Jeremiah 50:14

50:14 “Take up your battle positions all around Babylon,

all you soldiers who are armed with bows. ¹ 

Shoot ²  all your arrows at her! Do not hold any back! ³ 

For she has sinned against the Lord.

Jeremiah 50:29

50:29 “Call for archers ⁴  to come against Babylon!

Summon against her all who draw the bow!

Set up camp all around the city!

Do not allow anyone to escape!

Pay her back for what she has done.

Do to her what she has done to others.

For she has proudly defied me, ⁵ 

the Holy One of Israel. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 51:56

51:56 For a destroyer is attacking Babylon. ⁷ 

Her warriors will be captured;

their bows will be broken. ⁸ 

For the Lord is a God who punishes; ⁹ 

he pays back in full. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 46:9

46:9 He brings an end to wars throughout the earth; ¹¹ 

he shatters ¹²  the bow and breaks ¹³  the spear;

he burns ¹⁴  the shields with fire. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 22:6

22:6 The Elamites picked up the quiver,

and came with chariots and horsemen; ¹⁶ 

the men of Kir ¹⁷  prepared ¹⁸  the shield. ¹⁹ 

[50:14]  ¹ tn Heb “all you who draw the bow.”

[50:14]  ² tc The verb here should probably be read as a Qal imperative יְרוּ (yÿru) from יָרָה (yarah) with a few Hebrew mss rather than a Qal imperative יְדוּ (yidu) from יָדָה (yadah) with the majority of Hebrew mss. The verb יָדָה (yadah) does not otherwise occur in the Qal and only elsewhere in the Piel with a meaning “cast” (cf. KBL 363 s.v. I יָדָה). The verb יָרָה (yarah) is common in both the Qal and the Hiphil with the meaning of shooting arrows (cf. BDB 435 s.v. יָרָה Qal.3 and Hiph.2). The confusion between ד (dalet) and ר (resh) is very common.

[50:14]  ³ tn Heb “Shoot at her! Don’t save any arrows!”

[50:29]  ⁴ tn For this word see BDB 914 s.v. III רַב and compare usage in Prov 26:10 and Job 16:12 and compare the usage of the verb in Gen 49:23. Based on this evidence, it is not necessary to emend the form to רֹבִים (rovim) as many commentators contend.

[50:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “for she has acted insolently against the Lord.” Once again there is the problem of the Lord speaking about himself in the third person (or the prophet dropping his identification with the Lord). As in several other places the present translation, along with several other modern English versions (TEV, CEV, NIrV), has substituted the first person to maintain consistency with the context.

[50:29]  ⁶ sn The Holy One of Israel is a common title for the Lord in the book of Isaiah. It is applied to the Lord only here and in 51:5 in the book of Jeremiah. It is a figure where an attribute of a person is put as a title of a person (compare “your majesty” for a king). It pictures the Lord as the sovereign king who rules over his covenant people and exercises moral authority over them.

[51:56]  ⁷ tn Heb “for a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon.”

[51:56]  ⁸ tn The Piel form (which would be intransitive here, see GKC 142 §52.k) should probably be emended to Qal.

[51:56]  ⁹ tn Or “God of retribution.”

[51:56]  ¹⁰ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following finite verb. Another option is to translate, “he certainly pays one back.” The translation assumes that the imperfect verbal form here describes the Lord’s characteristic actions. Another option is to take it as referring specifically to his judgment on Babylon, in which case one should translate, “he will pay (Babylon) back in full.”

[46:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “[the] one who causes wars to cease unto the end of the earth.” The participle continues the description begun in v. 8b and indicates that this is the Lord’s characteristic activity. Ironically, he brings peace to the earth by devastating the warlike, hostile nations (vv. 8, 9b).

[46:9]  ¹² tn The verb שָׁבַר (shavar, “break”) appears in the Piel here (see Ps 29:5). In the OT it occurs thirty-six times in the Piel, always with multiple objects (the object is either a collective singular or grammatically plural or dual form). The Piel may highlight the repetition of the pluralative action, or it may suggest an intensification of action, indicating repeated action comprising a whole, perhaps with the nuance “break again and again, break in pieces.” Another option is to understand the form as resultative: “make broken” (see IBHS 404-7 §24.3). The imperfect verbal form carries on and emphasizes the generalizing nature of the description.

[46:9]  ¹³ tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries along the generalizing emphasis of the preceding imperfect.

[46:9]  ¹⁴ tn The imperfect verbal form carries on and emphasizes the generalizing nature of the description.

[46:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “wagons he burns with fire.” Some read “chariots” here (cf. NASB), but the Hebrew word refers to wagons or carts, not chariots, elsewhere in the OT. In this context, where military weapons are mentioned, it is better to revocalize the form as עֲגִלוֹת (’agilot, “round shields”), a word which occurs only here in the OT, but is attested in later Hebrew and Aramaic.

[22:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “[with] the chariots of men, horsemen.”

[22:6]  ¹⁷ sn A distant region in the direction of Mesopotamia; see Amos 1:5; 9:7.

[22:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Kir uncovers” (so NAB, NIV).

[22:6]  ¹⁹ sn The Elamites and men of Kir may here symbolize a fierce army from a distant land. If this oracle anticipates a Babylonian conquest of the city (see 39:5-7), then the Elamites and men of Kir are perhaps viewed here as mercenaries in the Babylonian army. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:410.