Jeremiah 5:16

5:16 All of its soldiers are strong and mighty. ¹ 

Their arrows will send you to your grave. ² 

Jeremiah 50:42

50:42 Its soldiers are armed with bows and spears.

They are cruel and show no mercy.

They sound like the roaring sea

as they ride forth on their horses.

Lined up in formation like men going into battle,

they are coming against you, fair Babylon! ³ 

Isaiah 13:18

13:18 Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; ⁴ 

they have no compassion on a person’s offspring, ⁵ 

they will not ⁶  look with pity on children.

Ezekiel 23:22-25

23:22 “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look here, ⁷  I am about to stir up against you the lovers with whom you were disgusted; I will bring them against you from every side: 23:23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, ⁸  Shoa, ⁹  and Koa, ¹⁰  and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, all of them governors and officials, officers and nobles, all of them riding on horses. 23:24 They will attack ¹¹  you with weapons, ¹²  chariots, wagons, and with a huge army; ¹³  they will array themselves against you on every side with large shields, small shields, and helmets. I will assign them the task of judgment; ¹⁴  they will punish you according to their laws. 23:25 I will direct ¹⁵  my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in rage. They will cut off your nose and your ears, ¹⁶  and your survivors will die ¹⁷  by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your survivors will be consumed by fire.

Habakkuk 1:6-10

1:6 Look, I am about to empower ¹⁸  the Babylonians,

that ruthless ¹⁹  and greedy ²⁰  nation.

They sweep across the surface ²¹  of the earth,

seizing dwelling places that do not belong to them.

1:7 They are frightening and terrifying;

they decide for themselves what is right. ²² 

1:8 Their horses are faster than leopards

and more alert ²³  than wolves in the desert. ²⁴ 

Their horses ²⁵  gallop, ²⁶ 

their horses come a great distance;

like a vulture ²⁷  they swoop down quickly to devour their prey. ²⁸ 

1:9 All of them intend ²⁹  to do violence;

every face is determined. ³⁰ 

They take prisoners as easily as one scoops up sand. ³¹ 

1:10 They mock kings

and laugh at rulers.

They laugh at every fortified city;

they build siege ramps ³²  and capture them.

[5:16]  ¹ tn Heb “All of them are mighty warriors.”

[5:16]  ² tn Heb “his quiver [is] an open grave.” The order of the lines has been reversed to make the transition from “nation” to “their arrows” easier.

[50:42]  ³ tn Heb “daughter Babylon.” The word “daughter” is a personification of the city of Babylon and its inhabitants.

[13:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “and bows cut to bits young men.” “Bows” stands by metonymy for arrows.

[13:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “the fruit of the womb.”

[13:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “their eye does not.” Here “eye” is a metonymy for the whole person.

[23:22]  ⁷ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[23:23]  ⁸ sn Pekod was the name of an Aramean tribe (known as Puqudu in Mesopotamian texts) that lived in the region of the Tigris River.

[23:23]  ⁹ sn Shoa was the name of a nomadic people (the Sutu) that lived in Mesopotamia.

[23:23]  ¹⁰ sn Koa was the name of another Mesopotamian people group (the Qutu).

[23:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “come against.”

[23:24]  ¹² tn This is the only occurrence of this term in the OT. The precise meaning is uncertain.

[23:24]  ¹³ tn Heb “an assembly of peoples.”

[23:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I will place before them judgment.”

[23:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “give.”

[23:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they will remove.”

[23:25]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “fall.”

[1:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “raise up” (so KJV, ASV).

[1:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “bitter.” Other translation options for this word in this context include “fierce” (NASB, NRSV); “savage” (NEB); or “grim.”

[1:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “hasty, quick.” Some translate here “impetuous” (so NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “rash,” but in this context greed may very well be the idea. The Babylonians move quickly and recklessly ahead in their greedy quest to expand their empire.

[1:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “the open spaces.”

[1:7]  ²² tn Heb “from him his justice, even his lifting up, goes out.” In this context שְׂאֵת (sÿ’et) probably has the nuance “authority.” See R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 150.

[1:8]  ²³ tn Heb “sharper,” in the sense of “keener” or “more alert.” Some translate “quicker” on the basis of the parallelism with the first line (see HALOT 291 s.v. חדד).

[1:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “wolves of the evening,” that is, wolves that prowl at night. The present translation assumes an emendation to עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “desert”). On this phrase see also Zeph 3:3.

[1:8]  ²⁵ tn Or “horsemen,” “cavalry.”

[1:8]  ²⁶ tn The precise nuance of the rare verb פָּוַשׁ (parash) is unclear here. Elsewhere it is used of animals jumping or leaping (see Jer 50:11; Mal 4:2).

[1:8]  ²⁷ tn Or “eagle” (so NASB, NRSV). The term can refer to either eagles or vultures, but in this context of gruesome destruction and death “vulture” is preferred.

[1:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “they fly like a vulture/an eagle quickly to devour.” The direct object “their prey” is not included in the Hebrew text but is implied, and has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “come.”

[1:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “The totality of their faces is to the east” (or “is forward”). The precise meaning of the Hebrew term מְגַמַּת (megammat) is unclear. For a discussion of options see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 93. NEB has “a sea of faces rolls on”; NIV “their hordes advance like a desert wind”; NRSV “with faces pressing forward.”

[1:9]  ³¹ tn Heb “and he gathers like sand, prisoners.”

[1:10]  ³² tn Heb “they heap up dirt.” This is a reference to the piling up of earthen ramps in the process of laying siege to a fortified city.