Jeremiah 4:28

4:28 Because of this the land will mourn

and the sky above will grow black. ¹ 

For I have made my purpose known ² 

and I will not relent or turn back from carrying it out.” ³ 

Jeremiah 4:1

4:1 “If you, Israel, want to come back,” says the Lord,

“if you want to come back to me ⁴ 

you must get those disgusting idols ⁵  out of my sight

and must no longer go astray. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 3:12

The Lord Calls on Israel and Judah to Repent

3:12 “Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north. ⁷  Tell them,

‘Come back to me, wayward Israel,’ says the Lord.

‘I will not continue to look on you with displeasure. ⁸ 

For I am merciful,’ says the Lord.

‘I will not be angry with you forever.

Job 23:13-14

23:13 But he is unchangeable, ⁹  and who can change ¹⁰  him?

Whatever he ¹¹  has desired, he does.

23:14 For he fulfills his decree against me, ¹² 

and many such things are his plans. ¹³ 

Isaiah 14:24

14:24 ¹⁴ The Lord who commands armies makes this solemn vow:

“Be sure of this:

Just as I have intended, so it will be;

just as I have planned, it will happen.

Isaiah 14:26-27

14:26 This is the plan I have devised for the whole earth;

my hand is ready to strike all the nations.” ¹⁵ 

14:27 Indeed, ¹⁶  the Lord who commands armies has a plan,

and who can possibly frustrate it?

His hand is ready to strike,

and who can possibly stop it? ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 46:11

46:11 who summons an eagle ¹⁸  from the east,

from a distant land, one who carries out my plan.

Yes, I have decreed, ¹⁹ 

yes, I will bring it to pass;

I have formulated a plan,

yes, I will carry it out.

Ezekiel 20:47-48

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, ²⁰  I am about to start a fire in you, ²¹  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 ²²  will see that I, the Lord, have burned it; it will not be extinguished.’”

Ezekiel 21:5-7

21:5 Then everyone will know that I am the Lord, who drew my sword from its sheath – it will not be sheathed again!’

21:6 “And you, son of man, groan with an aching heart ²³  and bitterness; groan before their eyes. 21:7 When they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you will reply, ‘Because of the report that has come. Every heart will melt with fear and every hand will be limp; everyone ²⁴  will faint and every knee will be wet with urine.’ ²⁵  Pay attention – it is coming and it will happen, declares the sovereign Lord.”

[4:28]  ¹ sn The earth and the heavens are personified here and depicted in the act of mourning and wearing black clothes because of the destruction of the land of Israel.

[4:28]  ² tn Heb “has spoken and purposed.” This is an example of hendiadys where two verbs are joined by “and” but one is meant to serve as a modifier of the other.

[4:28]  ³ tn Heb “will not turn back from it.”

[4:1]  ⁴ tn Or “If you, Israel, want to turn [away from your shameful ways (those described in 3:23-25)]…then you must turn back to me.” Or perhaps, “Israel, you must turn back…Yes, you must turn back to me.”

[4:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “disgusting things.”

[4:1]  ⁶ tn Or possibly, “If you get those disgusting idols out of my sight, you will not need to flee.” This is less probable because the normal meaning of the last verb is “to wander,” “ to stray.”

[3:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “Go and proclaim these words to the north.” The translation assumes that the message is directed toward the exiles of northern Israel who have been scattered in the provinces of Assyria to the north.

[3:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will not cause my face to fall on you.”

[23:13]  ⁹ tc The MT has “But he [is] in one.” Many add the word “mind” to capture the point that God is resolute and unchanging. Some commentators find this too difficult, and so change the text from בְאֶחָד (bÿ’ekhad, here “unchangeable”) to בָחָר (bakhar, “he has chosen”). The wording in the text is idiomatic and should be retained. R. Gordis (Job, 262) translates it “he is one, i.e., unchangeable, fixed, determined.” The preposition בּ (bet) is a bet essentiae – “and he [is] as one,” or “he is one” (see GKC 379 §119.i).

[23:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “cause him to return.”

[23:13]  ¹¹ tn Or “his soul.”

[23:14]  ¹² tn The text has “my decree,” which means “the decree [plan] for/against me.” The suffix is objective, equivalent to a dative of disadvantage. The Syriac and the Vulgate actually have “his decree.” R. Gordis (Job, 262) suggests taking it in the same sense as in Job 14:5: “my limit.”.

[23:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “and many such [things] are with him.”

[14:24]  ¹⁴ sn Having announced the downfall of the Chaldean empire, the Lord appends to this prophecy a solemn reminder that the Assyrians, the major Mesopotamian power of Isaiah’s day, would be annihilated, foreshadowing what would subsequently happen to Babylon and the other hostile nations.

[14:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and this is the hand that is outstretched over all the nations.”

[14:27]  ¹⁶ tn Or “For” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[14:27]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “His hand is outstretched and who will turn it back?”

[46:11]  ¹⁸ tn Or, more generally, “a bird of prey” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV; see 18:6).

[46:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “spoken”; KJV “I have spoken it.”

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

[20:47]  ²¹ tn Fire also appears as a form of judgment in Ezek 15:4-7; 19:12, 14.

[20:48]  ²² tn Heb “all flesh.”

[21:6]  ²³ tn Heb “breaking loins.”

[21:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “every spirit will be dim.”

[21:7]  ²⁵ sn This expression depicts in a very vivid way how they will be overcome with fear. See the note on the same phrase in 7:17.