Jeremiah 7:33

7:33 Then the dead bodies of these people will be left on the ground for the birds and wild animals to eat. ¹  There will not be any survivors to scare them away.

Leviticus 26:16

26:16 I for my part ²  will do this to you: I will inflict horror on you, consumption and fever, which diminish eyesight and drain away the vitality of life. ³  You will sow your seed in vain because ⁴  your enemies will eat it. ⁵ 

Leviticus 26:22

26:22 I will send the wild animals ⁶  against you and they will bereave you of your children, ⁷  annihilate your cattle, and diminish your population ⁸  so that your roads will become deserted.

Leviticus 26:25

26:25 I will bring on you an avenging sword, a covenant vengeance. ⁹  Although ¹⁰  you will gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you and you will be given into enemy hands. ¹¹ 

Deuteronomy 28:26

28:26 Your carcasses will be food for every bird of the sky and wild animal of the earth, and there will be no one to chase them off.

Deuteronomy 28:1

The Covenant Blessings

28:1 “If you indeed ¹²  obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving ¹³  you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.

Deuteronomy 21:23

21:23 his body must not remain all night on the tree; instead you must make certain you bury ¹⁴  him that same day, for the one who is left exposed ¹⁵  on a tree is cursed by God. ¹⁶  You must not defile your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Deuteronomy 21:1-2

Laws Concerning Unsolved Murder

21:1 If a homicide victim ¹⁷  should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, ¹⁸  and no one knows who killed ¹⁹  him, 21:2 your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. ²⁰ 

Deuteronomy 9:1

Theological Justification of the Conquest

9:1 Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan so you can dispossess the nations there, people greater and stronger than you who live in large cities with extremely high fortifications. ²¹ 

Isaiah 18:6

18:6 They will all be left ²²  for the birds of the hills

and the wild animals; ²³ 

the birds will eat them during the summer,

and all the wild animals will eat them during the winter.

Isaiah 56:9-10

The Lord Denounces Israel’s Paganism

56:9 All you wild animals in the fields, come and devour,

all you wild animals in the forest!

56:10 All their watchmen ²⁴  are blind,

they are unaware. ²⁵ 

All of them are like mute dogs,

unable to bark.

They pant, ²⁶  lie down,

and love to snooze.

Ezekiel 14:21

14:21 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send my four terrible judgments – sword, famine, wild animals, and plague – to Jerusalem ²⁷  to kill both people and animals!

Revelation 6:8

6:8 So ²⁸  I looked ²⁹  and here came ³⁰  a pale green ³¹  horse! The ³²  name of the one who rode it ³³  was Death, and Hades followed right behind. ³⁴  They ³⁵  were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill its population with the sword, ³⁶  famine, and disease, ³⁷  and by the wild animals of the earth.

Revelation 19:17-18

19:17 Then ³⁸  I saw one angel standing in ³⁹  the sun, and he shouted in a loud voice to all the birds flying high in the sky: ⁴⁰ 

“Come, gather around for the great banquet ⁴¹  of God,

19:18 to eat ⁴²  your fill ⁴³  of the flesh of kings,

the flesh of generals, ⁴⁴ 

the flesh of powerful people,

the flesh of horses and those who ride them,

and the flesh of all people, both free and slave, ⁴⁵ 

and small and great!”

[7:33]  ¹ tn Heb “Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.”

[26:16]  ² tn Or “I also” (see HALOT 76 s.v. אַף 6.b).

[26:16]  ³ tn Heb “soul.” These expressions may refer either to the physical effects of consumption and fever as the rendering in the text suggests (e.g., J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 452, 454, “diminishing eyesight and loss of appetite”), or perhaps the more psychological effects, “which exhausts the eyes” because of anxious hope “and causes depression” (Heb “causes soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] to pine away”), e.g., B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 185.

[26:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have causal force here.

[26:16]  ⁵ tn That is, “your enemies will eat” the produce that grows from the sown seed.

[26:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “the animal of the field.” This collective singular has been translated as a plural. The expression “animal of the field” refers to a wild (i.e., nondomesticated) animal.

[26:22]  ⁷ tn The words “of your children” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[26:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “and diminish you.”

[26:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “vengeance of covenant”; cf. NAB “the avenger of my covenant.”

[26:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) has a concessive force in this context.

[26:25]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in hand of enemy,” but Tg. Ps.-J. and Tg. Neof. have “in the hands of your enemies” (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 454).

[28:1]  ¹² tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”

[28:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).

[21:23]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates by “make certain.”

[21:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “hung,” but this could convey the wrong image in English (hanging with a rope as a means of execution). Cf. NCV “anyone whose body is displayed on a tree.”

