Jeremiah 43:12-13

43:12 He will set fire ¹  to the temples of the gods of Egypt. He will burn their gods or carry them off as captives. ²  He will pick Egypt clean like a shepherd picks the lice from his clothing. ³  He will leave there unharmed. ⁴  43:13 He will demolish the sacred pillars in the temple of the sun ⁵  in Egypt and will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.”’”

Jeremiah 46:25

46:25 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ⁶  says, “I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes. ⁷  I will punish Egypt, its gods, and its kings. I will punish Pharaoh and all who trust in him. ⁸ 

Jeremiah 48:7

48:7 “Moab, you trust in the things you do and in your riches.

So you too will be conquered.

Your god Chemosh ⁹  will go into exile ¹⁰ 

along with his priests and his officials.

Jeremiah 50:2

50:2 “Announce ¹¹  the news among the nations! Proclaim it!

Signal for people to pay attention! ¹² 

Declare the news! Do not hide it! Say:

‘Babylon will be captured.

Bel ¹³  will be put to shame.

Marduk will be dismayed.

Babylon’s idols will be put to shame.

Her disgusting images ¹⁴  will be dismayed. ¹⁵ 

Exodus 12:12

12:12 I will pass through ¹⁶  the land of Egypt in the same ¹⁷  night, and I will attack ¹⁸  all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, ¹⁹  and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. ²⁰  I am the Lord.

Isaiah 19:1

The Lord Will Judge Egypt

19:1 Here is a message about Egypt:

Look, the Lord rides on a swift-moving cloud

and approaches Egypt.

The idols of Egypt tremble before him;

the Egyptians lose their courage. ²¹ 

Isaiah 46:1

The Lord Carries His People

46:1 Bel ²²  kneels down,

Nebo ²³  bends low.

Their images weigh down animals and beasts. ²⁴ 

Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals. ²⁵ 

Zephaniah 2:11

2:11 The Lord will terrify them, ²⁶ 

for ²⁷  he will weaken ²⁸  all the gods of the earth.

All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands. ²⁹ 

[43:12]  ¹ tc The translation follows the Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions. The Hebrew text reads: “I will set fire to.” While it would be possible to explain the first person subject here in the same way as in the two verbs in v. 12b, the corruption of the Hebrew text is easy to explain here as a metathesis of two letters, י (yod) and ת (tav). The Hebrew reads הִצַּתִּי (hitsatti) and the versions presuppose הִצִּית (hitsit).

[43:12]  ² tn Heb “burn them or carry them off as captives.” Some of the commentaries and English versions make a distinction between the objects of the verbs, i.e., burn the temples and carry off the gods. However, the burning down of the temples is referred to later in v. 13.

[43:12]  ³ tn Or “he will take over Egypt as easily as a shepherd wraps his cloak around him.” The translation follows the interpretation of HALOT 769 s.v. II ָעטָה Qal, the Greek translation, and a number of the modern commentaries (e.g., J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 671). The only other passage where that translation is suggested for this verb is Isa 22:17 according to HAL. The alternate translation follows the more normal meaning of עָטָה (’atah; cf. BDB 741 s.v. I עָטָה Qal which explains “so completely will it be in his power”). The fact that the subject is “a shepherd” lends more credence to the former view though there may be a deliberate double meaning playing on the homonyms (cf. W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 2:302).

[43:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “in peace/wholeness/well-being/safety [shalom].”

[43:13]  ⁵ sn It is generally agreed that the temple of the sun was located in Heliopolis, which is elsewhere referred to as On (cf. Gen 41:45). It was the center for the worship of Amon-Re, the Egyptian sun god, and was famous for its obelisks (conical shaped pillars) dedicated to that god. It was located about 6 miles (10 km) northeast of modern-day Cairo.

[46:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” For the significance of this title see the note at 2:19.

[46:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “Amon of No.”

