Jeremiah 6:1

The Destruction of Jerusalem Depicted

6:1 “Run for safety, people of Benjamin!

Get out of Jerusalem! ¹ 

Sound the trumpet ²  in Tekoa!

Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem!

For disaster lurks ³  out of the north;

it will bring great destruction. ⁴ 

Ezekiel 12:3-12

12:3 “Therefore, son of man, pack up your belongings as if for exile. During the day, while they are watching, pretend to go into exile. Go from where you live to another place. Perhaps they will understand, ⁵  although they are a rebellious house. 12:4 Bring out your belongings packed for exile during the day while they are watching. And go out at evening, while they are watching, as if for exile. 12:5 While they are watching, dig a hole in the wall and carry your belongings out through it. 12:6 While they are watching, raise your baggage onto your shoulder and carry it out in the dark. ⁶  You must cover your face so that you cannot see the ground ⁷  because I have made you an object lesson ⁸  to the house of Israel.”

12:7 So I did just as I was commanded. I carried out my belongings packed for exile during the day, and at evening I dug myself a hole through the wall with my hands. I went out in the darkness, carrying my baggage ⁹  on my shoulder while they watched.

12:8 The word of the Lord came to me in the morning: 12:9 “Son of man, has not the house of Israel, that rebellious house, said to you, ‘What are you doing?’ 12:10 Say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: The prince will raise this burden in Jerusalem, ¹⁰  and all the house of Israel within it.’ ¹¹  12:11 Say, ‘I am an object lesson for you. Just as I have done, it will be done to them; they will go into exile and captivity.’

12:12 “The prince ¹²  who is among them will raise his belongings ¹³  onto his shoulder in darkness, and will go out. He ¹⁴  will dig a hole in the wall to leave through. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the land with his eyes.

Micah 2:10

2:10 But you are the ones who will be forced to leave! ¹⁵ 

For this land is not secure! ¹⁶ 

Sin will thoroughly destroy it! ¹⁷ 

Matthew 24:15

The Abomination of Desolation

24:15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation ¹⁸  – spoken about by Daniel the prophet – standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),

[6:1]  ¹ tn Heb “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem.”

[6:1]  ² tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.

[6:1]  ³ tn Heb “leans down” or “looks down.” This verb personifies destruction leaning/looking down from its window in the sky, ready to attack.

[6:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “[It will be] a severe fracture.” The nation is pictured as a limb being fractured.

[12:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “see.” This plays on the uses of “see” in v. 2. They will see his actions with their eyes and perhaps they will “see” with their mind, that is, understand or grasp the point.

[12:6]  ⁶ tn Apart from this context the Hebrew term occurs only in Gen 15:17 in reference to the darkness after sunset. It may mean twilight.

[12:6]  ⁷ tn Or “land” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[12:6]  ⁸ sn See also Ezek 12:11, 24:24, 27.

[12:7]  ⁹ tn The words “my baggage” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied from the context.

[12:10]  ¹⁰ tc The nearly incoherent Hebrew reads “The prince is this burden (prophetic oracle?) in Jerusalem.” The Targum, which may only be trying to make sense of a very difficult text, says “Concerning the prince is this oracle,” assuming the addition of a preposition. This would be the only case where Ezekiel uses this term for a prophetic oracle. The LXX reads the word for “burden” as a synonym for leader, as both words are built on the same root (נָשִׂיא, nasi’), but the verse is still incoherent because it is only a phrase with no verb. The current translation assumes that the verb יִשָּׂא (yisa’) from the root נָשִׂיא has dropped out due to homoioteleuton. If indeed the verb has dropped out (the syntax of the verbless clause being the problem), then context clearly suggests that it be a form of נָשִׂיא (see vv. 7 and 12). Placing the verb between the subject and object would result in three consecutive words based on the root נָשִׂיא and an environment conducive to an omission in copying: הַנָּשִׂיא יִשָּׁא הַמַּשָּׂא הַזֶּה (hannasi’ yisha’ hammasa’ hazzeh, “the Prince will raise this burden”).

[12:10]  ¹¹ tc The MT reads “within them.” Possibly a scribe copied this form from the following verse “among them,” but only “within it” makes sense in this context.

[12:12]  ¹² sn The prince is a reference to Zedekiah.

[12:12]  ¹³ tn The words “his belongings” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied.

[12:12]  ¹⁴ tc The MT reads “they”; the LXX and Syriac read “he.”

[2:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Arise and go!” These imperatives are rhetorical. Those who wrongly drove widows and orphans from their homes and land inheritances will themselves be driven out of the land (cf. Isa 5:8-17). This is an example of poetic justice.

[2:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for this is no resting place.” The Lord speaks to the oppressors.

[2:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “uncleanness will destroy, and destruction will be severe.”

[24:15]  ¹⁸ sn The reference to the abomination of desolation is an allusion to Dan 9:27. Though some have seen the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy in the actions of Antiochus IV (or a representative of his) in 167 b.c., the words of Jesus seem to indicate that Antiochus was not the final fulfillment, but that there was (from Jesus’ perspective) still another fulfillment yet to come. Some argue that this was realized in a.d. 70, while others claim that it refers specifically to Antichrist and will not be fully realized until the period of the great tribulation at the end of the age (cf. Mark 13:14, 19, 24; Rev 3:10).