[21:23]  ¹⁶ sn The idea behind the phrase cursed by God seems to be not that the person was impaled because he was cursed but that to leave him exposed there was to invite the curse of God upon the whole land. Why this would be so is not clear, though the rabbinic idea that even a criminal is created in the image of God may give some clue (thus J. H. Tigay, Deuteronomy [JPSTC], 198). Paul cites this text (see Gal 3:13) to make the point that Christ, suspended from a cross, thereby took upon himself the curse associated with such a display of divine wrath and judgment (T. George, Galatians [NAC], 238-39).

[21:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “slain [one].” The term חָלָל (khalal) suggests something other than a natural death (cf. Num 19:16; 23:24; Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15; 30:24; 31:17-18).

[21:1]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[21:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “struck,” but in context a fatal blow is meant; cf. NLT “who committed the murder.”

[21:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “surrounding the slain [one].”

[9:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “fortified to the heavens” (so NRSV); NLT “cities with walls that reach to the sky.” This is hyperbole.

[18:6]  ²² tn Heb “they will be left together” (so NASB).

[18:6]  ²³ tn Heb “the beasts of the earth” (so KJV, NASB).

[56:10]  ²⁴ sn The “watchmen” are probably spiritual leaders, most likely prophets and priests, responsible for giving the people moral direction.

[56:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “they do not know”; KJV “they are all ignorant”; NIV “they all lack knowledge.”

[56:10]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew text has הֹזִים (hozim), which appears to be derived from an otherwise unattested verbal root הָזָה (hazah). On the basis of alleged cognates, BDB 223 s.v. הָזָה offers the definition “dream, rave” while HALOT 243 s.v. הזה lists “pant.” In this case the dog metaphor of the preceding lines continues. The reference to dogs at the beginning of v. 11 favors the extension of the metaphor. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has חזים (“seers”) here. In this case the “watchmen” are directly identified as prophets and depicted as lazy.

[14:21]  ²⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:8]  ²⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the summons by the fourth creature.

[6:8]  ²⁹ tc The reading “and I looked” (καὶ εἶδον, kai eidon) or some slight variation (e.g., ἶδον, idon) has excellent ms support ({א A C P 1611}) and its omission seems to have come through the mss that have already placed “and look” (καὶ ἴδε or καὶ βλέπε [kai ide or kai blepe]) after the verb “come” (ἔρχου, ercou) in 6:1. Thus, for these copyists it was redundant to add “and I looked” again.

[6:8]  ³⁰ tn The phrase “and here came” expresses the sense of καὶ ἰδού (kai idou).

[6:8]  ³¹ tn A sickly pallor, when referring to persons, or the green color of plants. BDAG 1085 s.v. χλωρός 2 states, “pale, greenish gray…as the color of a pers. in sickness contrasted with appearance in health…so the horse ridden by Death…ἵππος χλωρός Rv 6:8.” Because the color of the horse is symbolic, “pale green” is used in the translation. Cf. NIV, NCV “pale”; NASB “ashen.”

[6:8]  ³² tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:8]  ³³ tn Grk “the one sitting on it.”

[6:8]  ³⁴ tn Grk “And Hades was following with him.” The Greek expression μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ (met’ autou, “with him”) is Semitic and indicates close proximity. The translation “followed right behind” reflects this.

[6:8]  ³⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[6:8]  ³⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:8]  ³⁷ tn Grk “with death.” θάνατος (qanatos) can in particular contexts refer to a manner of death, specifically a contagious disease (see BDAG 443 s.v. 3; L&N 23.158).

[19:17]  ³⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[19:17]  ³⁹ tn The precise significance of ἐν (en) here is difficult to determine.

[19:17]  ⁴⁰ tn On μεσουρανήματι (mesouranhmati) here see L&N 1.10: “high in the sky, midpoint in the sky, directly overhead, straight above in the sky.” The birds mentioned here are carrion birds like vultures, circling high overhead, and now being summoned to feast on the corpses.

[19:17]  ⁴¹ tn This is the same Greek word (δεῖπνον, deipnon) used in 19:9.

[19:18]  ⁴² tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause, insofar as it is related to the first imperative, has the force of an imperative.

[19:18]  ⁴³ tn The idea of eating “your fill” is evident in the context with the use of χορτάζω (cortazw) in v. 21.

[19:18]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “chiliarchs”; normally a chiliarch was a military officer commanding a thousand soldiers, but here probably used of higher-ranking commanders like generals (see L&N 55.15; cf. Rev 6:15).

[19:18]  ⁴⁵ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.