is personified as a destitute woman who sits mourning the empty city.

[7:13]  ⁶ tn Or “will be ruined.”

[7:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “on account of its inhabitants, because of the fruit of their deeds.”