[46:25]  ⁸ tc Heb “Behold I will punish Amon of No and Pharaoh and Egypt and its gods and its kings and Pharaoh and all who trust in him.” There appears to be a copyist slip involving a double writing of וְעַל־פַּרְעֹה (vÿ’al-par’oh). The present translation has followed the suggestion of BHS and deleted the first one since the second is necessary for the syntactical connection, “Pharaoh and all who trust in him.”

[48:7]  ⁹ sn Chemosh was the national god of Moab (see also Numb 21:29). Child sacrifice appears to have been a part of his worship (2 Kgs 3:27). Solomon built a high place in Jerusalem for him (1 Kgs 11:7), and he appears to have been worshiped in Israel until Josiah tore that high place down (2 Kgs 23:13).

[48:7]  ¹⁰ sn The practice of carrying off the gods of captive nations has already been mentioned in the study note on 43:12. See also Isa 46:1-2 noted there.

[50:2]  ¹¹ tn The verbs are masculine plural. Jeremiah is calling on other unnamed messengers to spread the news.

[50:2]  ¹² tn Heb “Raise a signal flag.”

[50:2]  ¹³ sn Bel was originally the name or title applied to the Sumerian storm god. During the height of Babylon’s power it became a title that was applied to Marduk who was Babylon’s chief deity. As a title it means “Lord.” Here it is a poetical parallel reference to Marduk mentioned in the next line.

[50:2]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew word used here (גִּלּוּלִים, gillulim) is always used as a disdainful reference to idols. It is generally thought to have originally referred to “dung pellets” (cf. KBL 183 s.v. גִלּוּלִים). It is only one of several terms used in this way, such as “worthless things” (אַלִילִים, ’alilim), “vanities,” or “empty winds” (הֲבָלִים, havalim).

[50:2]  ¹⁵ tn The verbs here are all in the tense that views the actions as though they were already done (the Hebrew prophetic perfect). The verbs in the next verse are a mixture of prophetic perfects and imperfects which announce future actions.

[12:12]  ¹⁶ tn The verb וְעָבַרְתִּי (vÿ’avarti) is a Qal perfect with vav (ו) consecutive, announcing the future action of God in bringing judgment on the land. The word means “pass over, across, through.” This verb provides a contextual motive for the name “Passover.”

[12:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “this night.”

[12:12]  ¹⁸ tn The verb נָכָה (nakhah) means “to strike, smite, attack”; it does not always mean “to kill,” but that is obviously its outcome in this context. This is also its use in 2:12, describing how Moses killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.

[12:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “from man and to beast.”

[12:12]  ²⁰ tn The phrase אֶעֱשֶׂה שְׁפָטִים (’e’eseh shÿfatim) is “I will do judgments.” The statement clearly includes what had begun in Exod 6:1. But the statement that God would judge the gods of Egypt is appropriately introduced here (see also Num 33:4) because with the judgment on Pharaoh and the deliverance from bondage, Yahweh would truly show himself to be the one true God. Thus, “I am Yahweh” is fitting here (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 312).

[19:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “and the heart of Egypt melts within it.”

[46:1]  ²² sn Bel was the name of a Babylonian god. The name was originally associated with Enlil, but later was applied to Marduk. See HALOT 132 s.v. בֵּל.

[46:1]  ²³ sn Nebo is a variation of the name of the Babylonian god Nabu.

[46:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “their images belong to animals and beasts”; NIV “their idols are borne by beasts of burden”; NLT “are being hauled away.”

[46:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “your loads are carried [as] a burden by a weary [animal].”

[2:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “will be awesome over [or, “against”] them.”

[2:11]  ²⁷ tn Or “certainly.”

[2:11]  ²⁸ tn The meaning of this rare Hebrew word is unclear. If the meaning is indeed “weaken,” then this line may be referring to the reduction of these gods’ territory through conquest (see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah [AB 25A], 110-11). Cf. NEB “reduce to beggary”; NASB “starve”; NIV “when he destroys”; NRSV “shrivel.”

[2:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and all the coastlands of the nations will worship [or, “bow down”] to him, each from his own place.”